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Published: December 4th 2007
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Ok,
so we were in Puno, Peru and did a boat trip out to the floating reed islands since it was a must see. and it was pretty cool being in the middle of all these little villages on a lake. the first island was a small family one and then the next one we went to via reed boat aka bundle of fat reeds tied together was a bigger one with restaurants, a school and a church. all made from reeds and some wood for foundations and structure. our boat broke down on the way back (cant say that wasnt unexpected) but the driver managed to get it going again after 10 mins or so.
the next day we took a bus over the border to La Paz, Bolivia. the border crossing was majorly complicated but this little boy took us to the 4 diff places we had to go and then sulked when i didnt have enough change to pay him the going rate. la paz is in a massive valley, the highest capital in the world if you didnt know, and i felt it. there is a massive snowy mountain overlooking the city except couldnt see it at
all from down there, and all the buildings cling to the cliff, like cusco.
early the next day we set off mountain biking the infamous ´worlds most dangerous road´Death Road from la cumbre to coroico. starting at 4600m and dropping 3600 during the 66k ride. it was super cool apart from i had altitude sickness and sat out about 5kms of the hill part but aaron did it all. the first part was sealed and really foggy and soooo cold, we couldnt feel our fingers so i was sorta scared that they wouldnt brake when my brain told them too. it got warmer and clearer later then we got to the unsealed REAL death road, n.b. just that morning a van had a narrow escape and had to climb out the back end as it hung over the cliff. soon after this i hit a big rock and flipped off landing on my feet somehow and aaron narrowly avoided hitting me. this was the closest to death we got, altho the cliffs were a big drop we managed not to fall off and the jungle and mountain views were amazing - we went through waterfalls and streams and all these
butterflies were around. the whole ride took bout 5 hrs mostly downhill.
next day was shopping and city day and in the afternoon we went to the bus station to go to santa cruz. we had been warned about bolivian buses so i made sure it was bus cama (bed bus, comfy one) with a toilet and heater. everything seemed ok and i ate and drunk secure in the knowledge that there was a toilet (also had recently had diarrhoea) and then i went there and what do you know, the toilet room was stacked to the ceiling with those bloody plastic sqaure bags with crosshatch patterns that all the south americans carry who knows what in everywhere with them. normally on more expensive buses the locals cant afford to transport their goods but this one was filled with locals and unfortunately the hold couldnt fit all their random stuff. i was sooo annoyed and went back to start bitching to aaron how ridiculous it was. took my chance and jumped off on the side of the road with all the men a bit later on because they told us it was the last time they would stop!! another thing,
when the seats leaned back, sure they were like beds, but our legs were practically trapped by the seat in front. DONT TAKE TRANS. COPACABANA!!! also we were saved again by policia stopping us at 3am when everyone piled off to go to the manky public toilet on the side of the road.
so after that ordeal we arrived in st. cruz today and tried to get tickets for the train to the brazilian border (there were 2 trains, one good one and one nicknamed Death train) and found that only a cargo version of death train is running (20hrs) because they have run out of diesel in this area of bolivia. not only that, its really hard to get tickets and you have to fight over them every morning. so we have decided to buy air tickets to campo grande in brasil and are leaving early tomorrow. after all that effort to get here!! ahhh well cant control everything!
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