La Paz, Inc Rurrenbaque, Copacabana and Isla de Sol, Bolivia

La paz, well what can I say?  A dolly mixture of buildings, tumbling down the mountains.  Crazy party place!!  Arrived at Wild Rover Hostel in time for brekkie and got settled in before getting on it for the whole weekend!!  This hostel was awesome!!!  If you want to party that is...Arrived on Friday and did not leave the hostel, except to go to the clubs the hostel organised, until sunday night, which was when the Cholita's wrestling was on.  This consisted of local ladies in long plaits wrestling with each other and men too.  It was totally staged but was a lot of fun and it cumulated into a massive food fight with eggs, popcorn, jelly, coke, water and all sorts flying around!!!  Hilarious!!!

On monday I did manage a quick jaunt into the town while Nicola did the Death Road bike tour.  I visited the witches market which had a load of weird concoctions for sale including a number of Llama foetus' hanging up everywhere to bring luck.  Hmmm!!

Tuesday we got packed up and ready to leave for our trip to the amazon jungle for 3 days….We flew out of La Paz airport on a very small light aircraft which carried about 18 passengers.  There was some awesome views over the jungle and Andes on the way to Rurrenabaque which is where we were headed.  After about 30 minutes we arrived and made our way to our hotel there where we were staying for 1 night before our trip started in the morning.  We ventured into the town and bought our supplies to include a long sleeved white shirt and mosquito repellent to keep from being bitten.

The next morning we arrived at the tour office at 8am to begin our adventure with Indigena tours.  We boarded our jeep for the 3 hour journey to the river where a boat would take us to our jungle camp which was another 1.5 hours, stopping a few times on the way to view the local wildlife which consisted of many types of birds, there are over 1000 species out here, as well as monkeys, turtles, crocodiles and alligators.  We arrived at the camp by late afternoon.  We relaxed for a while before heading out at sunset to the local bar just up the river.  The sunset here was amazing and we tried to relax with a drink and hundreds of mosquitos, before heading back for dinner and then onto our crocodile spotting trip up the river.  We were greeted by many red eyes glaring out from the water at us.  It was pitch black out here and we had to shine our torches to catch their reflection in the light.  We then turned off the torches and engine and just remained still, floating in the water, and looked up at the night sky to the sight of millions of stars and planets flickering above us.  It was such a clear night, rarely do you get to see the stars like this, even the milky way was clearly visible.

The following morning we prepared for our jungle walk to spot the anaconda.  We covered up from head to toe as we were aware we would be plagued by mosquitos.  Well what a nightmare this turned out to be.  We started our walk in our wellington boots provided, which turned out to be a bit pointless in the end as the water reached above them and just filled them up and made them heavy to walk in.  As we trudged through the swampy wetlands in search of snakes, of which were nowhere to be seen, some girls were crying and turned back and one lady did not make it past the first few minutes before turning back.  I could totally sympathise as it was hard going and we were covered in mosquitos.  I had a full blown cold by now and was feeling worse for wear but persevered on as I did not want to miss out on anything as this was a once in a lifetime experience….thank goodness!!!!  It really was not that much fun and we did not really see a lot bit our guide found us a baby snake in the end and we did appreciate his perseverance.  After about 3 hours of stomping around we made our way back again, tired hot and itchy!!!!

I got straight in a shower and freshened up before lunch.  After a rest we all boarded the boat for piranha fishing!!!  Nicola caught a fish first, but apparently it was a sardine!  Then she freaked out because she is terrified of fish ha ha…it was so funny as we watched it flapping around as she tried to get someone to take it off her.  Our guide unhooked it and threw it back in and we all carried on waiting for the piranha.  I caught a sardine too and was happy with that as I have never caught a fish before!  The only one to catch a piranha was our guide.  He caught a couple, including a red one!!!

We then headed back to the bar for some more sunset drinks, where we met up with lots of friends from La Paz.  After dinner we just went to bed as we were up early the next morning to watch the sunrise.

After sunrise we ate breakfast and went off in the boat to look for the pink river dolphins so we could swim and play with them.  We found a couple but they did not want to play for long, probably looking for food.  We went to another spot and found a few that seemed more interested.  We jumped in the water and they would come under us and bite our feet!!  At first it was quite un nerving as you could not see them, but I realised if I splashed the water with the plastic bottle I had for them to play with, they would come up to bite it.  Then I could touch them and stroke them.  At one point one dolphin stayed still and let me stroke it for ages, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had in my life!!!  Just being there in the water with them, as curious about us as we were about them.  Feeling their soft skin and being so close. Happy to just play and discover each other!  No one telling them what to do, being there because they wanted to.  However, I did get a bit panicked when 3 of them came over to me and were underneath me, nibbling at my feet, which did hurt a bit, although they were just playing, they were getting so excited it was a bit scary!!  Mainly because you could not see through the water as it was brown so I kept kicking them by accident.  I was so sad when we had to leave them, but so grateful for the time that we had together.  Apparently it is rare for someone to get as close to them as I did.  I felt very privileged.

After a fantastic jungle experience, it was unfortunately time to head back to civilisation.  We made the journey back and by about 8pm we were back where we started in La paz!  Back to the party hostel!!!  Oh well, if you can't beat them join them!  2 more nights of partying ensued, but we did manage to get out to see San Pedro prison, made famous by the book Marching Powder!

San Pedro Prison (background)

By sunday morning we were all partied out and ready to move on to get fit for Macchu Piccu in 9 days!!  We boarded the early morning bus for Copacabana, where we boated across Lake Titicaca to Isla de Sol.  By now I was really starting to feel sick as I had some sort of stomach upset, and was worried about the 1.5 hour crossing with no toilet.  I persevered and made it to the island to find out we had to trudge up a huge hill of steps with all our bags which weighed about 28kg.  I was way to sick by now to carry this and only made it halfway up the steepest part before giving up and paying a boy to carry my backpack.  When we got to the hotel at the top of the hill I was so relieved and went straight to bed.  By now I had a fever and was burning up, but I was soooo cold!!!!  I was shivering so much and just could not get warm!!  I found some antibiotics in my stash of medicine and some lomperimide and cold and flu tablets and just took the lot!!!  It seemed to do the trick!  I was gutted the others were off seeing the island and I was missing out, it looked so beautiful on the way up here.  I just tried to sleep and waited for them to return.  By dinner, I managed to get some food down which they bought to my room for me along with extra blankets and pillows.  They were so sweet.  Then the manager made Nicola do reiki on me and give me some of her energy to make me better.  I am not sure she was so happy with the idea, but I did feel better after and slept for ages…..

Our hotel, Isla de Sol

By the morning I still felt quite weak but was so much better and almost ready for the next leg of the journey.  I got someone to help with my bags again as I did not have the energy yet for that, and away we went back to Copacabana to catch the bus to Peru.

When we got to the bus stop we were told there were blockades after the border and no bus was running until later and there would be a 2 hour walk!!!  I could not do it today so we stayed in Copacabana for the night and went the following evening when we were told a bus would go all the way through.

Lake Titicaca

The next day I walked to the viewpoint at Copacabana and stayed for a while looking at the amazing views and trying to get my strength back up before our big trek in a weeks time!!!

 

Uyuni & Sucre, Bolivia

I was already awake before the alarm went off at 6.30am.  My head was pounding and I am not sure if it is the altitude or the glass of red wine I treated myself to last night.  I took a migraine tablet and hoped for the best.  It was going to be a long day!  I crammed the rest of my things into my already overflowing backpack.  I really need to lose some more stuff, but what?  I have been through it all so many times and need everything i have as we are now back in the cold climate and I need to layer up, and will do until we hit Columbia.  I make a promise to myself to get rid of some more stuff by the time we leave Peru next month.

A minibus arrives to take us to the Chile/Bolivia border where we will pass through immigration and check out of Chile which takes about 2 hours, and into Bolivia which takes about 2 minutes!!!  There we will meet our jeep which will carry us on our 3 day tour from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile through to Uyuni, Bolivia.  There are 6 of us in total, 2 guys from Denmark, Jacob and Morten and a couple from Chile/America, and Nicola and myself.  As we go through border control to leave Chile, it seems that the american girl has not got the appropriate visa required and is denied access across the border.  We all feel so bad for the couple as they pack up their belongings and head back into San Pedro, their dreams of Uyuni over for now.  So we find ourselves down to just the 4 of us as we carry on to the Frontera Hito Cajon (Bolivia Border control) to meet our jeep and guide Wilson.

Wilson is a fun guy, he does not speak any english really but we manage in our broken spanish.  We stay at the border, which consists of a small building in the middle of the desert, and a table is set up next to the jeep, with bread rolls, dulce de leche, ham, cheese, yogurt and tea and coffee.  I was then offered coca leaves to try which help with the altitude sickness.  I gratefully accepted and made some tea from them which I forced down as they tasted like the smell of old grass cuttings.  We said our goodbyes to our minibus driver as we headed off into the desert.

Our first stop was the white lagoon which was absolutely breathtaking!!!  I did not imagine Bolivia to look like this at all.  A backdrop of snow capped mountains, embraced by a lake, so still the reflection was as clear as glass.  To complete this image of perfection laid out before us, a lone flamingo moves gracefully through the shallows searching for food in the early morning sun.

Next stop, the green lagoon.

A quick stop at the Dali Rock desert.  It was so interesting to be looking at the scene that Dali looked at when he got the ideas for his paintings.  I could almost see the long legged elephants walking by and hear the clocks ticking...

We then moved on to Chalviry lagoon and Polques hot springs, where visitors could soak themselves in the warm mineral waters.

The Morning Sun Geiser Basin was the next stop, where we could smell the angry odour of sulphur bubbling up through the boiling mud, while thick bellows of steam were spewed out from deep within the ground below us.  We heard stories of people who had fallen into these holes and were extra careful to keep our distance as there is no way anyone could survive these temperatures!!

After making a quick detour to drop our bags at the hostel and have a spot of lunch, which was mashed potato and hot dog sausages, we carried on to the Red lagoon with flamingos.  I could now see how the flamingos got their colour.  The rich copper deposits stained the water the colour of blood.  We stayed for a while watching the flamingos going about their daily business, which mainly consisted of finding food in the waters they made their home.

Back at the hostel in the desert, which was to be our home for the night, the four of us played cards and drank hot tea as we waited for the sun to disappear and dinner to be served.  This consisted of left over sausage from lunch transformed into a salad.  I filled up on the soup served beforehand and as the temperature dropped to freezing, made my way to bed to keep warm!

The next morning we packed our bags back into the jeep and made our way into the national park, passing alpacas and llamas along the way.  Our first stop was to see some unusual stone formations which we could climb upon.  The most unusual being the Stone Tree.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the Highland lagoons, Honda, Chearcota, Hedionda and Canapa.

We then arrived at the Hostel de Sal (Puerto Chubica) and gratefully soaked ourselves in a hot shower and played more cards whilst once again waiting for dinner.  Tonight we were spoilt and feasted on hot soup followed by fried chicken and chips and a bottle of wine.  I had another really bad migraine today so steered clear of the vino.

The final and most exciting day of our tour was upon us as we made our way to the Uyuni salt flats!  We visited the Railway and Train Cemetery on the way which was a collection of old steam engines and parts of trains left in the desert top rust and rot away.  I believe in their time they were used to transport minerals across the border to Chile.  Some pieces have been transformed into swings and a see saw and we had fun playing around until Wilson had fixed the flat tyre on the jeep!

The moment we had all been waiting for had finally come, and as we approached the salt flats we all smiled and looked in awe at the vast expanse of 12 km of pure white salt in every direction as far as the eye could see!!!  On closer inspection though tainted only by the odd yellow patch where people had left their mark!

We set off to onto the salt to put the many ideas we had discussed for pictures into motion.  Trying to think up new variations as we went along!

We had soon built up an appetite and headed back to the jeep for lunch which Wilson had prepared and consisted of chicken milanese, with pasta and vegetables.  The tyre on the jeep had gone flat again already, so after lunch we headed back out to take some more pictures while we waited for Wilson to fix it.

The tyre now fixed, we took one last look at the whiteness laid out before us and made our way to the town of Uyuni to catch our bus to Sucre.

Uyuni was not really a very interesting place, mainly only a stop for the tourists and people working on the salt flats.  We walked around the market for a while and waited until it was time for our bus!

After 12 hours on a very uncomfortable bus we arrived in Sucre.  We had to change bus halfway through the night and were left waiting in the cold, while to our surprise our bus then drove around the block and came back, with the driver calling "Sucre" we all loaded our luggage back on and were left wondering what that was all about!!!

As we arrived at 6.30am there was nothing open and we had not pre booked any accommodation, we pulled the lonely planet out and picked a hostel and got the taxi to take us there.  This hostel was full as were the next couple.  We persevered and eventually found a couple of rooms in Hostel Libertad.  This was cheap at £14 per room with cable tv and 2 double beds separate fridge and lounge and bathroom!!  Luxury for us!!  We booked 3 nights and crashed out for a while and later went to explore the town and get some food.  I really need to relax for a while here and there is nothing I am really interested in that I want to spend money on as I have worked out I spent over £2000 in March alone and probably the same in February.  I really need to cut back on the spending, so am just going to hang out in the town and enjoy a rest here before we hit La Paz!!