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Published: October 21st 2006
The sunset over the salt flats
WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Well after the inca trail we had a free day in Cusco to recuperate and rest our sore legs!! The boys headed to the local market and the girls went for a look around and spent most of the afternoon in the highest Irish bar in the world (brilliant and just what we needed - no, deserved, after the inca trail!!) The following day we decided to see the rest of Cuzco we went to the locals market and it certainly was an experience!! There were dried llama foetus´, cows heads, tongues and every meat you can imagine hanging up (british health and safety would have a field day!!) There was also a fantastic fresh fruit juice isle where you chose any fruit you wanted and the ladies made them into pure fruit juice infront of you and all for 20p for 2 huge glasses - bargain!! Following the market we headed to one of the cathedrals. It was fascinating as originally it had been an incan temple and the spanish had built over the top of it - the incan rooms and foundations were only discovered after an earthquake in the 20th century. We really liked Cusco - we could
The floating reed islands
Everything you see - including the boats - are made solely of reeds. definetly have stayed longer. We had some great nights out and there is plenty to do - highly reccommended!!
The following day we drove 10 hours to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It is the highest navigable lake in the world and also the border between Peru and Bolivia runs straight through the middle of it. Puno was our base for a home stay with a local family on the island of Amyatarni on Lake Titicaca. We started by visiting a community of reed islands on the lake. They were amazing - the locals weave the reeds and stake them together to form a floating island home. The one we visited had 3 families living on it. Thanks to the tourists (so we were told) they now send their children to school and they have a solar panal to provide electricity at night their was even a TV - this was to be nothing like our homestay!!! After the reed islands we headed 3hrs by boat further into the lake to the homestay.
Mike and I (and another couple) were staying with "Sallia" and her family. We arrived on the island and were met by a
Our homestay family in their kitchen
This is our families kitchen - they are eating the snails and intestines. member of the family. We had stopped on the way and stocked up with gifts for the family (rice, sugar, pasta, candles, colouring books and pens for children, toilet roll etc) We followed Sallia into the island and up to her home. She lived there with 6 members of her family including 2 young children and 4 adults. We put our day packs in our room and headed down to the kitchen. The house was (typically) made of mud bricks and the kitchen had 2 holes in the side for a door and window. There was a small table at one end and an open fire at the other. We greeted the family and headed to the "stadium" to play football against the locals (we won 2-1, mike scored!!) Then it was back to our homestay for dinner before a traditional dance.
Now dinner was an experience! Neither of us spoke good spanish and so we muddled through (thanks to the picture talk book - thanks sara!!). They had given us all a hat they had made and started asking us "Do you like chorros" in Spanish - We had no idea what chorros meant so when they pointed
Mike and I at the homestay dance
Dressed in traditional peruvian dress (the hats and gloves are not - it was just bloody cold!!) at the hats we all responded enthusiastically "SI, SI, buenos" It was only alittle later when we switched our torches (there was no electricity or running water) on that we realised the enormity of our mistake!! - Mike went with the picture book to ask the grandma what she was preparing. "Chorros" she replied.................................................................. then she pointed at a picture of a snail!!!!!!
Oh god! we paniced - we would have to eat it - it´s only polite. We had just about come to turns with it when she pulled out a full sheeps gut and started preparing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can imagine what we were thinking. Luckily for our stomaches dinner turned out to be Quinoa soup followed by vegetables and rice -YUM!! (The snails and intestines were for the family) We then bought all the family a beer and headed up to our room to change. We were all dressed in traditional Peruvian dress and we went to a Peruvian dance on the other side of the village. We thourghly enjoyed it (even if it was abit violent- alot of pulling around in the dances) and headed back to the homestay for a good nights sleep! The next
La paz
A typical busy morning in La Paz day, following a breakfast of Quinoa and boiled egg we headed back to the boat for the 3.5hour trip back to puno. The homestay was definetly an experience and an eye opener. We are glad we did it.
From Puno we had a looooooooong 12hour drive to La Paz (bolivias unofficial capital) we crossed the bolivian border and after our driver was asked for bribes twice we eventually made it to La Paz. La Paz is a huge city in a valley. There are some great views on the way in. Bolivia is so cheap. 15 bolivianos to the pound so much better to buy souviners here than in Peru. We went for an explore and found an amazing cafe called 100% natural with pure fruit juices and amazing food for next to nothing (safe to say we ate there ALOT!!) The following day some of the group (including mike - see seperate blog) headed off to tackle death road while about 6 of us girls headed off to tackle a harder task.............................the shops!!! 😊
After an eventful and fun few days in La Paz checking out the food, drink, nightlife, shopping and sights we headed to Uyuni
The train cemetry - Uyuni
We stopped here on the way to the salt flats - welcome to Bolivia!! on the edge of the Bolivian Salt flats. This was our base for a two day excursion to the salt flats (see silly photos!!)
We headed out in 4x4´s onto the salt flats with a guide. The views were amazing - it takes 5 hours to drive from one side of the flats to the other. It looks like a desert, flat and white where ever you look. We visited the salt hotel and stopped to take photos then we headed to fish island (in the middle of the flats - named fish island apparently because of its shape and the fact that in the rainy season the flats are covered in a couple of inches of water and this causes shadows that look like fish.) We ate lunch here and walked to a view point on the island overlooking the flats from every angle - it was spectacular! The island was also home to 100´s of cacti some of which were 2000 years old!
From lunch we headed an hour across the flats to a volcano - our beds for the night were situated at the base of the volcano. We put our stuff in our dorms
Mike jumps from a speeding (?!) train!
mike noooooooooooo travelling with me isn´t that bad!!! :) and headed back to the salt flats for sunset. The views were astounding, spectacular and beautiful (see pics). We are so pleased we experienced it. After dinner (soup, chicken, chips, rice and veg) we all had a beer and then headed to bed ready for a big day tomorrow.
The following day we headed for an 8 hour trek up the volcano to visit some pre-incan mummies preserved in a cave and a view point overlooking the flats. We left early (again!!) and headed up for 2 hours to reach the cave. The mummies had been preserved by the locals after they were found starved to death. It was quite harrowing as the family included two children who both looked like they were screaming. After the caves we met up with an excellent local guide who took us on a further 4 hour trek to pre-incan ruins and houses. It was a fascinating morning and we learnt alot more about the salt flats and the people that lived on the island (for example - the pre-incas had a virgin bath on the island for the virgins to bathe in. If a man was caught near it or looking at
The salt flats near Uyuni - Bolivia
It takes 5hrs to drive from one side of the salt flats to the other. They are HUGE!!!!! the virgins the head of the community cut both his eyes out!!! nice!!)
From here we headed to Sucre the offical capital of bolivia for a rest day. It is a beautiful colonial town with a fantastic plaza and some great places to eat and drink. We walked around checking out the sites - the museums and cathedrals and generally enjoyed the sunshine. We are now in Potosi for a mine visit............................................................
love to all - Becky and Mike
Sorry the blog is abit bitty and we haven´t written for a while - it is difficult to find computers sometimes and it takes AGES to upload a few photos.
We are both loving the trip and love hearing from you so please email us or leave us a message.
Mummy Clarke - Happy Birthday for the 22nd!!
Hannah - good luck in south korea - hope you are ok - thinking of you.
Matt - hope your kicking ass in Germany and have settled in well!
Jen, Soph and all teacher friends I hope you are enjoying a well deserved half term-thinking of you.
We love you all - keep in touch -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Jessie Sharif
non-member comment
Howdeeeeee !!
Hey Mike n Bex WOW !!! sounds like your'e having a great time. Sorry for not writing earlier but I took some time out - well deserved me thinks. I just luv the pics - yer write up is really making me think about Sth America as my next travel venture so keep it coming. Hope yer both very well. Jessie