Peroooo!

The final stop in Bolivia was Copacabana and the Isla del Sol, which are quite literally on the border with Peru. We arrived in a truck with a driver and his family, having had to hitch a lift with the help of some army officers when all the minivans heading from Huarina to Copacabana were mercilessly crowded. The crossing across Lake Titicaca occurs at a place called Tiquina- a very narrow part where everything- buses, lorries, and yes, the truck we were sitting in- is ferried across by ramshackle-looking flotillas. It was bizarre to sit in a truck with a view of water through all wide windows and feeling the gentle motion of the waves beneath!
Copacabana is small, brightly coloured and beautiful in the sun, with deckchairs and swan boats lining the water front- the perfect place to chill in the sun with a cold beer. We spent a relaxing afternoon after the hectic hitching, and then went on over to the promisingly-named Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). First we clambered up the four flights of Inca steps past an Inca fountain- very hard work at the altitude, let alone with rucksacks like some crazy people were doing! All drinking water on the island has to be ferried across and then moved by donkies, so is very expensive, and although the water from the fountain is not drinkable, it is still sacred. We had time before sunset to do a hike to the southern tip of the island; the view of the calm lake in the sunshine and the majestic Andes behind was beautiful but it was the complete silence and stillness of the place that had the largest impact. That night we feasted on the local speciality- rainbow trout or ´trucha´- with the standard load of double carbs- heaps of rice and chips.
The crossing into Peru was very odd; it was only five minutes into our bus journey that we were all told to get out and get our passports stamped at a hut-like building, then walk across the actual border through a dimly lit archway and get stamped at another hut. Another passport stamp! Although Peru is by far the most boring looking stamp (Uruguay probably the best- with a bird and a sun in an oval shape).
First of all, we visited the famous Machu Picchu site, and no it did not disappoint even in the slightest. Bee and I being the tired and broken travellers that we are (ahem..lazy) we got a train and a bus up to the top of the hill, especially since we hadn´t booked six months in advance, so we cannot claim the glory of having completed the Inca Trail! But perhaps we appreciated it all the more since our eyes were not fogged with fatigue? It was quite a grey day- at one point it rained for an hour- but it was all the more atmospheric with the smell of wet grass and seeing the mist clinging to the huge grey Inca blocks of the ruins. It was very strange to imagine people living in the empty stone spaces and walking up and down the perilous stone steps- our guidebook said that very little is known about Machu Picchu- a lost city but whether it was abandoned before or after the Spanish invasion is unclear. Some of the stonework looked like it could have been cut with modern tools it was so precisely straight- and the fact that the site has stayed in such good condition for over 500 years without cement shows how good the stonemasonry really is! Later that evening we visited some hot springs, watching the sun set behind the silhouettes of mountains and smell of sulphur hanging in the air...Meals-wise things are definitely looking up: juicy grilled alpaca steak, and ´ceviche´- raw fish marinated in lemon, coriander, chilli and onions- delicious! And of course, pisco sours- a frothy white cocktail with a hint of cinnamon.
Next stop was Cusco, a big and beautiful city with as many cathedrals, churches and plazas as streets! We went on a really interesting walking tour of the city, learning a thing or two of interest:
-the cocoa bean is sacred, often given in offering with coca leaves and alcohol to the gods, including Pachamama (mother earth)
-jumping in the fountain in the main plaza will earn you three nights in jail
-some Chileans defaced an ancient and famous 12-sided Inca stone cut in the side of a 500 year old wall (plenty more of the incredible Inca stonework like at Machu Picchu), but did not get reprimanded owing to politics...but now nobody can even touch said stone block!
-anybody can buy a driver´s licence for 300 soles (exchange rate about 1 pound to 4.25 soles) consequently there are plenty of cameras around to catch the craziest and dodgiest of drivers
-teachers were striking at the time of our visit for higher wages- average monthly wage is about 650 soles

We bought tickets for bungee jumping at South America´s highest jump! But when we arrived the place was apparently shut because of the national May 1st holiday- biggest disappointment possible! Next time...
We then headed to Arequipa, on an incredible overnight cama bus: food! Blankets! Free headphones! The city is nestled in the shadow of three huge volcanoes, all of them about 6000m above sea level. It has lots of muted grey volcanic rock buildings, with beautiful carvings and frescoes- reminding me a lot of Sucre but without the flashy white brilliance. Both Bee and I have caught a virus so do not attempt to hike any volcanoes this time around! We went with a friend to see his friend to meet up with his friends who were practicing gymnasts- great to see them flipping and somersaulting in the park as if it was no big deal- and then had so much fun being hoisted into the air too when they stood me on their hands and also helped me into backflips!
We shelled out on a museum visit to see ´Juanita, the Ice Princess´, a girl of about 12 who had been sacrificed on top of the highest volcano- Ampato- to appease the gods about 550 years ago. For the Incas the mountains were where the gods lived, so any eruptions etc. meant that they needed to be appeased, in the form of child sacrifice. The children were chosen from birth, to be kept innocent, beautiful and unblemished, and it was a great honour for them and for their families, as to die in sacrifice would mean rebirth in the realm of the gods. All sacrifices found on the volcano (5 in total) were buried with miniatures and replicas necessary for the next life, including their umbilical cord, necessary for their rebirth. Seeing Juanita was surreal- she is 1m40 and weighs 35kg, and is so well preserved that her hair still looks shiny and combed, and her teeth are perfect white squares showing behind the shrunken lips- slightly unnerving but at the same time incredible that she has remained in this state, frozen, for so many years.
The final stop on our incredible tour around South America was Huacachina, a few minutes drive outside Ica. It is a surprising little village- about 100 permanent inhabitants- with only a handful of buildings around a beautiful lake, surrounded by huge rolling sand dunes. It seems to be perpetually sunny- strange to be back in fierce heat again, after so long bundled up in jumpers and jeans- nice to b able to get a tan back again before heading home! The moment we arrived we booked a dune-buggy tour- it was so much fun to bump about in a yellow cage (strapped in tight, don´t worry) tossed about with the majestic hills of sand all around. We made a few stops for sandboarding too- all the males of course trying to go down these ridiculously steep hills standing up and of course failing miserably, whilst the rest of us zoomed down on our stomachs- not without the pain of sand burns and a few bumps and scratches- health and safety is a very distant idea here! Then on to a tour of the oldest winery in Ica- hundreds of huge urns filled with wine and pisco fermenting- the wine tasting very sweet and the pisco tasting absolutely foul. The pisco is all made by hand there, and apparently many of the workers develop alcoholism and die young from having to taste the pisco every day to test it- a very sobering thought. Finally a last night out, dancing the night away- even after all this time I will never get used to dancing with men actually able to dance, nor my embarrassing inability to salsa!
Tomorrow we will head, bright and early, for the big bustling city of Lima, for a celebratory farewell south american meal (guinea pig perhaps?) and the final plane home....

Bolivia

So having headed back to Argentina, to Mendoza on a beautifully long bus ride, we arrived on Easter weekend with no hostel booked. Clever, I know. After desperately walking about for about an hour we finally found room at a hostel, paying an extortionate price for one bed and one mattress on the floor, but beggars can't be choosers! Bee arrived back fresh from the snow in Canada, exhausted from such a long flight with various stopovers, but all very happy to be reunited. To celebrate Easter Sunday, Elle and I went to the local church for morning service (which was surprisingly empty for a country supposedly 80% catholic) then had an egg hunt with some friends- some hidden 'hilariously' in the pool....oh the waste of chocolate!
We just had time to cycle around some vineyards and taste some of the famous Argentinian wines, and have an all-important last steak before an emotional final farewell to Elle on her bus back to Buenos Aires in time for her flight home. Back to the orginial twosome!
With heavy hearts we left Argentina and somehow caught a bus all the way to the border with Bolivia, La Quiaca. The border was little more than a hut and a man with a stamp- easy to see how so much can be smuggled across- not that we got any ideas of course. It was interesting to see how the facial features of people changed so dramatically with broader cheek bones, darker skin, squarer jaws and oval eyes. Also the sight of women in multiple pleated colourful skirts, with beautiful embroidered blouses, two long thick black plaits down their backs, all topped off with a bowler hat! We stopped over in Tupiza for a night, a place famed for its red rock views and horseriding, feeling very much like something out of an old western film. Continuing on to Uyuni, we were ready for our Salt Flats tour.
It is impossible to describe in words the landscapes we saw on the three day tour, they simply could never do them justice. We saw miles of blinding white flat salt fields, lagoons filled with flamingos, baked red rock, craggy mountains and volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, and delicate flakes of snow at 4000m. It was absoutely breathtaking!
Arriving back to Uyuni that afternoon, we hopped straight on a bus to Sucre, arriving at 4am and sleeping on lovely comfortable plastic seats. Proactive as ever, we headed straight to the market in the hilltop village of Tarabuco- stunning scenery on the 2 hour bus ride there with low-lying clouds and green hills. There was an abundance of bolivian textiles and handmade goods- llama jumpers, armadillo-backed guitars, cocoa leaves (very important here) and piles of fruit and vegetables- considering that Bolivia has over 5000 different varieties of potato, you can imagine the colour and variety of the market! Sucre itself has some of the most beautiful architecture we have seen, with white colonial buildings everywhere that are absolutely dazzling in the sun- great sketching opportunities too. The cemetery was also beautiful, not on the scale of the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires and definitely not as imposing, but it had rows and rows of white walls with windows filled with flowers which are changed regularly- large tubs of wilting flowers and petals where everywhere, giving a lovely perfume to the air.
Next stop was Cochabamba- itself quite a busy bustling grimy city- but has the largest most extensive market we had ever seen! We got lost in the meat section alone for about an hour, surrounded by large sections of skin hanging up, sheep heads, tongues, feet and lumps of steak with flies buzzing and the smell of flesh hanging heavily in the air. Only here would you find rows and rows of shoes for sale right next to the meat, or mattresses and cupboards next to enormous papayas and apples and juice bars side by side with television sets. Unsurprisingly we did get caught up in the heady commercial buzz of the market, investing in some DVDs, shoes, jewellery and some jumpers for the cold weather (apparently lots of the american clothes for sale here have been donated for people in need, but are brought over to Bolivia and then promptly bought wholesale and resold in the markets).
We spent the next few days in La Paz, another crowded metropolis with crazy nightlife, having met up again with some friends from Sucre. The Witches Market after the market in Cochabamba was much less impressive and seemed very stagey for the tourists- although we will never get used to the sight of llama foetuses hanging up everywhere! Foodwise we have been feasting on plenty of empanadas (or techincally 'saltenas' for the savoury fillings) and had our fair share of llama steaks and alpaca steaks- deciding that of the two, alpaca is much juicier and flavoursome. We actually saw one woman on a bus carrying a baby llama on her back in a colourful manta as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world! Felt a slight stab of guilt when tucking in to the next steak we had....
After the business and non-stop rush of La Paz, we retreated to the northern side of Lake Titicaca, to Sorata, a small village perched on the side of a valley among the mountains, reached in a few hours in a cramped little minivan, with our huge packs strapped precariously to the top. Sorata has probably one of the most beautiful landscapes we have ever seen, with a river cutting through the middle of enormous hills on either side, lush with jungle. We set off on a hike without any proper directions, and found a mountain trail in the undergrowth, climbing high up and winding along by the river, finding some caves on the way. The scenery was absolutely stunning, so despite a slightly scary wade in the river, having to scramble on all fours up a side-stream to get out of the very strong current, climbing up the wrong side of the valley only to be rescued by a Bolivian heading to Sorata himself who took us all the way back down and back up again, it was so much fun- especially feeling like intrepid explorers. We earned ourselves a good hearty meal- chicken soup and then a huge bowl of rice, potatoes, vegetables and chicken- and all this for 10 bolivianos, about 90p!