I have not sent anything for quite some time, so this may be a bit later. The trip to bolivia was from Wed night July 26 until sunday july 31 (dates may be wrong, but its what i have written here).
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The Bolivia Trip-----------------------------
WEDNESDAY:- left for bolivia at 3am and caught the bus to PUNO for about 20 soles ($3 CDN to 1 sole) and took about 6 hours.
- Caught a true Peruvian combi packed to the rafters with our gear precariously lashed to the top from PUNO to DESAGUADERO. We then unfolded ourselves out of the combi (i am definitely NOT travel sized), paid our 50 centimos to use the washroom for the first time in 10 hours, grabbed our things, and proudly walked across the border into Bolivia.
- First impressions of Bolivia were that is is much poorer and less developed than Peru, but more colorful / vibrant / traditional
- Caught another bus to LA PAZ, the capital of Bolivia and the capital city with the highest elevation in the world. It is in a canyon surrounded by amazing mountains and sits at 3870 meters above sea level.
- The drive there was rather interesting, through the lake Titicaca basin. It is very desert-like with many things still frozen from the cold nights and salt deposits from receding water lines. Very remeniscient of South Africa in terms of landscape but there is a lot more livestock wandering around. They appear to only really farm in the 2 month rainy season.
THURSDAY:- Visited the UNESCO world heritage site of TIWANACU. This is the birthplace of Andean culture. Before the Incas these people were the center of an empire stretching over 600 000 square kilometers. One of their greatest contributions to the world apparently was to develop raised irrigation fields, ways of drying potatoes and cultivating some 200+ types of potatoes.
- It cost 80 Bolivianos to enter for internationals, only 10 for nationals ... I am still in shock .. that is about 10 or 12 american dollars ... we almost did not go in
- Very extensive ruins, most of which were discovered in 1965. Still a lot of excavating and reconstruction taking place (seems almost like a make work project).
- With 2 museums, 3 temples / excavations sites in addition to one almost fully reconstructed temple, the area was massive! We spent about 5 hours exploring.
- Caught a bus home with all the frunk local workers who were singing at the top of their lungs the entire 2 hours trip. Got home, went to the market and cooked for ourselves in the hostel. Went out to check out the local nightlife and did nto really get home until 4:30am. The engineering university students were having their big events similar to frosh or freshman week and we joined in.
FRIDAY:- woke up at 10am, cooked the remainder of our food and checked out.
- Visted the witch's market, where you can purchase good luck charms, spices, insence, dried llama fetuses, animal hides and just about anything else you need to cast a spell on someone.
- Spent some time in the "Gringo Alley" doing tourist shopping. Stopped for tea in a cafe with several americans, a large jewish table eating pancakes, some german and dutch tourists and a smattering of british folks. Bolivia certainly appears to be quite the tourist destination, especially for biking, hiking, the salt flats etc.
- Caught another bus to COPACABANA, which is on a penninsula / island in Lake Titicaca. At one point you have to get off the bus, board a boat and ferry across a channel. This bus takes its own boat. While it is good economic developement for the area, it is quite disconcerting to have to fight for a place on a small boat with the rest of the tourists while your bus (and all your gear) floats serenly past you to the other side.
- Arrived in COPACABANA at about 6pm and found a perfect hostel with HOT SHOWERS, 24hr doors open, breakfast for 5 bolivianos and they even exchanged money. This turned out to be rather important as COPACABANA does not have any banks, only a single credit union machine that requires a special Bolivian debit card. We met many tourists stuck with no way to access money. Thankfully we had lost of spare american and peruvian money to change.
- Went out for dinner and had some of the best fish I have ever eaten in my life. It helps that the town is on an island where fishing and tourism are the only industries. Interestingly enough, COPACABANA is also home to the Bolivian navy ... which is funny because after their failed war with Argentina Bolivia is now land locked!
- Afterwards we were all so tired we just crashed back at the hostel. Being the only boy I again ended up with the matrimonial suite all the myself. I am actually starting to enjoy the red satin sheets.
SATURDAY:- Going to the ISLA DEL SOL ... it is a 2 hour boat ride to the north end of the island.
- Visited the temple ruins on the side of a hill and the bottom hlaf of the sacred rock of Titicaca (which the lake is named after). The other half of the rock is apparently still underwater in the northern Peruvian part of the lake.
- Hiked all the way back from the north to the south of the island to catch our boat back. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous with rolling hills, different rock colourings and crystal blue water all around
- The trail looked similar to the great wall of china the way it snaked over the hills. We were already at 3400 meters or so while on the water, and the hills with their changes in elevation affected many people during the 3 -4 hours of walking.
- Barely caught our boat back and were able to see one of the traditional reed boats of Titicaca. Unfortunately, it was motor-powered, which just did not seem all that traditional. However, it still looked very impressive.
- Met some nice tourists, an american and jewish guy travelling togther while on the ISLA DEL SOL and decided to meet up for dinner and drinks. Ended up finding a beat up pool table in a place called "Diego's Video Pub"... this certainly is a tourist town!
SUNDAY:- A lot of the group is sick or recovering from the hiking of the day before.
- Charlotte, Rebecca and I were feeling well enough to climb the 300 meters of so up the steps to teh sacred shrine and church to the virgin. Apparently this is one of the officially recognized sites of the virgin for the Catholic church.
- At the base of the steps, by the first of the 12 stations of the cross, they were also performing traditional blessings involving burning insence, lighting firecrackers and spraying beer.
- At the top you are supposed to purchase something that you wish to recieve or have blessings for and touch it to the statue of the virgin to be blessed. They have everything from miniature homes, to groceries, to passports, to diplomas, to cash, even building materials. We actually purchased something and fought our way through the crouwd to the statue. We then had to climb onto the iron fence, and lean way over to touch our items to the statue.
- Came down the hill and went to the church at the bottom. Standing room only with the entire service in spanish made things somewhat difficult, but it turned out allright.
- Caught our bus at 1pm and rode straight through all the way back to Arequipa ... 10hrs or so.
- All in all an amazing trip. I would have loved to have stayed and visited the salt flats, but we start at the orphanage on monday morning bright and early.
Me dealing with a blood sugar problem!
