Crazy La Paz

Arrived yesterday arvo in La Paz, and what a crazy city it looks when you coming in on the bus, white-capped mountains in the background, and a sprawling city..houses everywhere. La Paz is in a valley, but there are houses as far as the eye can see.
Mark and I decided to stay in the Adventure Hostel, the Mircobrewery in the hostel was the deciding factor in the choice. It's a pretty cool hostel, has a cool bar that looks out on the city.Ended up having a huge night...I ended up meeting an Aussie couple called Jess and Nick, and a few Irish boys...so it's not hard to see why it was a big one. We went to this dodgy bar for a couple of drinks first..then it was off to a club called Orange for a bit of a boogie.

Copacabana & Isla del Sol

I have really enjoyed the laid-back feel that Copacabana offers, definitely not like the impression one get from hearing about Bolivia..but I'm sure that will change latter in the afternoon when I arrive in La Paz. Yesterday I ventured to Isla del Sol, which is an Island 2hr away from Copacabana. I was meant to go with with Mark, but he is really struggling with a stomach bug, he could hardly move yesterday. The Island was pretty enough, all I basically did was walk from the North point of the Island to the South, which was a 3hr leisurely walk, and had some some with myself. There was a few Inca ruins on the way, but nothing too special after the stuff near Cusco in Peru.
Last night I had Mexican at a place down the road, pretty tasty stuff..with a set menu with 5 courses for only 25 Bolivianos. Got talking to a guy from Belgium called Dimitri who was pretty cool. He's about to cruise into Argentina and then cycle 1300km to the bottom tip of South America, Ushuaia. If only I had an extra month on my trip!

Into Bolivia and Copacabana

I left Arequipa yesterday for Puno, which is a town in Peru near lake Titicaca, one pretty impressive lake..I think it's one of the biggest ones in the world.
I was lucky enough to find a decent bloke who was travelling my way, Mark from London..so we set off with a slightly rickerty Flores bus at 10.30am.
The bus ride was fine enough, we got to Puno at 4pm after one or two heart stopping moments. First a tanker lost it's load...which gave everyone a chance to stop and relieve themselves on the side of the road..with the toilets out of action this was a welcome relief..even for the Peruvian women just squatted and used their long dresses as cover.
The biggest heart-stopping moment was when Mark decided to get off the bus at this really dodgy town..I mean really dodgy..the bus took off and all his stuff was on the bus with me. I'm carrying enough stuff on my own, but thankfully after some arm waving I managed to get the bus driver to stop.
Puno isn't the nicest city in the world...it looks like a favela in Brazil, but we needed to stop there a night before heading into Bolivia.
We had a decent night there anyway, we went to this bar and had a few beers with some Canadians and Americans that we met on the bus. The place also had Jenga..which isn't the normal game I play when I head down to the pub, but after a few beers it was pretty enjoyable.
Besides this, we notice that at the end of the night restaurant owners dump their rubbish for the stray dogs to feast on...can't say I agree with the practice, it looked pretty disguising seeing it spread out on the road, but it actually fitted in with the general appearance of Puno.
Today we arrived in Copacabana, and I'm glad that I have a couple of days here, it's such a cool little town. We are only paying 20 Bolivianos, which is about $3US a night for our own room in a cool little hotel...it's half the price of the shed we stayed in last night..not that the shed was all that bad...but did the street look dodgy at midnight last night!

When a holiday isn't a holiday - El Misti

Decided to test my body the last 2 days, had some fun along the way, but El Misti would have to be one of the hardest things I have ever done.
El Misti is the second largest volcano in the country, but is said to be the hardest to climb. El Misti stands at 5822m, a tiny bit bigger than Australia's highest, Mt Kosciuszko at 2,228m.
I started off getting picked up at 8am from my hostel in Arequipa, there was only one other person, a French girl who was nice enough.
We needed to carry all our own gear for the hike. That meant carrying a tent, ground mat, sleeping bag, 5 litres of water and any other clothes that were needed. I would say that I was carrying at least 15kgs, which is a huge difference than the 6kgs I was carrying on the Inca trail.
The starting point of the trek is 3,300m not too far from Arequipa. The first day wasn't too hard, the base camp is at 4,500m, it was hard going lugging 15kg up shifting sand and rocks, but I didn't feel any effects of the altitude. We got to be the base camp at 3pm, I was pretty hungry but tea wasn't ready until 5pm, so I spent 2 hours talking to the French girl and dreaming of big fat chickens. Unfortunately for me, the food wasn't on the same level as the Inca Trail...tea was soup with pasta, then mains was 2 minute noodles. As you can imagine, after 6 hours for trekking through the sun with a big backpack, this wasn't enough to satisfy my hunger...but what could I do..there wasn't a 7/11 in sight.
Anyway, after dinner with nothing to do...was in bed by 6.30pm. I would of preferred staying up, but everyone was too buggered from the first day. We needed to wake up at 2.30am for day 2 anyway, so maybe this was a good thing. I got to see an amazing sun-set which was cool, so least that was something.
The breakfast at 2.30am was even worse than the dinner, it consisted of stale white bread, jam and cheese...hardly the food you need when your about to make your body really suffer.
Anyway after the hardy breakfast, we set off at 3am. There aren't too many advantages getting up at this hour, but I got to see stars for the first time in awhile...and lights of Arequipa shone brightly amongst the darkness.
The backpack was considerable lighter for this, we could leave most things behind at the base camp, and pick it up on the way out..but this didn't make it any easier. I could really feel the altitude effect me..the 6 hours to reach the top of the volcano was so bloody hard. Basically it one step, two step..over and over again..the lack of light, small rocks and the 40-50 percentage gradient didn't help matters either. Anyway, when we finally made the top, it was all worth while. Amazing views of Arequipa and other volcanoes in the area...got to see inside my first volcano.
Going down was a lot of fun as well, instead of walking down, we ran down the volcanic sand, so you do it loads quicker, not to mention the fun of bounding down the mountain.
Great to do it, but I was pretty starved by the end, we got back to Arequipa at 2pm, my last meal was the stale bread at 2.30am.

Rafting in the Chili River

I really wanted to climb El Misti today, the large volcano near the city..it stands 5800 and something metres...but unfortunately there wasn't enough people, so will get to it tomorrow. To pass the time today, decided to do a little rafting, and I wasn't disappointed. I have done rafting in the Zambezi and Rotorua in New Zealand..they were both special for different reasons...Zambezi, what can you say...and Rotorua had a 7m rapid which was rather special. This wasn't too technical, but the scenery was amazing...there were water falls coming down at various intervals and there was a couple of grade 3/4 rapids.
Besides this didn't really do much, met a couple of cool German brothers on the trip, so hung out with them for most of the arvo.
Anyway, I have booked in the Volcano tomorrow, so that should be pretty interesting. After 5000m things can get pretty interesting, but I will be decked out with all the stuff, so should be fine.

Arequipa & the Colca Canyon

I took an overnight bus from Cusco and arrived in Arequipa last Tuesday. It only cost 40 soles on the Flores bus, and even though I'd heard of a bad story from them from another traveller, the ride went without incident. Got some food on board and got to practise my Spanish watching Happy Gilmore.
Didn't really do much on the Tuesday, I caught up with Christel, a girl I met during the Inca Trail, so we decided to do the Colca Canyon trek, which is the deepest canyon in the world...or the 2nd..so I've been told.(it's twice as deep as the Grand Canyon)
We started on the Wednesday, getting picked up at 5.20am by taxi, then taken to the main bus station with millions of other Peruvians.
There were 6 others on the trip, a Dutch couple, 3 French blokes and a Swiss dude.
Anyway we made the 6 hour bus ride with few difficulties...we went over unpaved road for at least 4 hours of the journey, and a whole bunch of Peruvian women jumped on with a couple hours to go, they were pretty smelly....I don't think a shower is a big part of their custom and they wear so much clothes for the conditions...I would hate to see what they'd wear in cold weather!
After having a small lunch with rice and potatoes included...they use them in every meal over here...we started the downwards trek at 2.30pm. We arrived at the first site around 6pm, just before dark. This was all downhill...which isn't the easiest on the legs, small rocks and sand abound. The scenery was a stark contrast to Machu Picchu, cactus everywhere instead of orchids.
Our first night was spent in a very small village, we stayed in rooms made of mud-brick and a tin roof with a dirt floor, with the beds made of tree-stumps and bits of reed like material as the base. Thankfully they used a normal mattress and bedding...and surprising enough I had a great night sleep, except for the bird dancing on the roof at 6am in the morning. Even though the place was basic, I should be thankful, only 5 months before they didn't even have electricity.
We left at about 9am after some pancakes and some coca tea. Coca tea is pretty good, they love drinking or chewing the leaves over here...unlike the rest of the world who prefers it up the nose. The 3 hour walk to lunch was pretty crusiey, we stopped in to check out the local doctor, who's range covers about 8kms over various mountains. It was pretty basic, just glad my Mum isn't Peruvian..because I don't think I would of made it 30 years ago! One other interesting thing we learnt...Peruvian women from this area will likely have their babies standing up and crouching...because they tend to be shy...the husband might wrap a blanket over her so no one can see her godly bits.
After this we stopped in a very small (closest really) little Inca museum where this old lady showed us various things. We also tried Chicha, which is a corn beer that they brew. The taste was pretty interesting, let's just say I didn't ask for the recipe.
The lunch was at the Oasis, which is just like the name suggest...greenery right at the bottom of the canyon where the rest of the area was sandy and brown. After 3 hours of having another carbo fuelled meal and a dip in the pool, we did the hardest part of the trek, 2 hours...for me anyway..of climbing from 2000m to 3200m of Cabanaconde. It was great to reach of the top after 2 hour..not have to worry about dust flying around anymore.
We had dinner at the same place as the first night, and once again it was nothing special, more rice and potatoes, but they had a DVD of rock videos from the 80's, so that kept us entertained for the night. After a good night sleep in the hostel, we checked out the condors, which was OK, then we had a few moments of adventure..the mini van got a flat and we got pulled over by the transport police for some paper that wasn't in order..it didn't matter to them that we had 11 people in a van that should of only held 8. The day was completed by a buffet meal included cuy...better known by little girls as Guinea Pig, yummy...actually it was OK, but it doesn't have that much meat on it. Lastly we went to a near by hot springs to soak our weary bodies. The day was capped of by one of the French guys leaving his jacket and credit cards behind at the springs after we got to the the bus station, that kind of misfortune is usually left to me!

Party time back in Cusco

After knocking back some lunch in Aguas Calientes we took the slowest train in the world to Urubamba, then a bus back to Cusco. That was a bit hairy, it started pissing with rain and the bus felt like it might go over a edge a few times. We got back in Cusco @ 8.30pm, and decided to celebrate the end of the trip together with a bite to eat and a few drinks. We met 1 hour later, but first it was great to put some water and shampoo through the hair after 4 days without a wash.
I took the crew to my local, 2 Nations, where we got stuck into some great food, and a a few pisco sours. After that we decided to move to this little bar down the road, which wasn't much, but we had a great time in there, playing stupid drinking games. We got this crazy alcohol there which is made of 24 herbs, and it has a crazy taste as well. I wouldn't start the night on it, that's for sure, but for 10 soles for a jug you can't really complain.
That bar had the worst toilet I have ever seen, it was disguising, some one had thrown up in the corner, the toilet looked like it was falling apart, and the ground was all wet and sticky.
After that we ventured to Mamma Africa to finish off the night with a bit of stomping. It was a cool place, had decent music, and it was amazing that we could stay up to 4am after getting up at the same time the day before...not to mention all the walking.....