copocamba to san pedro de atacma

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Yes were in Chile!!!! Sorry its taken so long to update but all will become clear, once ive finished typing and youve all read this entry!!!!

Copocamba

We had 4 or 5 days rest and relaxation in Copocamba after all our travelling. This is a lovely little village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, full of colour buildings and probably the most touristy things we have seen to date. Yet again there is a lovely square and cathedral which we visited. The alter is all in gold and reaches from floor to ceiling, yet the remaining decor is quite plain. This is in contrast to the various other cathedrals we have visited where the walls have been highly decorated. Our hotel was beautifully situated on the headland overlooking the lake which allowed us to sit and watch the world go by. We had planned to have an overnight stay on Isla del Sol, but unfortunatley both of us have been really rather unwell and didnt dare risk the two and half hour boat ride over to the island! On our last but one day we were feeling a little braver and had an afternoon trip of some five hours to visit the island. The scenery has been stunning and finally gave us a different view. Because we opted only for the afternoon trip we only had about forty minutes at the Inca steps before being whisked back away on the boat!! The Inka steps are exactly what they say they are, and to get anywhere on the island you have to climb these. There are women and children desperatley selling there wares at the bottom as you get off the boats, and on the steps. They even board the boats again and try their luck as you leave!! We have a fifteen minute stop off at an Inca ruin on the way back, where you are charged to go in!!! Literally everyone declined to pay and returned to the boat quick smart!!!! On our return to Copocabama we had to stop once more at the Bolivian Armarda Checkpoint on the lake, which provides great amusement considering its a landlocked nation!!!!

Sunset over the lake that night was magnificent. We have never seen anything like it. The colour was mystical and hung over the lake in patches like an illusion. Neither of us have ever seen anything like it in the uk, the sunset touched the lake. It was over so quick though. Then the fun started in the hotel!!! There must have been a power surge because a light near one of the buildings blew and caught fire!!!! This caused quite a hive of activity but was quickly resolved!!!! Then some twenty minutes later another light attached to the property we were staying in did exactly the same thing!!! This one was directly under the honeymoon suite where we had our first night!!! David was shouting fire fire and I was shouting at the couple above the fire no no no, because they were about to throw water on it!!! Doh!!!!!!! The drama ended and fortunatley we were left with electricity!!!! The next day we checked out for La Paz!!!

La Paz

Our journey was a long and spectacular one. We climbed straight out of Copocabama and followed the shores of Lake Titicaca. The village was getting ready for its carnival and we passed many locals dressed in the best clothes going down to dance and celebrate. Many of the men folk play in numerous bands. After an hour of travelling we started dropping back down to the lake. We observed two villages either side of the lake and commented on the barges and boats going backwards and forwards. We joked thats where we were going to!!!! When will we ever learn!!!!! We got down to the lakeside and got off our bus!!! We checked in yet again with the Bolivian Armarda and boarded a little boat!!! Our bus got on the barge at a very peculiar angle - and we crossed the lake!!!!! We had to wait about twenty minutes for the boat to catch up and then of course because there are so many buses doing exactly the samething none of us could really remember which bus we should have been on!!! It was more a case of stick with the people that were on the bus and you should get on the right one!!!! Anyway we did and headed on to La Paz. This country is so poor some places have electricity but the remotest dont. We travelled for hours on the high altiplano looking at snow capped peaks and volcanoes, travelling through sun and rain until we reached La Paz. This city hangs on mountain sides and nothing prepares your for the view as you enter the city!!! The traffic is manic and there are people everywhere!! It is carnival time here too as it is across all Bolivia (we didnt take note!). We were supposed to be dropped off at the bus terminal but the bus driver got fed up on the traffic and dropped us off in what is known as the Witches Market. This street was solid with traffic, people and market stalls and nothing was going anywhere fast at all!! Our plans to get to the hotel went straight out of the window along with everyone elses and we all seemed to check into the first hotel we could find! Ours was directly over the street and its market. The Witches Market sells clown suits, masks of all descriptions, firecrackers, spray foam, individual balloons (its national pastime in Bolivia to fill balloons with water and throw them, and have spray foam and spray everyone!). As we took stock and looked out of the window I noticed a man selling fresh orange juice from a glorified wheelbarrow that contained a mountain of oranges and an orange press!!! For about 2p I had the most lovely glass of fresh orange juice, there was no question of health and safety on this one!!!

Our next day here saw us exploring La Paz which was in Carnival mode. We somehow managed to avoid being waterbombed or sprayed and managed to have several hours exploring what we could. The city is all walkable and we found ourselves in a square where the parliament buildings were. Some of the buidlings still have the bullet holes in them!!!! Unfortunatley our exploring was curtailed as the Bolivian stomack monsters came back to haunt us and we returned to our hotel!!!

Next day we headed to Oruro

Oruruo

Little did we know when we got here, we were arriving in the middle of their celebrations!!! Could we find a hotel - no!!! Not helped by our taxi driver not being able to read!!! He kept getting out of the taxi to ask directions!!!!!! Anyway we finally checked in at the three start International Park Hotel!!! Heaven only knows what the three stars were for, it was absolutley disgusting!!!! We headed out to the Najama Restaraunt which is run by Don Roberto a celebrity chef - we concluded this would be a safe option considering our problems!!! The food was good and everyone seemed to be there. We had plans for the next day to head for the spa baths out of town, but on sharing a taxi with a couple from Sweden and Finland (take note you will meet them later!) then recommended we didnt because the pool was very small, the water wasnt flowing and there was more people than you could poke a stick at!!!. So the next day we decided to have a wander round Oruro instead. There is nothing in this place, it is disgusting and smells violently of everything imaginable, it quickly became a place we no longer wanted to be at!. We retreated to our hotel and watch films for the rest of the day. We are sorry to say there is absolutley nothing good we can say about Oruro and anyone you speak to says exactly the same.

Our plan was to get tickets for the train journey to Uyuni the next day. Our plans failed. David was 224 in the queue and we couldnt get tickets until the friday. We had to get out little was going to stop us, except the bus station was closed because it was a national holiday - aaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!!! We sat on the pavement checking out the few buses that came past and lord only knows how someone picked up on us trying to get to Potosi (we couldnt get to Uyuni on the bus from here because the river was flooded!). We walked round the block and got the last two seats on the bus to Potosi!!!! This was full of singing hippies but we didnt care, there were no bongo drums and we were escaping!!!!! We had a little revolution on the bus because part the way through the journey they came round to take the fare from us and tried to charge more!!! The bus was stopped until the revolution was quelled! We travelled through spectacular valleys and mountains all to the backdrop of singing and entered the highest city in the world!

Potosi

We only had an overnight stay here until we boarded the bus onwards to Uyuni. Potosi was the major silver supplier to Spain and the world. From what little we have seen it is a lovely little town. However its mines are horrendous. You can tour them but it is something we wouldnt do. The mines were originally for silver, now it is mined for minerals. The miners within ten years of entering the mines will die from lung problems. There is no fresh air pumped in, no safety measures, no lights (they work by candlelight) and the conditions are cramped, they are the worst we think anywhere!

Our bus to Uyuni was a joy! A small green chicken bus pulled up covered in plant debris and caked in mud. Everyone took photos and joked about getting on it and then sighed with relief when it pulled away!!! It came back again some half hour later and repeated the exercise. And then it cameback again half hour later and we all got on - are we mad???!!!!! We had our first international incident as our seats were double booked with some very stroppy bolivian male. I was refusing to move until David got on board with tickets which wound him up even more!!! And then because he was shouting at me, David began shouting at him!!!! Then the man started shouting its my country!!!! Ho Ho!!! Finally a rep from the company sorted it all out and we moved to another set of seats - not after he felt the weight of my elbow several times as he tried to push me out of the way!!!

This time we travelled through volcanic areas, desert, valleys and plains. Now there was no road, there was no tarmac or concrete, the only thing that distinguished the road from the desert was the fact it was clear from succulents and cacti!!! I counted about five differenent species of cacti, some in flower some not. It was a true bone shaker of a journey and we were still shaking when we lay in our hotel bed that night, but what an absolutley fantastic experience, one that we will never forget! On dropping down to Uyuni as the sun was dropping to we glimpsed our first reflections of the salt flats. We met Ben and Sarah on the bus and as they had the same plans as us for the up and coming salt flats tour we agreed to hook up and arrange a tour.

Uyuni

Quite a nice little town, for once open planned and not cramped. We managed to book a tour for the following day with Andes Tours with Ben and Sarah our departure time 10.30! We had planned to rest our shaken and rattled bones by having a little explore and something to eat and drink but the Stomach Monsters decided to haunt us again and so off to the hotel we trotted!!!

We left bang on 10.30 and headed out to the train cemetary first. This is wear old locomotives have been decamped to, stripped and are left rusting to the elements. Our guide told us the trains were built in Dudley in the West Midlands (im not convinced) and that Buch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had previously robbed them. It was surreal to see these engines in the desert with snow capped volcanoes behind them! We then headed out onto the salt flats.

Currently they are under water which actually gives them a more magnificent appeal. The few clouds that are in the sky and the snow capped volcanoes and mountains are reflected back in the water. At times you can not discern the horizon. We headed out to the salt hotel where everyone decamps to, to have lunch which consisted of llama and vegatables. I can safely say I enjoyed the vegatables!!!! David enjoyed the llama!!!! We paddled in calf deep salt water and the salt flakes caked themselves to us!!! As we drove back we spotted a local on his pushbike looking for dry salt to harvest. There was nothing for miles around him but water and sky an image that will never be erased from our minds.

We travelled that night to our accommodation, which was basic. Two cold showers and two toilets between about twenty of us!!! Some shared accommodation but some of us were lucky enough to get our own rooms! The stars at night were unreal, the quietness deafning and the isolation humbling. Dinner was passable.

Next day saw us visiting a fault valley where the rock formations leaving you in no doubt of our planets capabilites to destroy and reform. We have seen exceedingly large rabbits with very long tails, an emu and vicuanas (which i probably havent spelt right!). The emu was a very lucky sighting! We visted high plains, volcanoes and lagoons. The lagoons are coloured crimson, blue and turquoise and all have flamingoes on or should that be in them! All have salt crusts and deposits and we have been at 4000 plus metres all day! We lunched overlooking one of the lagoons on volcanic terrain which ranges from fine sand to large boulders of all colours. Red, gold and grey touch every area it is truly truly amazing!

Our last nights accommodation was even more basic, no showers but there was the prospect of a hot thermal spring the next morning, toilets okish and no electricity in our shared room!!!! We were sharing with the rest of the guys from our landcruiser so that was ok! We had a 3.30am get up, to go and visit the fumaroles, geysers and thermal springs!

I was awoken at 3.30am by Sarah calling me - David was throwing up - this did not bode well!!!!! We all got ourselves together I warned our driver that David was unwell heconcluded it was altitude sickness and nothing to do with the llama or chicken that David had eaten the evening before!!!! And off we set!!! The sky was crystal clear yet lightning streaked the far horizon. We got to our first fumaroles and could see the steam jettisoning into the night sky. The hole in the ground was manmade as this particular area was at one time government backed for energy harvesting, but has since stopped. You can put your hands or any part of your body over the jet of steam and warm up!!! The next that we say were all natural. We visited the geysers next where the earth is liquid and bubbles away and makes the most fantastic noise. The only disappoint for me was the fact it was dark and you couldnt see them properly. You had to walk carefully around as the ground was very soft and venting and at any stage the ground could give way. I think at this stage we were at 5000metres, making this the highest active field in the world. We headed for the thermal springs as the sunrose. David remained curled up in the landcruiser and I decided it best to hitch and hover between taking photos and checking to make sure he was ok. We had breakfast here too before heading to Laguna Verdi.

Laguna Verdi is as green as you could imagine. Infact I can only liken it to the colour of Lake Louise once the ice has melted, except it has a rather dramatic live volcano as a backdrop!!!! Half our gang managed to see it, the other half headed off over the rocks as the stomach monsters said hello yet again!!! We didnt have long here before we got whisked over to Bolivian border control to be whisked onto a bus to goto San Pedro De Atacama. Unfortunatley it was at this stage we split from Ben and Sarah without being able to say goodbye or swap email addresses, something we are incredibly sad about. Everything happened so fast and we found ourselves on a separate bus heading down to San Pedro.

We had to endure a two hour wait at Chilean border control by which time to add to Davids problems I was beginning to feel rather unwell (I hasted to add I hadnt eaten the festering llama or chicken from then night before!). We had our passports stamped and then had to queue up with all our bags which had to be individually opened and inspected by customs officials. You are not allowed to bring in any fresh fruit, veg, meat or coca leaves. At the point I got to the the customs guy, I knew I was in a no win situation and burst into tears (the public toilets were closed!). David clutching sick bag shouted at the guard and somehow he understood and whisked me away!!! He took great pity on the both of us and only gave a token search of our bags and then even offered to carry them back onto the bus for us!!! We then had only a short journey into San Pedro. However this is the first and last point for entering the region we had just left and every hotel we tried was booked (the bus driver had taken pity on us too, and drove us round the whole town until we got accommodation, without taking any money from us). We finally got into Santa Cruz de Atacama where the owners also took greaty pity on us and helped us. They brought us water, ice and replacement salts and asked us if we wanted a doctor. Later that night they came and checked on us and again asked us if we wanted a doctor. Without a doubt we have met in a few short hours the most kindest and helpful people yet, and we will never be able to thank them enough.

San Pedro

San Pedro is an oasis in the desert. It is a lovely little town with bags of charm and loads of character. Lots of tourists but not overwhelming. It was here we bumped into the Nadia and Richard the Finnish and Swedish couple we had shared a taxi with all those days back in Oruro! Again a whitewashed Basillica and lovely square. Market stalls and restaraunts where the meat is chilled and the food stored properly! We have had to decamp here a day extra than planned to recover, but thankfully it is such a lovely little place we can cope!!!! It is tiny and you can walk everywhere - no taxis required here! In the afternoon a there is a guy next to us playing the saxaphone and everyone is so sociable, in short something we have desperatley missed in Bolivia. Bolivia scenery is truly stunning and to date nothing has matched it. The contrasts extreme and the colours surreal, but we wont miss its people, towns or hygeine (or lack of!). We are heading south on an overnight bus tonight and are looking to find Humboldt Penguins. We have our photos on disk so hopefully when we remember to bring the disk out we will be able to download some for you!

Your author is now going to escape this incredibly hot and stifling internet cafe and find a cold drink!!!! And hopefully we wont leave it so long to update next time!!!!

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