neVenEvEneveNeveNeven: Solo South American Adventure: Part 4

The only beer that you can't see through in all
of Bolivia...malty and super sweet!

Wednesday May 15, 2013: La Paz/Copocabana

I arrived at the designated pick up hotel at 6:45...we were meant to leave at 7:10. Well, about 1 hour later the bus arrived. There were major protests and road blockades going on in the city. Apparently miners from the Potosi region and teachers were protesting because they wanted 100% pay for retirement, the same as military retirees. Most of the blockades were in the El Alto area to the west of La Paz (where the airport is) which is the major roadway leading out of La Paz city. As a result, we had to take steep, steep winding, narrow roads out of the valley to avoid the blockades. Once we were able to get out of the valley, we still had to take random dirt back roads way out of the way to try and get around the various blockades that had been set up. Needless to say, it added about 50% of the time to our journey, but at least we got there in the end, as lots of people have stories of getting stuck places throughout South America!

Copacabana, Boliva

We arrived to Copacabana and I madly dashed to try and find internet to call Tim, as I hadn’t spoken to him once since I had been gone, but sadly, I missed him being home by about 15 minutes. Anyway, I hauled all of my bags up a steep hill, huffing and puffing due to the elevation because I had decided to “splurge” on a highly recommended hotel for the night ($30!). As luck would have it, though, they didn’t have any rooms left by the time that I got there, and needless to say the wind was gone from my sails, so I decided to go for cheap at that point! I found a place which promised (I think, as he spoke NO English!) that the shower was hot and I talked him into 30Bs for the night ($4.30). I negotiated 10Bs per kilogram for my laundry, but I think he won out in the end on that one, as I got it back not dry, which is probably when he weighed it. At ~9:30, after a lengthy, broken Spanish discussion ensued about how my clothes were definitely NOT dry and he needed to dry them for longer, he said, mañana? (tomorrow??), and I said NO! Now, right now, finished by 10:30! He returned an hour later with my hot, dry clothes. J Whew...none of that was any sort of conversation that I learned in 20 weeks of Spanish class! Haha

Anyway, the European Football Champs were on, so I watched Chelsea beat Benifica at the very last minute and then went wandering around town. Copa is a pretty small tourist town that sits directly on the south side of Lake Titicaca. It basically has 1 main street with food and shops that runs north to south. Along the beachfront there are many places to book your boat ride to Isla del Sol and the rent pedalos, although I didn’t see anyone out in any of them. Also, there were 24 food stalls, literally named #1, #2, #3, etc...which all seemed to serve the exact same thing (they all had picture menus with prices), mostly trout from the lake. It seemed really strange to me that there would be 24 of exactly the same stalls serving exactly the same thing for exactly the same price all right next to each other. Maybe in the high season the place is busy enough for all of them to stay busy!

Looking down onto Copa from the
Stations of the Cross walk

Also, there is a short hike up to 1 of the higher points in town called Stations of the Cross. There are a series of ~12 cross structures that you pass along your way to the top of the hill where there are many, many more crosses (these people are super duper Catholic!) when you get to the top, but more interesting for me was the absolutely spectacular view looking down on the bay and the city. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a fantastic sunset, but it was a beautiful view nonetheless!

I decided to go to dinner at the restaurant of the hotel with no vacancy, since I was already way up the hill anyway! I initially sat outside, but the weather came in, and I ended up sharing a table with 2 other couples. The food was fantastic, although every time I eat anything, I’m always afraid of the consequences a few hours later after 10+ days of continuous diarrhea! L

Not a big island, but the hugely important in Incan history

Thursday May 16, 2013: Copocabana/Isla del Sol

I got up early to try and grab breakfast before my boat ride to Isla del Sol. I ran into Chris, a really nice British kid I had met at La Senda Verde. We ate breakfast together and then got on our separate boats to the island. Once I made it to the north part of the island, I ran into him again, and we decided to forego taking the guided “tour” of the ruins, as it was only in Spanish anyway.

Sacred Incan Table at the ruins

We both had the same plans to see the ruins on the north side of the island and then do the several hour hike to the south side of the island and stay the night there. We just ended up deciding to hike together for the day, and it was actually nice to have some company for once! We summited the highest point on the north end of the island and spent some time checking out all of the cool Inca ruins, as Isla del Sol is considered the birth place of the Sun God.

Ancient Incan bedroom with a view

I was a little concerned about the open bareness of the 3+ hour hike, as I was still feeling super dodgy with the traveler’s diarrhea, but we carried on, and I just spent the day quite uncomfortable! L After several “fees” to pass through different areas of the trail along the ridge from north to south of the island, we finally arrived at the village on the south side of the island and were quite perplexed about the layout.

LOVE doing handstands...highest point on Isla del Sol

By the time that we arrived it was 3:30 or 4:00, and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we were absolutely starving, and I really, really needed the toilet!! Almost everything seemed closed and not just for a few hours, it was strange, as it really just didn’t seem like there were many people there, even though a lot of people seemed to get off of the boats at this point in the morning. Anyway, we asked around a couple of hostels...some with very sketchy toilet facilities (~$3/night) and finally decided to share a room with two single beds that included a decent breakfast and absolutely amazing views for 60Bs each (~$8.75), a much better call than the cheap one with the dodgy toilets!

Lunch view, not bad

We bought a beer each and decided to hike down to see how far it was to the “bay” where we would catch the boat back the next morning. Holy shit, the hill was steep! It ended up that this village was spread out over a mile from the lakeshore up to the top of the ridge where we were staying with ~450 feet in elevation gain! There aren’t any motorized vehicles (that we could see anyway!) on the island, so everyone seemed to have 1-5 pack burros to do all of their carrying for them. Although the day started out rainy and cloudy, it quickly burned off and we were truly treated to a beautiful sunny day on the Island of the Sun with beautiful views of the lake and the surrounding snow capped Andean peaks.

Friday May 17, 2013: Isla del Sol/Copocabana/Overnight bus to Cusco (Huayruro)

After going to bed early (I didn’t feel like such a grandma for going to bed so early, as it really was 19 year old Chris’ idea for a 9:30 bedtime!) and having a decent lie in, we had a lovely leisurely breakfast with brilliant views and then casually made our way down to the port to await our boat for the 2 hour ride back to Copacabana. I had booked the overnight bust to Cusco (~$23) which left at 6:00 and was ~11 hours with some stopovers including the Bolivian/Peru border and 1.5 hours in Puno before arriving in Cusco at 5:00 a.m. in the morning.

The Bolivian/Peruvian version of Irn Bru...just as sweet!

I had about 6 hours to kill in Copa, so I did a bit of wandering about, a bit of poaching internet to catch up on life admin and a bit of strategic spending of Bolivianos so I wouldn’t end up with a bunch left over when I crossed over the border. I basically wanted to leave the country with no more than about 20Bs (~$3). I finally found a Paceña Black, which Andy Lovering had recommended, so I bought a bottle and headed down to the lake shore to enjoy a beer in the sun and listen to the waves crash. I can’t say that it was my favourite beer, it was super sweet/malty with no real flavor, but it was ~10x better than any of the other beers I had tried in Bolivia, so it was all good!

Creative bike seat for the bike

I also decided to test out the lake water temp, as it seemed strange to me that there was nobody swimming in it, so I assumed it must be very cold. It was not, so not really sure why swimming isn’t billed as a pastime there...maybe it’s not allowed or the trout are killer trout! Haha Anyway, I timed my dinner for 4:30, just in time to get sorted for the bus. I ran into Chris again, so we decided to share a pizza and let our phones charge...at my tried and true restaurant on the main strip! I wished Chris well on the rest of his travels and left to catch my “luxury” full “cama” (pretty much plane business class style seat/beds) bus.

I was a little nervous about the border crossing out of Peru, as I had heard that the border patrol could be a bit shiesty with regard to bribes, etc..especially with Americans since we had to buy Visas to get into the country in the 1^st place, and I was especially concerned considering the discordant relations between the US and Bolivian governments at the current time, as I would assume that the military personnel/border patrol people would be supportive of their leader (but who knows, really), as the Bolivian people definitely are not! Everywhere that I went, people from all different socioeconomic classes and groups vocally expressed their frustration and hatred of the current government, which has recently rewritten the Constitution to allow the current President to run for more terms than the original 2x4 year terms set out by the previous constitution. Basically, people say anything that Chavez did in Venezuela, the government in Bolivia copies! Anyway, with all of the worry, there were absolutely no problems and getting into Peru was easy peasy! After 3.5 hours, we arrived into the Puno bus station, which was a bit of a cluster fuck of very confused foreigners and a lot of locals who didn’t appear to be going anywhere, just sitting around with huge “parcels” wrapped up in their brightly coloured blankets. We had to be issued new tickets (not sure why, as they were for the same seats on the same bus). After that, we had to pay a 1 Sole tourist tax (~$0.40) and it was 0.50 Sole to use the bathroom (still with traveler’s diarrhea! Ughhh!!!!) Of course the cash machine only gives out 100s! This is one of my pet peeves in just about every country in the world except the US and UK! So after an adventure of trying to break a 100 Sole note, I finally had a yogurt, pineapple juice, a trip to the toilet, and a tourist tax official sticker on my bus ticket...phew!!!! This was a bit of hard work when you’ve been woken up from a 3-hour nap! Haha We finally got back on the bus, and I pulled out my sleeping bag, travel pillow, eye mask, earplugs, and a sleeping pill and prepared to arrive at Cusco fit as a fiddle at 5:00 a.m.!

So many beautiful churches in Cusco...
huge Spanish, Catholic influence

Saturday May 18, 2013: Cusco

Well, after a decent amount of sleep, I arrived in Cusco, Peru at the bright and early time of 5:00 a.m...., not the best time to arrive to a new city in a foreign country, alone, where you’re not really sure where you’re going, but hey, that was what I had to work with! I had previously booked my hostel, so at least I knew what address I was heading to. Upon leaving the bus station, I was immediately accosted by several taxi drivers. I had read some horror stories about people being “kidnapped” by unlicensed taxis and forced to empty their bank accounts through their debit cards and then getting released when the funds were gone. As such I was being hyper vigilant about making sure the taxi drivers were legit. In Bolivia, as well as Peru, the taxis aren’t metered, so you have to agree on a price before you get in the taxi. I asked the 1^st taxi driver who whisked me out the door how much the ride would cost, he said, “15 Soles”.

Another of the beautiful churches

If I’d known how to say you’re on crack in Spanish, I would have, but I just said, “No, cinco (5)!”. He tried to make me think that it would be impossible to get a ride for that amount, so I walked away. Then another driver said “Ocho” (8), and I said, “No, cinco”, so he said “Siete (7)”, and I said, “Cinco”. I had done my research and I knew it should only cost 5 Soles to get to where I wanted to go. I finally found a driver who agreed to 5 Soles, and after checking out his credentials, we were off...well, not quite. He didn’t actually know where we were going...great! haha He had to get out the map to try and figure out where we were going, ummm, what taxi drivers don’t know their cities? I pulled out my not very detailed printed off map to try and show him, but that wasn’t helpful either. Finally, he got out and asked the driver behind us how to get there, and THEN we were off!

Colonial Spanish influence throughout Cusco

We arrived to the hostel which had come highly recommended even though it seemed like it was a pretty dark and seemingly a bit dodgy of an area...especially for 5:30 in the morning! I buzzed the door buzzer and a bright light connected to a camera immediately blinded me and I was subsequently buzzed in. Once in the courtyard of the hostel, I felt a lot more relaxed. Although it was much too early to check in, the guy at the front desk let me into the living room so I could at least drop my bags off, sit down, charge my phone, and finally talk to Tim.

I was just really glad I had survived the long bus journey, given my ongoing horrible bowel distress, but to be honest, I wasn’t feeling too great, in general. At 11:00, I was finally able to check in to my room, and I suddenly didn’t feel well at all! I knew that a vomiting session was on its way, it was only a matter of time of how long I could hold it off! I hadn’t had breakfast, so I wasn’t sure what was in such a hurry to vacate my stomach, but never mind! I started to unpack and try to organize my stuff for the trek and then suddenly it hit me, and I knew that I had about 15 seconds to get to a toilet! Yay for throwing up bile because there isn’t actually anything in your stomach to throw up! L Thankfully, I did feel better afterwards. After that, I decided to have a nap that turned into a 4.5-hour sleep! I don’t think my body was very happy with me at that given time, and I was sure hoping that it was going to feel better before the trek started! I finally dragged myself out of bed and changed out of the clothes that I had had on for 3 days and made myself go get something to eat.

Plaza de Armas at night

I walked around a bit and checked out the Plaza de Armas, which is a really beautiful area when it is all lit up at night and I finally made my way to a restaurant recommended in my guidebook. Some people recommend eating the BRAT diet when you have diarrhea and vomiting, but eff that...I decided to have a burger! At least it would taste good on the way down, and if I kept it down, it would be some much needed protein! Although it did seem like a strange choice given my GI issues, I was really hungry and it was the #1 recommended thing in my guidebook. It was delicious, if not wildly expensive...$10! Oh well, everything in Peru is way more expensive than in Bolivia, unfortunately. After that I called it a night, came home and went to bed, amazingly sleeping for a solid 8 hours, even after my 4.5 hour power nap!

Even paintings of butterflies are beautiful here

Sunday May 19, 2013: Cusco

I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated today and still wasn’t feeling top notch, so I decided to take it easy to try and feel as good as I could for the Trek. After breakfast (I am really sick of sweet rolls with butter and jam for breakfast!) I decided to check out the Plaza de Armas and try to find the chocolate museum. Although I’m not a huge chocolate fan, I thought it might be fun to take the chocolate making class and learn about the whole process. I turned up and drank more than my fair share of chocolate tea, something you have to experience to truly appreciate...clear brown liquid with 0 calories that tastes just like chocolate! I signed up for a class and then went wandering around the different plazas to find something to eat.

Native dress of the Peruvian women...
with their baby llama that they want you to
pay them to take a picture with

In the end I settled on a place that did fresh squeezed juice (one of my favourite things about being in S. America) and empanadas. It was been a bit of a shock at how much more expensive Peru is than Bolivia was, it almost feels like prices are closer to those in the U.S. Anyway, back to the chocolate museum for my 2 hour class.

Manuel, our chocolate making teacher

Our teacher, Manuel, was really funny and had a lot of really interesting facts to share about the cacao tree, pod, seeds, etc... Apparently it was first grown in S. America and when the Spanish came over (early 1500s), they took some back to their African colonies and now it is primarily grown on the Ivory Coast.

Learning the chocolate making ropes

Anyway, we had a lot of fun learning about the process of getting the seeds out, drying them, fermenting them, roasting them, shelling them and then finally making a paste by grinding the seeds all up. After the paste is made is when all of the other ingredients are added, sugar, milk, etc...and then it is put into a machine that grinds and stirs (whilst heated) for 24 hours. After that, it is tempered on a temperature controlled granite stone and finally made into the actual chocolate! J I made so many different flavours, I can’t remember what is what! Oh well, it’ll be choco surprise for whoever gets to eat them! J

Separating the shells from the seeds

Putting our personal touches on the chocolate

After my class, I headed to the Salkantay Trekking office for our pre trek meeting. There were 3 other guys and me, so it seemed like it would be a good group. A little while into the briefing, we learned that the 7 people who had left right before us were also coming along, but were only doing the 4d/3n and we were doing the 5d/4n trip. Suddenly 11 people seemed like a lot of people! Oh well. Our guide, Wilifred or Willie for short, seemed really cool and explained what we would be doing each day. It sounded like a lot of really early morning starts, but I was really excited to get started! I came back to my hostel and sorted out what to pack, had a pre happy birthday to me beer and tried to get a good night’s sleep before Monday’s early start!