Carnaval

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Blog No.4 (and more than half way through our trip...)

After our salt flats experience, we were well and truly into Carnaval fever. In the pretty city of Sucre, with it´s white washed buildings and it´s official status as capital of Bolivia, we never imagined the absolute carnage that lay ahead. Ignorantly, we thought Carnaval was about music, costumes, dancing and a bit of drinking. However, we were forced to arm ourselves with water bombs in order to walk out onto the streets - at any time of day! The tradition is supposedly a gender war, where the boys turn on the girls, and vice versa, with any type of water or foam ammunition. Unfortunately, as a gringo, we were everyone´s target!

On one particular night, I went into hiding in the hotel. Dave came back a few hours later completely annihilated - that´s to say dripping from head to toe. He made a reference to a particular corner of the main plaza as "Afganistan" - a no-go zone due to the snipper activity. The best thing about the wars were people´s attitudes; everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. Everyone from grandmas in traditional Bolivia dress to little kids were on the streets in a playfull mood. In one particular incident, Dave was forced to turn on a 5 year old boy in self defence, with the unfortunate outcome of making him cry. Luckily the parents were nearby and thought it was quite funny!

Carnaval celebrations continued into the weekend in La Paz, but on a much grander scale. But after 10 days of fiesta, it was time to escape to the jungle. And our route was the "World´s Most Dangerous Road", on bicycle no less! We debated back and forth on whether descending an altitude of 3,000+ metres over a distance of just 64km, on a mostly gravel track with sheer drops up to 1km deep, on rather cheap, badly maintained bikes was a good idea...but we did in the end and it has been one of the highlights of our trip so far! You start amongst snow-capped mountains and descend through lush jungle where you smell the vegetation, feel the temperature increase and hear the waterfalls all around you.

After a good spell at high altitude through most of Bolivia, we welcomed the idea of spending a bit of time in the subtropical jungle town of Coroico - the finishing point of the bike tour. We stayed with a lovely family in an eco-lodge and were greeted by freshly baked bread and freshly squeezed passionfruit juice - right from the garden, each morning.

Our final stop in Bolivia was on Lago Titicaca in the town of Copacabana (which the famous beach of Brasil is named after). Here we began our Inca education. The Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), measuring 9.5km long, is the spot at which the Inca´s believed the sun was born and a very sacred place. The island was suprisingly sparce in comparison with other Inca ruins. Fortunately, some inhabitants and their beloved animals are present on the island, so Dave was able to fulfil a lifelong dream of being snout-rammed by a pig!

We have now crossed over into Cusco, Peru and are on the eve of embarking on the Inca Trail to the lost city of Macchu Picchu. The city of Cusco is stunningly beautiful, where both the influence of the Incas and the Spanish are evident.

More from us after the gruelling trek....

😊

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Photos

Sucre
Our room with a view

Isla del Sol
Dave´s new best friend