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Published: March 23rd 2008
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Having spent (for us) a relatively long time in Cusco waiting for our Inca trail tour we were keen to push on. We headed towards Bolivia across the undulating Andean highlands of Peru. A scenic drive running parallel to the railway, a sort of Peruvian version of the Orient Express. At one point it crossed the road with its wealthy passengers waving enthusiastically at us. I waved back enthusiastically with my middle finger. Our final destination in Peru was the town of Puno on the shores of lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is a 8,000sq km lake, at an altitude of 3,820m divided by the border of Peru and Bolivia. The purpose of our stay was to visit the famous floating islands. The floating islands are literally that, inhabited by the Uros people for many hundreds of years. The islands are floating beds of reeds bound together by the reed roots which give the islands a depth of about two metres. We took a boat out from the shore to one of the nearer islands which took about 40 mins. Greeted by the welcoming Unos inhabitants we were shown the unique methods of their culture. Basically everything revolves around reeds. Their houses
are made of reeds, the upper layers of the island are carpeted with reeds, their boats are made out of reeds, they make models out of reeds and they even eat reeds. We were shown how a hole could be made with a saw from which you could fish, a bit like eskimoes and their holes in the ice. It was explained that over the years the islands have become smaller and more numerous as with disputes in the community the solution is to saw the island in half, float away a bit, then drop anchor, annoying neighbour problem solved. There are currently about 40 islands and the one we visited was about the size of a football pitch. It is hard to imagine living in such an isolated environment with so little to occupy yourself, what would you do all day? That is exactly what I thought, and obviously this could lead to a rapid expansion in the population that could not be sustained due to lack of reeds. To combat this potential problem the Unos people have devised an ingenious method of birth control. The women wear multi-layered skirts that give the wearer an appearance of being morbidly
Floating Islands
Reeds and more reeds obese and about twenty years older than they actually are. Just in case any sex appeal manages to seep through a bowler hat is worn to create gender confusion. The net result is a very effective contraceptive and a lot less messy then some western methods. The Unos men are then left undistracted to get on with the important business of reed cutting, plaiting and chewing, thus the population remains stable. From Puno we crossed the border into Bolivia, and had our first night in Copacabana (no not that one). Having worked out the currency about our tenth so far we were chuffed to find out that this was the cheapest yet as we tucked into a 75p four course meal, all be it a bit ropey. The next day pushing south we found ourselves in and out of La Paz the capital wothout realising it, due to a lapse in my navigational skills. Our experience of La Paz was crawling through back streets where only about one in five traffic lights work. The strategy to proceed is to drive confidently towards junctions pressing the horn firmly and gesticulating agessively to other drivers coming from different directions (dodgy business, especially
Floating Islands
Unos teenage waif demonstrating effective birth control. with no car insurance). Four hours further south we made it to the town of Oruru where we got a train down to Uyuni. This made a nice change and was necessary as the roads further south were unpaved and as Bolivia only has leaded petrol we were unsure of the effects on Tommy and didn't want to give him a bad tummy.
We arrived in Uyuni at about 3am. After thinking on the train about whether or not there would be anywhere open to stay, we need not have worried. We were greeted by a gaggle of Andean women trying to shove us towards their hostals and sell us tours for the next day. After a few hours sleep we were up and ready to take on the most ferocious tour seller. Funnily enough we just happened to stumble across the number one tour company in town (weren't we lucky), or so they claimed. We went for the 3 day 2 night option and were quickly bundled into a jeep with 4 others. A young German couple who were very sensible and a couple of young lads from the UK, even younger than Tom (18 & 19 ), who
weren't so sensible. I felt like I had to mother them a bit whether they liked it or not. Lending them shampoo, toilet paper (like gold dust) and blowing their noses when they sneezed. I must admit the Bolivian people aren't the best of lookers and not a happy clan, a bulldog chewing a wasp comes to mind. It could have something to do with living in extreme poverty and what resembles 'a shoe box in't middle ov't road'. Having said that our guide, Camello , was a cheery chappy. He acted as driver, cook, guide and Mr DIY, cracking the ocassional joke in Spanish which we all tittered politly along with. Our first stop was the Salar de Uyuni (salt lake). We had seen pictures and heard tales from other travellers but it is never like the real thing. We were told to buy sunglasses and just as well. The white of the salt with the sun blazing on it was blinding and an awesome sight that stretched for miles disappearing into a deep blue horizon splattered with snow covered volcanoes. It reminded me of a frozen lake and felt like you should be dropping through the ice at
Salar de Uyuni
Giant bear assault any moment. To remind you that it wasn't cold was an island in the middle with giant cacti that had been around for a few hundred years. After a couple of hours drive over the salt we arrived at the edge and spent our first night in a hotel constructed of salt. Then it was on across the rugged terrain (very rugged, after a day on those roads you felt like a punch drunk boxer) visiting various multicoloured lagoons all dotted with Andean pink flamingoes and of course breath taking scenery all around. Our last night wasn't so luxurious, a bit like the six dwarfs all squeezed into one room, no prizes for guessing who Grumpy was. Then it was up the next day at 4am to visit geysers and hot springs, which was heaven if not a little bizzare with freezing Andean frost on the ground. A great tour, we bade our fellow travellers farewell, jumped back on the train and was soon reunited with the other man in my life (Tommy). On to the next country, Chile. A spectacular border crossing with the backdrop of a flamingo spotted lake and Volcan Parinacota with its snow coned peak. The
Salar de Uyuni
Fish Island cacti only ones going over we were greeted by cheery helpful Chilean border officials who pointed us in the right direction, which was more or less down hill for 100k until we hit the coast at Arica and turned left. We were then in the Atacama desert, what a contrast brown and more brown. 1,000k later still brown hoping for a little green in the next few days. Soon to be taking a left turn just north of Santiago and sampling the delights of Argentina before heading back to the southern and more spectaclar parts of Chile.
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jonah
non-member comment
Argentina
Carter/Robbo, Titi-Carter was a great re-cap, but remember 'The War' while in Argentina, I know Carter was not there in 82 but I was and it was ugly, lucky to get out alive, so be careful you only have 8 weeks left before your back in the slums of pompey....!! although FA Cup success is just around the corner.