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After two nights in our sub-zero hotel in Uyuni, we braved the horrific conditions of a nightbus, and headed towards Bolivia´s capital, La Paz. The nightbus was utterly disgusting - completely cramped and claustrophobic, it stank of urine and the blankets provided were like a science experiment of filth. That said, my main concern (and Sibs) was that it would be cold, and it really wasn't all that freezing - in fact it was considerably warmer than the hotel we left behind. For the first few hours it felt like we were driving across the highest and rockiest peaks of the Andes in a 1970s Mini Cooper - the only journey it could be compared to over this year was our bone shattering bus from Cambodia to Bangkok. But eventually the road improved, and because I had no option but to lie in a fixed position, I closed my eyes and snoozed every now and then - so it was actually a bit more bearable than myself and Sib had expected. Claud, on the other hand, was ready to kill herself after about 40 minutes.
The descent into La Paz is supposed to be one of the most impressive in the
world, as the city is built around the edges of a mountain, and it literally spirals from above down into the valley. Unfortunately it was still dark when we entered the city, so we were robbed of the view! From the bus terminal we hopped into a taxi and headed straight to our hotel, where our room was ready and breakfast was waiting, despite the fact that it was only 7.30am. Oh, and our room is so so lovely. It's got a hand painted mural on one wall, and three comfy beds with thick blankets and duvets. The ensuite is spotless (althought the hot shower is seriously dodgy), but the best thing, the BEST thing, is the TV. Proper cable with about 70 channels, including the Warner Channel and Sony Enterntainment Television - which we have only come across in South America, but it really should be worldwide phenomena. I'm talking non-stop Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Will and Grace (and Jack and Karen more to the point), Er, My Wife and Kids, The Gilmore Girls (yes, I said the Gilmore Girls with no shame)....and endless films. As a result of this celluloid bliss, we've been having a little trouble leaving
La Paz, or indeed, our hotel room......
But, as for the city itself - it is a hectic mass of winding, cobbled streets (the steepest you can imagine) with more street stalls than I have ever seen. As the Lonely Planet rather aptly puts it "You are more likely to get winded than lost in La Paz". The ridiculous angle of the streets, combined with the dizzying altitude means that you are guaranteed to be breathless every minute or so. We are staying near an area called the Witches Market, where dodgy wooden carvings and dried animal heads are piled high on the stalls. There are also endless amazing jewellery stalls (yes, we have indulged) and more of the wooly items we already bought in Tupiza. It's a manic city La Paz, but I really like it, and it is unlike anywhere else we have been. The local women, with their huge pleated skirts and impossibly positioned bowler hats sit on the city streets all day with every imaginable item piled like mountains around them. Some sell oranges, and only oranges - other nuts, fish, fruit, chocolate -I even saw one woman selling leather notebook holders!
And the great thing
is that in between all the Bolivian mayhem, there are a couple of fantastic cafes and restaurants - so when we're not watching American imports on TV we have been stuffing ourselves with amazing Western style food and drinking bloody good coffee. Cafe Banais has become our regular haunt for brekkie afternoon cafes, and we've also made it to Oliver´s Travels Pub, Sol y Luna Cafe and a lovely Indian place for dinner. YUM YUM.
After five nights of televisual and culinary treats, we eventually managed to say goodbye to La Paz, and caught a "local" bus to the town of Copacabana, on the edges of Lake Titicaca. The most strenous part of the journey was buying the actual tickets - I had to jump, elbows first, into a crowd of locals, all of whom were determined to skip ahead of me. Grrrrr! After a four or five hour journey (which included a bizarre interval where we all had to get off the bus and onto a boat to cross a narrow body of water, while our bus was brought across on another wooden vessel), we arrived in Copacabana (not the one Mr Manilow was singing about) and found ourselves
slap bang in the middle of a local festival. Dressed in an array of glitzy, glimmering costumes local men and women swished their way through the streets.
Copacabana is a pretty little town on the very edge of the lake; after a bit of deliberation we decided we would head to Isla del Sol (an island in the middle of the lake) early on Saturday morning, and spend the night. The Lake is one of the highest in the world, and the island itself is very significant in Inca mythology, as it is considered to be the birthplace of the sun. We took a rickety little boat over to the northern end of the island, which is the least developed. It was like taking several steps back in time - the area is totally undeveloped, and completely stunning. There was two very basic hostels and two restaurants, and other than that there was just the local people and their pigs! A few donkeys and a very dodgy looking bull were tied up and a few (killer) pigs were running around. There was NOTHING to do but chill out, so we ended up spending several hours in the first little restaurant.
The plan for the next morning was to walk to the southern end of the island, and take the ferry back to Copacabana. We had been told that there were two ways to get to the south, one direct, one which took in some inca ruins. We had also been told that once you set off it was all very self explanatory where to go. Hmmmmmm. We set off (in the direction of the ruins) and after an hour of walking around in circles and coming to a ridiculous amount of dead ends, we gave up and headed back to the village. I was still determined to walk to the south one way or another, so I left the girls to get the ferry and I headed off along the other route. Again, it was still quite confusing, and I had to ask every local that I came across (in very broken Spanish) whether I was heading the right way. There was one rather dodgy moment when I was chased by a mangy dog, but after the initial 40 minutes or so I felt fairly confident that I would eventually get to the Southern port. The views along the way
were absolutely spectacular; it's very hard to believe that you are actually looking at a lake because it is so so vast. The sky was the clearest of blue, I passed some stunning tropical-like beaches and the every time I looked towards the horizon I could see white snow capped mountains in the far distance. I passed through a few little villages along the way as well, and at one point I saw local women washing their clothes (and children) in a small river below me; it was the clothes that initially caught my eye, as they were strewn out across the rocks to dry, creating a colourful display on the side of the mountain. After about two and a half hours I reached the south (wha hey!) which was so so much more developed than the north; lots of lovely hostels and restaurants!
I met up with the girls and we all took boat back to Copacabana (a journey which we thought would never end, as our boatmen ran out of petrol about half way across the lake). We ended up staying in Copacabana for two more nights, and then, THEN, it's on to Peru - the last country
on our round the world trip!!!!!
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