Chrissy - La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz is like a Monet. From far away it is beautiful. It sits nestled in a valley, its outer suburbs scaling up the surrounding mountains as far as the eye can see. Close up though, it's all over the shop. A mess. Probably the most dirty city we have been in.

It has some fascinating areas though - the 'Witches Market' where you can find llama foetuses, dried frogs to bring good fortune and owls to make you knowledgeable (look closely in the photo for the foetuses); the 'Black Market' where you can find anything from toilet seats to electronics (question the legitimacy of anything you buy here - apparently most of it is smuggled in from Chile). We didn't manage to find ipod headphones though. It was overwhelming the amount of stuff they had so we probably overlooked them. We did find Uhu glue sticks though so we can stick bits into our journals.

I didn't feel entirely comfortable wandering around La Paz with cameras and valuables tucked tightly into pockets. There are so many people in this city that a run in with pick pockets was almost inevitable....and then heading up through the Witches Market Mel's camera vanished from her pocket. I wish that they'd have the courtesy to leave your memory card... surely they could slip it back into your pocket as easily as they took your camera out. That will be the day though, courteous thieves. The difficulty is as well that anyone in these cities, from grandparents to children, are expert thieves. They have nasty little tricks, including spitting on you, to distract you while they empty your pockets. Really nice.

Christmas eve was massive at the Irish hostel where we stayed। Dressed in Santa hats and tinsel that we had picked up at the local markets (and Mel in a Santa jacket meant for a pet dog) we danced the night away in the hostel bar. They loved their Irish music (which we should have expected) - half the songs we had never heard before.

We had a massive Crissy lunch/dinner on Christmas day - turkey, ham and all the trimmings (minus cranberry sauce) and a random mushroom soup (?!?!) with some Irish boys that we'd met the night before. The one thing that was missing was warm Christmas pudding - sniff. I could have done with a massive slice, dripping in brandy butter, caramel sauce and ice cream, mmmmm.

The meal was so ginourmous that we packed up our leftovers and spent the evening scanning the streets for the homeless। We didn't have to go far. We walked a couple of blocks to the plaza where the president resides where we were absolutely swarmed by young children. If you are ever carrying food they will come up to you and ask for it. Not something that I would encouraged normally. It was so heartbreaking and scary because they seemed to come from nowhere! There were so many little hands grabbing at you and begging for the food, trying to take it out of your hands. I would have had at least 10 children surrounding me at once, and they chase you down the street if they know that you still have food. Not knowing the word for 'share' in Spanish, I picked out the littlest ones that were being trampled over and distributed my bags of leftovers.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year

xxxx

Avoid the ham in Copacabana....

We'd been very careful with food up until this point. We had avoided lettuce (even going to the extent of removing it from food that we ordered in case it had been washed in unboiled water), most chicken products (for fear of salmonella) and everything else we felt might be dodgy.


We were starving by the time we arrived in Copa so ducked into the first restaurant we could find. Little did the girls and I know that the various forms of ham we ate (on sandwiches and pizza) would later that night end in absolute disaster.

We went out for a really nice dinner at La Orilla - pepper steak mmmm and the first curry that we had seen on a menu in our entire journey. Mel was the first man down. The poor thing had to leave dinner halfway through, taking no more than two bites. Claire was next. My stomach held out for another day but soon joined in. Damn ham!! Luckily for us you can get pretty much anything you want over the counter in the pharmacies here. Travelling with a pharmacy student is an added bonus - Mel knows the names of the right drugs and adding 'ina' to the end of the english drug name seems to work. We spent the next few days on medication with our symptoms not disappearing as quickly as we would like with Christmas fast approaching.
 
Hopefully our run in with food ends here. We're hoping our guts are well and truly prepared now for what ever local street food throws at us because we're desperate to start eating it - smells soooo good. (We're just not going to ask what it is.... they like to eat dog in these parts.....)

The end of Peru and the beginnings of Bolivia

Arequipa - boring, but beautiful.

The guide book talked it up, but there was really nothing to do in Arequipa, the 'white city.' Absolutely nothing was open - we roamed the streets for what felt like forever to find somewhere decent to eat, but ended up at a dingy little Italian feel place right on the tourist strip. Crapholio.

We arranged a tour of the Colca Canon - shizen. We felt like retirees. Cue 'Cecilia' our tour guide: 'On your left there a Vicunas' (with the bus slamming on the breaks for all the cameras to come out and click away like Japanese tourists). This happened a good 10 times. There are only so many VicuñasVicuñas you can look at. Yes, they are endangered. However, they still look the same every time you see them. You also start to question the information your guide is feeding you when she mentions that the Spanish brought gum trees over from Australia.... hmmmm. We then spent a good hour and a half trying to spot a Condor. We saw one. Joy. It would have been more enjoyable to trek through the Canon but after almost killing ourselves on the Inca trail we thought the bus would be a good option. Clearly not.

The scariest and most eventful thing that happened was passing an coach that had fallen off the road. It was pretty distressing - you do not feel safe at the speed that they drive here. We've been taking a lot of night buses as well which has its pros and cons. Pro - you cannot see where you are going and so don't freak out at how close you are to a cliff edge. Con - you can feel how fast you are going and so freak out even more because you cannot tell how close you are to the edge and can feel the driver slamming on the breaks as they approach a bend to fast in the over ladened double decker bus.

We did get the chance to visit Junita, the 500 year old Ice Maiden discovered atop one of the volcanoes surrounding Arequipa. She was very well preserved thanks to the freezing temperatures. You could make out her hair and skin through the several panes of glass and ice that she was stored in. In all I think they have found about 16 bodies and their belongings in the surrounding area, preserved to varying degrees. It was slightly depressing. She was a child sacrifice. They estimate that she was about 12 years old when she died and that she was murdered. If you look at her closely you can see where she was whacked on the head. It is thought however that she was given the local drink, Chicha, so that she had passed out before she was hit. Not that it really makes you feel that much better about the whole situation.

We spent an afternoon wandering around the very massive and very beautiful Monasterio Santa Catalina which was founded in 1579. It was nice to have a relaxing stroll around, but it was good to finally get on the bus.

The floating islands: Lago Titicaca (and bitching about La Paz weather...)

It is absolutely pouring in La Paz at the moment. Our morning exploration of the 'Black Market' was cut short by a hail storm that came bucketing down without warning. We stood for at least half an hour in the door of a small shop, waiting for a moment to dash out to a coffee shop. The moment didn't really arrive. We were forced to make a run through torrents of water flooding the streets, collecting the garbage as it went. You definitely should not venture outside here without a raincoat. La Paz weather sucks... So as I'm trapped inside cause I don't fancy getting wet again I thought I would take a minute to update you all on our side track to the Islands of Amantani and Taquile on Lake Titicaca.

On our way down to Bolivia we made a quick pit stop in Puno, a lakeside town in Peru (the first time that I've seen water since the dirty Pacific Ocean in Lima!!). From Puno we took a boat, possibly the slowest boat in the history of mankind, for our tour of the islands. First stop was the floating islands where members of the Uros Tribe live. They were absolutely amazing! The islands and pretty much everything on them are made entirely of reeds (except for the solar power panels...) -

They loved their fluro colours here. All the ladies were dressed to the nines in fluro pinks, yellows, greens. The craft they made was also, you guessed it, made up primarily of fluro colours.

Next stop was the Island of Amantani. It was a good 4 hour boat ride. It was so nice sitting out on the back of the boat as we cruised over to the Island. (I may have severely singed my legs while sitting in the sun.... It has still not gone down and is beetroot red - ouch.) On Amantani we stayed the night with a local family - Florentino and Victoria. They were absolutely gorgeous. I think I'm short. These people are tiny. And for some reason they make their doors even smaller than they are.

It was slightly awkward though. Florentino spoke only Spanish, and his wife Quechua. We had no hope in the world so there was a lot of charades but we got through. I think they found us amusing. Victoria often giggled at us. Once at Claire for ruining a wall that is probably hundreds of years old while trying to adjust her shoe, and a couple of times because we were slow in making our way down the path. (I need to add that it was pitch black, pouring, slippery, and uneven ground (a good 15m walk) with one torch.....) Victoria had no torch, was in sandals and was a good 50 yards in front of us the whole time. Hmmmm.

That night the town held a local fiesta where they took all their guests dressed in traditional clothing - hilarious! The photos are pretty feral. We have banned each other from showing anyone. Here is one of my back though so you get an idea of both the size of Victoria and what we were dressed up in..... except Mel who was dressed in traditional men's attire (consisting of a massive green embroidered poncho and beanie), because they didn't have another skirt (hahahahaha).

Will write again soon xxx

Eating Cuy (aka... Guinea Pig)

On our return from Machu Picchu we felt the need to sample the local cuisine. We'd been fed Alpaca on the trek and had heard that Guinea Pig was 'the thing' to eat in Peru. Apparently it is a delicacy.... I cannot see why.

At first I thought it would be easy to eat - that is until it arrives at your table looking like this -

POOR LITTLE GUINEA PIG!!!!! Little feet, nails and everything all attached. Gross.

I made myself eat a bit. It tastes just like pork crackling, but not so tasty. And there is no flesh on the thing at all, so you much at it with your hands like you would ribs. Wouldn't order it again....

A local Peruvian school

On Monday we caught a taxi to the small agricultural community of Pumamarca to visit a friend of Claire's from uni who has just started working with an organisation called Peru's Challenge. The organisation is currenlty helping the local community build a school. Their help has seen primary school attendence in the area grow from 14 kids to over 150.

We were lucky enough to get a tour of the local school and spend time with the kids in their classes. We also helped to weed their vegie garden which grows enough produce to ensure the children are well feed (most were surviving on a cup of tea and a potato a day). They are such gorgeous children, however they suffer a lot from serious skin infections due to the dry air and most are infected with parasites from their local water supply.

They were all fascinated by the cameras!

The Inka Trail and Cusco

We survived the Inka Trail and are now back in Cusco for a few more days before we make our way to Lake Titicaca. In total we walked about 48km carrying backpacks which we should have made much lighter! Elistian, one of our guides, estimated that my bag weighed 12kg- eeek. Good thing I did all that bootcamp training.

The sites were amazing! I will try and post some photos soon. At our highest point we were 4200m above sea level. Luckily we are all adjusted to the altitude.

We all made it back in one piece with no major injuries. There was a lot of what we have dubbed ´rock surfing´ though where you lose your footing and slide along slippery rocks and luckily regain your balance before falling off the edge of the mountain and I have a busted knee from all the stairs that we had to climb and descend. To give you some idea we had to descend at least 2000 steps on the last day. They call them the ´Gringo Stairs´ because apparenlty all the Gringos complain on the way down - which I must admit we did a little bit of. Going down that many stairs gets very tedious - especially when you are forced to watch your feet and cannot really look at what is happening around you.

We were very lucky and had beautiful weather for the majority of the trek (it being the beginning of the wet season) - just the odd shower along the way. Just our luck though that it drizzled constantly on the last morning as we climbed the last 5km to Machu Picchu.... It did clear up in the afternoon though which allowed us to get some good photos and explore without being too freezing (Mum - your jumper has come in very handy and has kept me very warm and toasty!!!)

The campsite bathrooms along the trek had to be the most disgusting things you have ever seen!! Two words - drop hole. Need I say more than people seem to have very bad aim. YUK.

Am in the middle of planning our next few weeks so had best get back to it.
Hope to hear from you all soon xxx Boodle