Rurrenabaque, Bolivia - 24-27 October

We arrived at the La Paz airport early in the morning to catch a 6:15 flight, we had met 2 English people: Tessa Prendergast and Adam and they had come along with us just hoping to make it onto the flight. After a bit of negotiating they both managed to get on the flight. We were then ushered onto the tarmac to our plane, it was a 19 seater twin prop plane. This was going to be a fun flight.

As we were climbing up from La Paz airport we flew past some amazing snow-capped mountains not more than about 100m away. After only 35 mins we touched down in the jungle. Even though it was still early it was already hot and humid and there was a lot of oxygen in the air!! This made a great change after being around 3800m for the past couple of weeks.

We got to the travel agency in the centre of town and checked in for our Pampas tour, this is a tour along the river in 8-seater dugout canoe type boats with a 15hp engine on the back. The other Tessa and Adam managed to get onto our trip no problem (there were 11others as well). We met our guide, Victor, at the agency. To avoid confusion in the names on the tour he called the other Tessa, Tessa Uno and Chennells Dos, this is probably because he took a distinct liking to Tessa Uno during the trip. After pleasantries exchanged we piled into 2 old red Toyota Land Cruisers and began the 3 and a half hour ride that was probably the dustiest I have ever been on. Every time we passed another 4x4 or truck the whole car would be filled with dust, by the end of it, we were all covered and the shirt I was wearing will never be the same again.

Our boats for the 3 hr journey up the river on day 1

A quick lunch in a local village and we were off to get the boats to start our Pampas tour. The river was pretty low, but Victor said that it was better than some years before where there was almost no water in the river at this time of year. The rainy season is in Nov, Dec, Jan and so we were there at just about the driest time.

Black Cayman

Almost immediately as we left the banks we started seeing wildlife and birdlife. Under pretty much every tree there is at least 1 cayman, most of them are spectacled caymans but we did see a few black caymans. The black caymans can get up to 8m long! There were also plenty Capibaras along the river banks, these animals are like a hippo crossed between a hamster (are apparently part of the rodent family). There were also plenty of birds along the river, far too many to mention.

Spectacled Cayman

Capibaras



Amazon Fish Eagle

Paradise Bird

Swimming the murky waters of an Amazon tributary

We knew that there were pink dolphins in the river and were really hoping to see them up close. When we reached one point in the river, our guide Victor, advised us that there were pink dolphins in the water and it was safe to swim (apparently the pink dolphins keep the piranha and cayman infested waters clear in this area). We could see the dolphins surfacing in various places in the area, so I obliged and plunged into the murky, muddy waters of an Amazon tributary. The water was really warm and I was concerned the whole time about being bitten by a piranha, and then I felt something nipping at my side. Needless to say I pretty much shat myself there and then. Victor was unperturbed and calmly said that it was only sardines. After a few minutes it was time to move on so we could get to the lodge before dark. There was plenty more to see along the way, the spider monkeys being the most notable in the last part of our journey. Hundreds of turtles too, all sunning themselves on exposed pieces of wood, until the wake from our boat swallowed them up!

Spider Monkey

After 3 hours on the river, we arrived at the lodge which consists of a dining room, a hammock room and a whole bunch of dorm rooms for groups of 7 or 8. At least the beds all had mosquito nets! Once we had put our stuff down we all jumped back into the boats for a short trip up the river to a bar to watch the sunset. Well as it turns out, it’s not really too much of a bar at all, they have beer, but it’s pretty warm and there is nothing softer or harder than that on offer. The sunset was worth it though!

Later that evening after dinner we went on a night cruise on the river seeing the sights and sounds by night. It was pretty amazing, loads of caymans (incl one large black one just around the corner from the lodge), fish that jumped into the boat. One fished actually jumped into the boat slapping Adam in the face on his way in. I found this hilarious, but I don’t think he did quite as much! We also saw loads of bats and fireflies. A one point we turned off all our headlamps / torches and just floated downstream, the sky was full of stars and it was just so peaceful and quiet floating down the river!

Anaconda hunting in thigh high grass!

The next morning we were going anaconda hunting. This entailed putting on some gum boots/wellies and trudging through thigh high grass looking for snakes (they said we may see cobras too). Now this sounded like a lot of fun to a lot of people, but growing up on a farm with half a dozen types of deadly snakes tends to teach you to stay away from the damn things, but off we went anyway! We left the lodge at 8 am and it must already have been 28 degrees! The walk itself ended up being a 4 hour trudge from our lodge around a few lakes in the sweltering head (it must have got up to 38 degrees in the middle of the day!!) and we did not end up finding any snakes! We were kind of sad and I was kind of glad at the same time. Tess and I only took 1 litre of water each for the walk and both of us got back pretty dehydrated, I think I downed a litre and a half as we got back.

We had a little chilled time before heading off to our afternoon’s activity: piranha fishing. This once again could be rather dangerous to one’s fingers, but as it turns out was quite a lot of fun, and rather challenging to catch the little buggers. They are pretty sneaky as they mostly manage to eat the meat off the hook without getting themselves hooked. Tess and I each caught half a dozen or so and made sure we didn’t lose any fingers along the way, but none of these were a decent size so we just tossed them back. One of the other guys did catch a big one and we tasted that at dinner that evening. It’s not bad at all and a rather mild fish. They are just so small so you would need a bunch to make a meal of it.

 After our fishing Victor took us to a different sunset bar for a drink. We decided that chilling having drinks watching the sunset was a much better way to spend time than piranha fishing so we just relaxed and chatted amongst ourselves and to the other groups that came for a sundowner. We headed to bed early as we were due to watch the sun rise in the morning on the pampas.

In the night a massive lightning and thunderstorm started, like the ones they have in Joburg, and it pretty much rained from then right into the middle of the morning and when we were heading back to Rurrenabaque.  We enjoyed seeing the rain and gave us a little insight into what the jungle must be like in the rainy season in Dec, Jan. It’s amazing how a night of rain can start to raise the river level!  At least the rain made the 3 hour 4x4 ride back to Rurrenabaque a dust free one.

Drinks at Mosquito Bar with Victor, Alice and Adam

That evening in Rurrenabaque we met up with Leigh-Ann and Michael, who had introduced us to Tessa and Adam in La Paz, and all went for drinks and dinner at Mosquito Bar. Our guide Victor was there too and after too many beers he did declare his undying love for Tessa Uno, much to our amusement. It was a fun evening to end a great experience in the jungle in Bolivia. We hadn’t seen jaguar or anaconda, but we had seen loads of other animals and birds that made it an unforgettable experience.

All 7 of us (from right): Tess Uno, Adam, Marije, Tony, Alice, Tess and Me

La Paz, Bolivia 19-23 October

So we finally arrived at our hostel called Adventure Brew in La Paz! The hostel had a great upstairs bar / dining area and we settled into a cold beer and watched the sun go down and all the lights of the La Paz city bowl light up. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and the way it’s built is quite fascinating – it really is like a super bowl, and at the top you have these incredible snow-capped mountains.

La Paz in general is quite a manic city! Derek liked La Paz, I however was not so convinced. Loads of people, hundreds of street hawkers, loads of people selling street food (some funny smells) and a rather large amount of pollution. It did have a wide variety of different restaurants which was good – we even had a little Indian!

Sprawling mass of housing, all in a bowl shape, crawling up the sides - insane!

We had heard a lot could be organised from La Paz, and so our first day was mostly spent investigating options for doing a tour of the Amazon (Rurrenabaque) and for doing the infamous Death Road… The World’s Most Dangerous Road! After much debate, our Kiwi friends and us decided on a bicycle company to go with and signed up to do this 65km bike ride, starting in the mountains just outside La Paz, at an altitude of 4700m above sea level and winding our way all the way into more tropical surrounds at 1100m.

We started off early and after having a safety talk, putting on all the gear, trying to stay warm and performing the ritual of sprinkling a little drink consisting of 96% alcohol on our lips, our tyres and on the earth to ensure Pachamama (Mother Earth) kept us all safe, we were on our way!





Starting on a tar road and racing through these mountains was incredible. We then got to a pit stop where the option of riding a further 8km up hill was given – I opted out after the first 500m, whilst Derek raced ahead of the pack to the next meeting point.

 At that point we reached dirt road and the World’s Most Dangerous Road began... Now the reason it’s so dangerous – many people have died, initially in car accidents as there is only one lane for both up and down traffic (there is now a new road hence fewer cars using the road) but later due to more cyclists having accidents whilst doing Death Road. I wasn’t quite aware of how many cyclists had died until afterwards, where we were shown where the most recent incident (a Japanese girl who died earlier this year) had happened! Scary!

Amazing views of this valley as we descended.

Sheer drops,scary stuff!

 I must say we both really enjoyed this adventure. The most incredible views and drops – that we mostly got to appreciate on our way up the road in the minibus after we had cycled down. We had a great group of people - everyone survived and everyone had a blast!

Me through the ends of a waterfall

We ended off our ride by having a well-deserved shower and lunch at this animal sanctuary. We got to see a load of animals just wondering around... from different monkeys to macaws and other birds. This activity we really did get the t-shirt!

We spent some time in La Paz looking around the city and came across San Pedro Prison – we’d heard loads of stories about tourists getting a look in at this very differently run prison and considering Derek and I had read Marching Powder we were disappointed to hear they were deporting any Gringo’s seen exiting the prison. So we opted for a little look through the small gates instead.

We also walked through the Witches Market – a street with many old women selling shrivelled dried llama foetus’s and powders and leaves… I don’t know, it’s a crazy place and we saw a couple sights whilst in La Paz, including a lady with a kid’s roundabout business. She was manually turning the roundabout.


Derek managed to finally have a haircut! We found this little barber shop and this old barber, who was wearing his slippers, took meticulous care and gave him a cut as if he'd just got out of the army.

One of the delightful styles he could choose from - all from the 80-90's! Sexy! 

We also managed to catch up with some of our friends that we’ve met along the way. Interesting to hear the stories and everyone’s experiences since we last saw each other. We woke up early – 3am early to watch the World Cup Final! Was good fun, considering we had some kiwi friends and a Frenchman in the mix. All of whom had decided to party it up before the game started and Ellen kept us very amused with drunken shouts of ‘I love you Sonny Bill Williams’ when he wasn’t even on the field as well as Leo the Frenchman dressed in a pseudo superman suit in the colous of the French flag clutching a chicken constantly telling me that he thought he was a little drunk! Ummmmm ya!

One of our afternoon / evenings was spent at the Las Chicolitas Wrestling. Despite it being like a really bad version of WWF, having Bolivian Women in their traditional big poufy skirts taking on men in the ring with occasional glimpses at their underwear and the nervous shrills of the local crowd as if they believed it wasn’t all rehearsed, was a good laugh anyway! The wrestling was rather high up in the super bowl and you got incredible views of the city as we bussed our way there.

Our tickets even had toilet coupons!

In traditional dress revving up the crowds...

Getting down and dirty!

From La Paz we also organised our Amazon experience – we would fly to the town of Rurrenabaque, where it would all begin.


Night view of the city below

Cusco & The Salkantay Trek, Peru 7-16th October

Arriving at an altitude of 3310m above sea level is quite something! A lot higher and colder then we'd been in a while, but what a beautiful and amazing city this was.

Cusco is really picturesque, with a big town square and old buildings surrounding it, many traditionally dressed Peruvian women walking around, loads of curio's and restaurants - this town was geared for tourists!

We felt really safe to wander around in the evenings and besides every second local trying to sell us a massage or some hand woven curio - we found the days spent in Cusco really great.

We arrived in good time to acclimatize before our Salkantay Trek began and in the couple days leading up to it visited a couple local markets, some museums and learnt a bit about Inca traditions and culture.

The Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman

The day before we started our trek we decided to 'test' ourselves by walking up to the well known ruins up on a hill above the city of Cusco - called Sacsayhuaman. Was rather funny as our taxi driver from the airport (who was very proud of the English lesson's he'd been taking) explained to us all that Cusco had to offer, including something about a 'Sexy Woman'. I was a little concerned at this point what he thought we were here to do.. but funnily realised a couple days later that he was in fact talking about the ruins, pronounced similarly!

Familiar building patterns of the Incas in Cusco City

Cusco has a list of pubs and restaurants to choose from. Great bars with balconies overlooking the main square where i enjoyed many a coke cola and Derek many a beer...despite my best efforts to warn Derek about the negative effects of alcohol and smoking have at high altitude, his only response being "i laugh in the face of danger", at which point i gave up and carried on sipping my coke! Derek was a lot more adventurous than me on the food side and tucked into an alpaca (animal that looks like a llama) steak one eve.

The night before our Salkantay trek began, we met our guide and fellow trekkers. A great group of people that we would spend the next 5 days hiking and camping with.

At 4am we woke up, a tad nervous and piled into a bus with the others and started to drive higher and higher into the mountains. We stopped for a quick breakfast and then bundled into the back of a lorry, which then continued upwards and onwards. Getting to know our crew along the way, a couple from America celebrating their 22nd wedding anniversary, two English friends, a Norwegian couple and 2 Canadian friends who became known as The Chica's.

The lorry stopped, unloaded us and our walking poles and we were off... The first bit was along a road, flat and very scenic and i remember thinking, hmmmm... this is going to be fine! Of course our 9kg's of luggage had been loaded up onto horses who went ahead, so in terms of carrying too much stuff, we were fine!

Now the Salkantay Trek is definitely one of the longer treks leading to Machu Picchu...75km's over 5 days and the highest altitude reached being 4600m above sea level. This is honestly one of the hardest, most gruelling things i have ever done and remember cursing most of the way and thinking why didn't anyone tell me it was going to be this tough! Our guide, Javier, who was just amazing gave us 3 rules before we began : 1. Don't complain 2. Don't cry and 3. Don't die.

Well by the 2nd day, i'd done everything but almost die!

The first day started off well. You could feel the effects of the altitude creeping up on you, but terrain was manageable and after eating the most amazing 3 course lunch prepared for us by our cook we were set to continue...but that's when it all started to change...

Our path started climbing, gently at first, then steeper (with incredible views of the surrounding mountains as well as the Salkantay mountain and glacier), until we got to the killer climb part! About 2 hours of solid zig-zagging up the steepest bit of mountain i have ever hiked! To make things interesting, i had a slight moment of panic and together with not feeling that well from altitude - proceeded to faint mid-mountain! Definitely the most scenic location i've fainted at... which sent one of the trekking crew bounding back down the mountain with oxygen for me - all very dramatic! Finally arriving at our first campsite, camping at a high altitude of 4400m and just under the glacier of the Salkantay mountain, we were freezing!! Needless to say i slept with every item of clothing i took on, awaking to falling sleet!



Us under the Salkantay Glacier, end of Day 1.

Our group at the highest point.

                                                



Amazing view from our campsite, Day2

Now after an initial climb on day 2, the rest of our track was more downhill. Except day 4 which involved 3hours of solid uphill climbing.
The 3rd day was by far the best. Terrain was a little more level, with a couple of ups and downs. We walked along this huge, raging river amongst jungle forest and saw amazing waterfalls, butterflies and bird life. Ending off the day with a swim in the freezing river!

All I can say is thanks to Robin and Hilary for raising a saint! Derek motivated and talked me through literally almost every step i took and if he wasn't doing that, he was literally pushing my behind up the mountain, whilst carrying my day pack and about 4litres of water. He listened to the complaining, the crying and after all the tears still made me feel like I was the most amazing person because i had completed this incredible hike!

Honestly did not know how he did it - Derek made the Salkantay Trek seem like a walk in the park. He effortlessly conquered this trek and just loved it!

Hmmm not the most glamourous look...

Swollen eyed, tired, but absolutely amazed with this place!

On the 5th day, after staying the night at a town at the base of Macchu Piccu, we woke up super early and caught a bus up to the ancient ruins of Macchu Piccu. We managed to enjoy the ruins sans thousands of visitors due to it being so early. But as the mist rose, you got to see this incredibly beautiful place! Having our guide Javier was so necessary, he told us loads of history and information about the ruins - what a spectacular place! No wonder this is one of the seven wonders of the world!

 A little later that morning we then climbed up Huayna Picchu which is this mini mountain that lies to the one side of the Machu Picchu ruins. Not a hard climb, but towards the end, extremely small stone stairs and chains keeping you glued to the mountain. Javier's not so tactful words of " if you miss one stair you die" kept repeating themselves in my head as we descended. But wow, the view from the top was unbelievable! A 360degree view of so high up was breathtaking!

Hugging the rocks at the top of Huayna Piccu, very high up (with Macchu Piccu in the background) 

The Mystical Inca City of Macchu Piccu

We then caught a very slow train back to Cusco. It was called the Tourist train, and the reasons being very obvious! Once an initial snack had been served, we had a little on board entertainment - some crazy masked dancer man up and down the aisle, followed by the 2 staff who served us earlier strutting their stuff down the aisle aka Tourist Train Runway, modelling this season{s must have alpaca wool items... jerseys, pashminas and coats where the look that afternoon! We hosed ourselves and all cheered madly as they walked past. Oh my word, floods of what my ex-workmates would have said had they been there!



Strutting his stuff!

We made it back to Cusco and all decided to have one last drink together, before our team split up and went their own ways. A fairly late-ish evening and that night slept like logs!

Our last day in Cusco was a Sunday, which is usually when a town shuts down, so we really did have a quiet lazy day, all before our bus left that evening...

 

A last look The Salkantay Glacier, never been summited

Copacabana, Bolivia - 17-18 October

We left Cusco on Nueve Continental and were assured by the agent who sold us the ticket that the bus was going through Copacabana in Bolivia to La Paz so we had a good rest on the bus that night knowing that we would wake up only having to cross the border and then would be dropped safely in Copacabana. Wrong!

The great border crossing from Peru to Bolivia

We were rudely awoken at about 6:30 in the morning and those going to Copacabana were told to get off the bus. We were then loaded into a mini bus and taken to the Peru border and unceremoniously dumped without any information. So we needed to cross the border ourselves and find our own way from the Bolivian border to Copacabana. First we needed to get our Bolivian visa which cost 360 Bolivianos (Bs) and no, we were not allowed to pay in US dollars!!?? Not too much fuss later we had our visas and there was a minibus to Copacabana only costing Bs3 (about $0.40) so not the end of the world.


Copacabana is on Lake Titicaca, which is beautiful, but I think we expected a bit much from Copacabana itself. The town is a little run down and not too much to see. There are many small boats on the lake that create a rather pretty picture, but the waterfront is covered with litter and there are about 200 swan shaped pedalos sitting idle, on the shore. We expected more of a beach and there is nothing of the sort!

View of Copacabana from Lake Titicaca

The Copacabana "waterfront"

A view down the main street in Copacabana

We had not booked accommodation in Copacabana so we went to a few places before we settled on the Utama hotel on the hill. We headed out to find ourselves some food and after a great cup of coffee (and finding out the time was an hour later than we thought) we decided to order almeurzos (meal of the day, usually 3 courses), but the food was terrible! Tess hardly ate any of her food and she had ordered spag bolonaise for her main, now that gives you some idea of how bad the food was! The rest of the day was rather chilled and we slept most of it away.

The view from our hostel on Isla del Sol

In the morning we were a lot more productive and we organised a trip to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). This was a pleasant hour and a half boat trip across the lake that is very scenic and picturesque. We arrived there without a reservation and only the few hostels in the guide book to choose from. Puerto del Sol was our choice and the guidebook simply said that it was at the top of the hill overlooking the village. We thought this would be a short walk a little way up the mountain. So we started up the stairs towards the village and at each corner the village seem to stretch further and further! Finally we reached the crest of the hill and saw the hostel, very basic and VERY cheap (our cheapest night yet!).

We got ourselves a few drinks, introduced ourselves to the quartet of Kiwis staying there that evening too, and settled in to watch the sun set. It was magnificient across the lake. We got on really well with the Kiwis and went for dinner with them and would end up travelling with them for the next week.






The next morning we had some breakfast and then headed back on the boat to Copacabana expecting to catch the bus to La Paz that afternoon. When we got back we asked around the town for bus tickets to La Paz, but there was a strike happening and the road between Copacabana and La Paz was closed, so there were no buses heading directly to La Paz. We teamed up with 2 of the Kiwis we'd met (Michael and Ellen) and a Frenchman, Leo, who the Kiwis had convinced to come to La Paz to watch the Rugby World Cup final. We were left with 2 options to get to La Paz:

1) The safe option: head by bus back to the Peru border and then go via another town, cross back into Bolivia and head to La Paz. Since we had a visa and we were not sure whether we were going to have to pay for another visa we did not take this option. Intead we took:

2) The not so safe option: catch a taxi to the blockade, walk 6kms with our full backpacks (they weigh about 18kgs each), we had day packs as well and some snacks and water to keep us going (it all weighs a lot!). We would then have to walk through the protesters and hopefully catch another taxi on the other side to a small town and cross the lake on a ferry and then catch a minibus all the way to La Paz.

Us, just about to start our hike across the roadblock

Pretty much on my lap and breastfeeding

Well, all in all, it went pretty well. We had no trouble with any of the protesters and we only had to walk about 4 of the 6kms until we got picked up by a minibus who took us to the next town. We then caught a ferry that I was pretty scared was not going to make it to the other side due to some pretty strong winds and waves on the lake, but we made it there ok. We then caught a minibus destined for La Paz. Due to the seats being rather cramped, I decided to sit in front with Leo expecting a little more legroom. Little did I know that a mother and a baby piled into the bus at the last moment and proceeded to sit on the ledge behind the driver's seat (pretty much on my lap). Just in case that was not enough, she then proceeded to pop out her boob and breastfeed on my lap, a little inappropriate to me, but Tessa thought it was hilarious. Tess didn't exactly have a easy ride either, some grandmother sat next to her wearing traditional dress, but smelling like a homeless person, not exactly pleasant! A rather uncomfortable trip and 2 hours later we made it to Adventure Brew in La Paz.

Bus to Lima, Peru - 5-6 October

After landing back on Ecuadorian soil … long gone were the blue, blue waters and white sands! We arrived in the city of Guayaquil and although the airport building was a rather new and impressive building, my hopes were dashed as we seemed to find ourselves being taxied into the brown and poverty stricken streets to our hostel for the night.

By all means not the most glamorous city, but it sure was BIG! We managed fairly easy to find the bus company and book ourselves onto the longest bus trip we had ever faced…We were anticipating a 26 hour bus journey from Guayaquil in Ecuador all the way across the border and into Peru, down the Peruvian coast to the capital city of Lima.

As we watched our bags being loaded into a dirty and slightly crumby looking bus, I looked at Derek and shook my head! We were in for a helluva ride! We boarded our bus, to find the interior looking even more dismal than the outside of the bus and I knew right there and then that I was officially in Bus Hell. Broken seats, window panes not properly secured, not to mention the unmentionable something sprayed all over my window right next to my arm!

After about 20 mins into our journey, our bus stopped for the first of many times – we were going to get a lunch snack it seemed. Our less than pleased hostess handed out polystyrene packs picked up from the gas station we’d just pulled into. South American tradition of carbo fest continued... a mound of rice, some meat looking stew with chips in it and a slice of avo …mmm... I was going to have lost at least 3kg’s by the time this bus journey was over!

 

Ok, so I could rant and rant at how bad this bus trip was, but it got a whole lot worse when we realised that according to our guidebook distances, we were running more and more behind schedule. We worked out our bus must have had a mechanical problem as every 2 or so hours the bus just stopped, switched off completely, we just sat and waited.

Turns out our bus ride which should have been 26 hours, turned into 32 hours! The last couple hours being the worse... a bit of mutiny on the bus, with fellow passengers getting so annoyed they started smoking on board, lighting incense sticks and the last stop the bus made at this road side café – well Derek and I couldn’t even walk into because it smelled so foul!

Anyways, taking the attention off the bus and looking out of the window… what a sight! We were literally travelling along the coast of Peru through desert terrain – interspersed by crop farming surrounding the little towns we passed through (one in particular was centred around  a fish food processing plant and by goodness – was the stinkiest town I’ve ever had the privilege of passing through!) Anyways, the coastline was pretty spectacular – at some parts travelling in the desert, along these steep cliffs, where below you blue water sprayed- something like Chapman’s Peak but in a desert!

Ok, so 32 hours later, a couple books read, a little hungrier we finally arrived in Lima! We stayed in a lovely suburb called Miraflores – great restaurants and lovely and clean! We were sad to have missed out on time in Lima – definitely seemed a good place to explore further.

View from the Promenade

We woke up early the next morning and went for a walk along the promenade which was about a block away from where we were staying. It felt like we were in Cape Town, people running and cycling along the promenade – all so western – wow! We walked along until we came to the Lovers Park – which was quite cute.

Lovers Park

Quick rush to the airport and we were on our way to Cusco …high altitude and the starting point for our trekking adventure!