Well where do I start???
We have done so much since we last wrote, but will try not to bore you all as I fill you in on the goss!!
Right now, we are in Peru, crossed the Peru-Bolivia border on 10th March, our 1 month travel anniversary!! 3 countries down, 3 to go! We have been going pretty hard, never a dull moment, but have decided to take a chill pill when we get onto the Peruvian coast and relax on a beach for 5 days or so. Think we have earnt it!
So anyway, since we last wrote.... we left La Paz, which we both really enjoyed as a city. Daile was facinated in how the women dress, and took lots of sneaky photos of the many many ladies in traditional dress with their bowler hats... and thought that perhaps it might inspire Kelly Donovan´s first fashion collection?? Also the fact that it is 3800m high, meant that the view from almost anywhere was amazing as there are buildings perched on every space on the hillside! Part of the enjoyment of La Paz is that we made some friends, Brett and Heather from Melbourne, Cara from USA, Justine and Becs from UK, so on and off we were hanging with this group having lovely CHEAP meals (25 Bolivianos each for a 3 course set meal). NZD $1 is about 3 and a half Bolivianos, so obviously we were VERY well fed and watered!
While in La Paz, we signed up to do THE WORLD´s MOST DANGEROUS ROAD, downhill mountain biking! The company was a NZ company called Gravity and comes HIGHLY recommended from us both if any of you are ever tempted to do something so silly! So for those that dont know, the road has this name because it has the most annual deaths on it. Reason being, it is the width of one lane, and is a 2 way road, and it had sheer drop offs, and many vehicles literally do ´drop off´the side. On our way there in the bus, we saw a sign which said ´42 deaths this year´and it was only March 4th!!
So.... onto the ride itself! Rodney was a pro - the guide invited him to go biking with him and the guides that weekend, he was right behind the guide the whole time! We had strict instructions NOT to look at the scenery while we were riding, or our bikes would go there and we would be goners. We were also told many stories of people slamming on the brakes too hard, going over the handle bars and doing serious damage to their jaws. Apparently MOST tours they have an accident, which was not great news as we prepared to start the ride! We were then told that most of the people who do have accidents usually have cocaine in their system (they get tested in hospital) or are typically the Irish who stay out until all hours, get a couple hours sleep, and then attempt the bike ride! Duh!!! To make matters worse, after hearing all of this, we had to ride on the left hand side of the road, which is the cliff side! I dunno about Rodney´s but my heart was beating so loud I could hear it half the time and the adrenaline was pumping hard!
The ride itself was amazing! We got tips along the way on how to ride each section, and my confidence grew and I got faster and better, and was quite impressed with my efforts by the end of the day. It was a real sense of achievement finishing, and this is another highlight of our trip for sure! Even though I dont normally drink better, the free beer at the end was gone in seconds!
We finished at an animal refuge which the Mt bike company have an affiliation with, had a hot shower, a feed and then got to check out all the animals, mostly monkeys! I was busy playing with the cutest baby monkey and then I thought ¨DUH, rabies!¨and quickly stopped. Rodney then assured me that he saw a sign saying all of the animals are vaccinated, but you never can be sure, so that was the end of that!!
That night, we stayed at a cute town called Corioco, which is only about 1200m above sea level so was semi tropical which was so so nice! Up in altitude it has probably been an average of 15 degrees, so it was nice to get some sun and wear summer clothes again! We stayed there for two days with Brett and Heather our Aussie friends (they did bike ride with us), at a hostel with a pool and a restaurant and bar, and had an awesome time drinking cervezas and vino tintos! (beer and red wine!)
After a lovely two days of good company and chilling out, nursing any sore muscles from the Mt Bike ride, it was time to move on, so we said goodbye to Heather and Brett and caught a bus to Copacobana, which is a lakeside town, by Lake Titicaca, one of the worlds highest navigable lakes, also at 3800m. They supposidly have one of the biggest breeds of trout that you can catch (Trucha in español) but the ones we saw at the markets were not overly big! People outside restaurants were constantly cat calling ¨Trucha, Trucha¨trying to entice you into their restaurants. We were not tempted, gotta be careful what you eat around here, and neither of us are really trout fans to be honest! Copacobana produced our cheapest accommodation to date, at 50 Bolivianos total for a matromonial room (a queen sided bed with a bathroom), which if you do the conversion is probably only about $15 NZD give or take a few dollars! Score!
After two nights here, we decided to tackle another challenge (our adventurous feet were getting itchy again!) so decided to do the highly recommended 18km walk to the end of the pennisula where you can get a ride to Isla del Sol on a local´s boat for a small fee when you get to the end. Yes the scenery was lovely, but this walk was hilly and at over 4000m was tough!! After an exhausting walk, we did negotiate a boat ride with a local, but he ripped us off hard (its not like we had many options) for our 10min boat ride and charged us 70 Bolivanos, more than our accommodation!!! We then had to walk some more to the nearest town on Isla Del Sol, so all in all we comfortably walked a half marathon that day and were rather tired!!
We bought a 2L bottle of Coke, sat down in the sun, and Daile invited a UK couple over to share our much deserved drink and this is where we met Karen and Tom who we have been hanging out with for the last week. Isla Del Sol was lovely, and again we had good company to spend the night with. Caught the boat the next morning, and decided to go all the way to Arequipa in Peru which consisted of 2 bus rides, 3 hours to Puno, and then another 7 to Arequipa. You would think we like long bus rides or something!!!
Next up, all about Arequipa, Peru and our mountain climbing efforts.... Chau for now!
D X
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