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Published: October 1st 2007
Gone are 3 weeks of my travelling...out of the entire 6 months....
I just made it into Potosi this morning. Finally at an Internet place where I can upload some photos.
So...since Cuzco I´ve pretty much been on the move everyday.
Cuzco:
It was pretty sad for me to leave the volunteer place on my last day, the kids made me feel like a superstar - all of them came to shake my hand, asked for my autograph, and danced goodbye dances with me..... needless to day, the volunteer program was great!!! I have made some great friends and as much as I hope that I´ve helped the kids, they´ve helped me also....to appreciate the hardship that they go through each day that people, for example, me, haven´t the slightest clue about... and to value the convenience that has always been readily available in North America.
Puno, Peru/Copacababa, Bolivia:
Instead of having another party, which we were supposed to have, since about 3,4 volunteers, including myself, were leaving, I didn´t have a party. I guess that I missed it actully.
Anyhow, I was on the bus to Puno instead...it was COOOLLLLLDDDDDDDDD.... I got into Puno at 6
in the morning. An eager salesman* was at the bus station, trying to sell me bus tickets to go to Copacabana, and a boat tour to the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. He came to me when I was enjoying my hot coffee...I figured...why not...I have just about enough nuevo soles to do both. So I went. It was actually not bad, but I was walking/running non-stop. The fact that my shoes were being held together by duct tapes made it kinda hard and everyone looked at me each time I have to adjust the tapes for them to hold the shoes together.
I managed to do both Puno and Copacabana within a span of 20 hours.
I have to agree with a lot of tourists, that Lake Titicaca seems better from Copacabana, Bolivia than Puno, Peru.. I am glad that I opted to spend the night in Copacabana instead. I teamed up with 4 australian girls to get a 10 Bs. discount to stay at a hostel with panoramic view of the lake. The only downside of it being that the water wasn´t as hot as the hostel owner claimed to be, so I had to take a
cold shower - this would be the beginning of a series of unbearably cold showers/weather that I would have to endure for the next couple of days.
*I have never seen people trying to sell things so aggressively before
Copacabana/La Paz:
I think it must have been the Bolivian food that I tried in Copacabana when I got in. I woke up with a mild stomach ache. But with the amazing view of the lake in front of me, I guess I didn´t pay too much attention to it. I went to the local Cathedral there and climbed up another mountain to see some Inca ruins. By 2 pm, I found myself on a bus La Paz bound. What was good about it was that I got the seat right next to the bus driver. The bus was designed with about 30 seats, but they must have packed 40 people in the bus.
The 4 hour bus ride was pretty enjoyable with a mix o cumbia and bolivian music. But my stomach probabaly wouldnt agree with the word "enjoyable". By time I reached La Paz, the mild stomach ache had turned into a severe stomach ache..I couldn´t
Floating Islands, Floating Everything
On the floading islands, everything is made of Totoro, the food, the transportation tool, the house, the island...etc. And because everything is made of Totoros, they cannot have fire on the island...as you can imagine it´s like committing suicideeven walk straight and had to sit down every couple minutes. The Hostel that my Korean friends were staying at, whom I was trying to meet, is located only about 15 min. walk away, but took me almost 2 hours to get there. I was walking almost bowing down to someone in front of me.
By time I got to the hostel, I must have had about a ton of pressure build up in my stomach ready to be released (if you know what I mean), luckily the staff was really helpful and pointed me to the washroom right away.
After 15 minutes of schizophrenia in the washroom (suffering from the stomach ache/diarrhea and fighting to vomit), I was put in a room with a Swedish guy, who immediately told me he had experienced the exact same symptons a month ago in Argentina, and gave me some of his left over pills.
Fortunately, I felt better after about 3 more trips to the washroom......
A few hours later, I met up with my Korean friends. To my disappointment, they were setting to leave the next day actually.
La Paz, Day 2:
In the morning, had
Uros Locals welcoming us
Uros are the Floating Islands breakfast with my Korean friends, and accompanied them to the bus station to check out the departure time and prices.... I also got myself booked into a tour....where I was supposed to bike the most dangerous road in the world. At night, I saw my Korean friends off (there were 5, including myself, all of us were heading different way...it was really sad departing- but I guess that´s what travelling is all about - each time you meet your friends from the road, your eyes light up, you want to know what exciting things they have done, and what you´ve missed and afterwards, you just want to go do it....also, it´s good for exchanging useful info. ie referrals)
La Paz, Day 3:
At 7 I got up and headed off for my bike tour.....
the scenery of the tour was great, the biking itself was an adrenaline rush...(try going down on gravel at close to 50 km/hour and next to you is a 200 m cliff...breaking wont help)...but I made it back into La Paz in one piece around 6 pm.
Still enough time for me to walk around the city itself and explore the markets.. I was
having a great time walking around, checking out the different things that they sell. Reminds me of Taiwan, where my parents used to take me to night markets. I love the markets here in La Paz. Before I realized it, it was already almost midnight actually. So I trotted back to the hostel to get some rest....
La Paz/Uyuni:
I didn´t really do too much in La Paz during the day, except repacking everything in my backpack for Uyuni.
Took off for Uyuni at 7 pm, the bus ride was the bumpiest ride I´ve had EVER.
I was actually sleeping, and one of the bumps woke me up, making me think that it was an earthquake, I almost bolted for the exit door on the bus!!
Uyuni:
Got into Uyuni at roughly 7 am...I was so hungry I could swallow a llama!!! ahaha
No actually, it seems like I am always hungry...I don´t even know how much weight I´ve lost up till now.
Anyways, I opted to find some breakfast first and then find a tour. When I walked into a restaurant, I found out that Uyuni had a power outage already, happened the day before I arrived.
So there wasn´t much to eat. I had to find another restaurant with propane, so that they can cook.
After my breakfast, I was told that all the tours that were set to leave that day had been fully booked. Maybe I should have look for the tour first, then breakfast. But it was all right. I spend the day in Uyuni walking around markets after markets again....and found myself in a hotel without power, I was given a candle........ this really made me realize how much I have became accustomed to having electricty and how much I rely on it.
Day after I got up, and finally was able to leave in a 3-day tour...a tour that 3 tour agencies had to join together to make possible. Bad idea!!! As we have 7 people in a group, and there just wasn´t enough food for everyone. What made up for the lousy food was the surreal landscape...... it was just ...surreal, and so beautiful at the same time. Over all I had a good time. I guess I should have brought some extra food with me.
Uyuni/Potosi:
After the 3-day tour came to an end, I got
a message from my Korean friend who did the tour 2 days before me.... he had left a message at the tour agency for me, with where he´s staying in Potosi.
I was contemplating about either heading to Potosi (the highest city in the world) or Tupiza (where there´s rainbow coloured rocks).....I chose Potosi, since I want to meet up with Son (my Korean friend) and ask him about Columbia and Venezuela, as I am planning to travel into the Amazon by boat.
I think that tomorrow I will be headed off to Sucre or Cochabamba, in a bit I am going to the bus station to check the schedule and see what my options are.
Until my next update
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