Hi all,
Well our story continues from Potosi where we caught our night bus to La Paz.. As we were writing the other blog last time our backpacks were sittng in the office of the bus company taking us to La Paz. After having a nice day in Potosi we headed back to the bus office to collect our bags and put them and us on a bus... However when we arrived our bags were not in the office... They told us that the bags were on the bus so we ran down to the platform to ask the bus to show us the bags before it left... In the very little Spanish that I can speak and they could understand it turned out the bus was not ours but ours was coming in 5 minutes. Still no sign of our bags.. So I went back to the office and asked again where our bags were... I finally understood that our bags had been put on an earlier bus to La Paz... WHY?!???! We had to hope that this was the case and get on the bus for 14 hours in the hope that our backpacks, and therefore our lives, were at the other end. A not so comfortable bus journey followed and when we got off the bus at La Paz we were shunted from office to office each one saying they didn´t have our bags.. We finally went to the right office where a guy said the earlier bus hadn´t arrived yet. So we waited. 5 minutes later a bus pulled up and opened its trunk and shouted ´dos mochillas´ words we were so pleased to hear! So our bags were safe! A very scary time though.
Checked into our hotel in La Paz and went out for a wander. It was a Saturday so there was an amazing street market just outside the hotel. Lots of beautiful colonial buildings and cobbled streets. Oh and a witches market where you can buy all sorts of dodgy potions and the odd llama foetus if you so wish! Strange! Had some dinner in a nice restaurant and got some well earned sleep.
Sunday and it´s Referendum day.... We had to move hostels and so we packed and headed out at 9 in the morning... There was no traffic on the roads and the whole city seemed to have stopped for the day. Checked into our new hostel which had a brewery on site and then went out to explore another side of the city. Went to the main plaza where there were lots of families out and about, people cycling on the main roads which they wouldn´t usually do due to smog and masses of traffic. Walked up to a Mirador (lookout) of the city except that was closed so walked along to a large suspension bridge hanging over the city and took some pictures of a huge snow capped mountain at the endge of the city. La Paz is amazing not just because it is the World´s Highest City but because it is possibly one of the poorest.
On our way back from the lookout we bumped into Bex and Steve a couple from England who we met briefly in El Calafte, Argentina. They had just eaten at a 5 Star hotel where you could enjoy am all you can eat buffet for 4 pounds each! Oh ok then.. So we did and had a really nice meal. Carl had a bbq platter of different meats and I had some fish and lots of veggies. Very nice. We agreed to meet Bex and Steve that night for some more food! When we met them that night we had a great meal and met Amecie (France) and Yony (Israel) who were all travelling to Copacabana like us the following day.
Monday we woke up early at 6 to go to the bus station to get some tickets to Copacabana that morning. Back to hostel to pack and enjoy their free pancake breakfast! Met the guys at the bus station, they were on another bus so said we´d meet the other end. Bus journey was meant to take 2 hrs 30 but in the end it took 4 hours! Bolivian time how we love it! The bus journey was great and our first glimpses of Lake Titicaca were incredible. It´s huge!!! We had to get off the bus at one point and cross the lake on a boat, so did the bus.. The boats were not your usual ferries though. Just a few planks of wood nailed together and with one outboard motor...!
In Copacabana we checked into a hotel and met the guys, they were booked on a tour the following day so we booked too then spent the afternoon drinking in the sunshine!
Tuesday, we got up at 7 and headed to the pier at Copacabana for our day trip to Isla Del Sol. This island is very important in Inca history as the birthplace of the Sun. The boat took about 1 hour to get to the North of the island where we were dropped off and left to walk to the South in about 4 hours.. We saw the birthplace of the sun and then had a very pleasant 10km walk to the south where we picked up our boat back to the mainland. Beautiful scenery all around.
Weds, we checked out of the hotel and caught the bus to Puno in Peru. Leaving Bolivia was a lot easier than getting in! Spent the afternoon in Puno where we caught a tour boat out to the Isla Flotantes, floating islands made of reeds where lots of indigenous communities live. Amazing.
Thurs, departed Puno for Cusco on a bus called Inka Express which is a VIP service to Cusco stopping at lots of ruins along the way and lunch and drinks service on board is included. Made a nice change to the Bolivian buses we had been on recently! Arrived in Cusco at 1700 and checked into our lovely guesthouse. Headed straight out to Jack´s Cafe which is an institution in Cusco for gringos because they serve amazing Western food like cheest on toast and English breakfasts!!
Fri, we went to the ruins just outisde Cusco called Saqsaywúaman ´sexy woman´and walked around this incredible fortress made of the biggest rocks you´ve ever seen. Quite how the Inca´s cut and transported these rocks is a mystery!
Sat we chilled in Cusco and prepared ourselves for the train to Machu Picchu the following day!
Sunday was the big day.. the train to Machu Picchu! A big date in our travel calendar! We had to get up at 0500 and get to the train station to collect our tickets. The journey left Cusco at 0615 and took about 4 hours with stunning scenery along the way through the Sacred Valley. We had heard that Aguas Calientes, which is the town outside Machu Picchu wasn´t that nice but were pleasantly surprised when we got there. Spent the afternoon buying our tickets to the ruins and arrangind the bus up there the following morning.
Monday, woke at 0430 and threw on some clothes and headed to the bus stop where the first bus was due to leave to go to the ruins at 0530. thought we might be early but there were about 1000 people also queuing! We really wanted to climb Huayna Picchu which is the mountain you see in all the photos and in order to do that you have to be 1 of 400 people per day. Didn´t feel too confident seeing the number waiting for the buses. On arriveal at the ruins we had our tickets checked and then walked very fast to the start of Huayna Picchu in the hope of being one of the 400. Had to queue for an hour before finally being given tickets. We were numbers 325 and 326! Told to come back at 10am to climb the mountain so finally had a chance to really check out Machu Picchu...! Boy ti truly is as amazing as the pictures. There are so many clounds arounds in the morning that everything is shrouded in mist and you get glimpses of the ruins through the coulds.... it started clearing at about 9 and we had a good chance to take some pictures. The ruins are made up of different areas including a Royal encolsure, temples, agricultural areas and storehouses. It is still unknown for what purpose Machu Picchu was built but the most likely seems to be as a Royal Retreat. At 10am we went back to the start of the climb to Huayna Picchu and started seeing some of the people who had just climbed back down and they looked knackered! The climb takes about 1 hour to get to the top and consists of lots of steep steps and large rocks to climb over. We made it in about 45 minutes which we were pleased about and the views were truly something else. You could look down on Machu Picchu which was awesome and there were also lots of ruins at the top of the mountain too which are a significant part of the main ruins. We then spent the rest of the afternoon expoloring and were there in total for 10 hours! One thing we were a bit annoyed at was the instructions to not bring food or water into the ruins. It was not only written on the tickets but also at the ticket office and at the entrance to the ruins. So being English and good we left our water bottles at the hostel and didn´t take any food. Well we must have been the only ones because everyone had picnics and large plastic water bottles. Because we didn´t have anything we spent 15 pounds (!!!) on food and water for the day. Not amused.
Tuesday, we left Machu Picchu by train to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. This time were were on a different type of train called a Vistadome which has a glass roof... We were in seats A1 and A2 and thought we would be facing the drivers cabin and not get great views.. However we were in the front seats with a large glass window looking over the track and surrounding views. Very pleased. Everyone else was envious!!
In Ollantaytambo we checked into a really nice hotel right at the train station and spent the afternoon looking around the ruins in the town. The Inca site is the only place in Peru where the Spanish were defeated and the ruins sit in the hillside with a sun temple at the top. Amazing.
Weds we caught a death taxi back to Cusco. The guy insisted on driving at high speed around the corners and overtaking on blind bends!!! Very sacry! Back into the same hostel in Cusco and straight out for dinner at Jacks again!!
TO BE CONTINUED COS THE NEW BATMAN HAS JUST BEEN PUT ON THE TV HERE AT THE HOSTEL!! XXXXXXXX
Ok, so the story continues.... Batman was good but a bad illegal copy so need to see it again properly!!
Thursday we hired a taxi to take us to Pisac for the day. Here there are some amazing Inca ruins, larger than Machu Picchu and there´s also a famous artesanal market. Managed to buy lots, not sure how we´re going to carry it all! We left Cusco that night on a night bus to Nasca and arrived there at 0800 in the morning. We had already booked a flight over the Nasca Lines and arranged for them to pick us up at 0900 from our hostel. The day was a little cloudy so we were hoping we´d at least be able to see the lines.. No doubt about that. They were amazing! We went up in a little aircraft that fitted only 4 people inc the pilot and it was pretty stomach churning! The lines were made during Inca times and it´s understood how they were made but not why when you consider they can only be seen from above in a plane... We saw all the important ones, hummingbird, monkey, whale, astronaut and took some great photos. The flight lasted 30 mins. Definitely worth the money but we wanted more time! There are over 300 images and we saw 12!!
Saturday we caught an early morning bus from Nasca to Lima where we´ve been chiling out. We´re based in Miraflores which is by the sea. The first day we went to an amazing restaurant for lunch and had Peruvian Ceviche which was yummy. Yesterday we headed into central Lima and within 5 mins of getting off the bus we saw a local being mugged.. Thankfully they didn´t manage to get his phone but it freaked us out a little so we walked very quickly around the main areas and then found another great restaurant which was recommended to us by the hostel. Fab food all for 8 pounds total! Crazy.
Tomorrow (Tues) we ´re off to Buenos Aires by plane at 0715, arriving 1330. We´ve booked a football match at Boca for Boca Juniors Vs Arsenal (not London one but a South American one) for Weds which we can´t wait for! We´ll hopefully get a tango show in too at one point. Oh and lots of STEAK for Carl!!
Love to you all,
Becs and Carl xxx
