Hey all.
So it has been a busy few weeks thus not really much blog time. Also having a nightmare with my memory card so currently all my photos are locked onto the sd card for the time being. So once again no photos but i wanted to fill you all in on Arequipa and the first little part we did in Peru.
We didn´t mean to go to Arequipa but met a lovely French girl called Marie so jumped on the band wagon and travelled up north to Peru and stayed in Arequipa for a few days. Apart from partying in our hostel we got to see the Colca Canyon which is meant to be one of the largest canyons in the world. Also part of our tour involved seeing some condors but we didn´t see any....bit of a disappointment but we did this amazing walk down one side of the canyon and stayed in a place called Paradise aptly named because after the long hike we all got to jump in the pool which was super refreshing after all the walking we did.
After that we travelled up north to Puno which is a pretty ugly city on the edge of Lake Titicaca...whic you should call Lake Titi ha ha which is the local way apparently. and on the bus journey we met up with a Dutch guy called Ruben who joined the group so we all went and did a tour of Uros which is the floating islands on the lake. It was the biggest disappointment ever!! it was commerical, touristy in a bad way and you felt uncomfortable the whole time. The locals would lead you into their house to show you it and offer to let you try on the local clothes which sounds fun but seemed so forced. I was cringing the whole time and frankly could not wait to get off the islands. Apart from that Puno didn´t have that much else to offer us. We were at 3000m ish so the altitude was beginning to affect us all and walking up to a view point was quite tricky. you feel fit and then you try and walk up 100 steps and suddenly you can hardly breathe!!
We swiftly made our way out of Puno to La Paz in Bolivia. We had the most unusual way of getting across which involved our bus being put on a ´ferry´which was merely a couple of planks of wood put together powered by a small outboard engine and ferried across lake titicaca...we all thought the bus would sink!! but it didn´t and we got to la paz safetly.
la paz is also at altitide so that was also a shock to the system but made getting drunk easier so ups and downs to be had. The city itself it very strange. There is only one main street with no good restaurants and a small touristy part for shopping. Its nice to go but after a while you get a bit bored of it all and it was nice to finally get out of la paz and me, Ruben, Anna and Neil all went to climb up a MOUNTAIN! its called huyana potosi and it is 6088m high. which for those of you that don´t work in metres...its high! so we trouped up the mountain. we got to do some ice climbing which was really cool. we had crampons on and we scaled a small ice wall which was part of a small glacier. then the second day we had a small hike up to high camp then at 6pm that evening we went to bed to get some sleep before getting up at 12 to hike at 1 with our crampons on up the glacier and ice and snow 6 hrs up to the summit. one of the best experiences i have have done. the view from the top was fantastic. panoramic views over la paz as well as lake titicaca and you could see all the valleys surrounding the area. it was mind-blowing.
tash and i also went and cycled down death road. it is the most dangerous road in bolivia and was the main road until 2006 when they opened the new road. over 200 deaths occured on the road every year but now its mostly used by tourists and the ocasional car. we passed about 3 cars. but it was really safe the whole time we were cycling down the road. we had loads of protection on which came in useful because i managed to fall off my bike at one point but didn´t get hurt or anything - just felt a bit silly. but it is more common now for people to fall off and hurt themselves than actually fall off the road. anyhoo...i didn´t really enjoy it that much, the road was track and very bumpy and i was very happy to get to the end and jump in the pool that was waiting for us and sleep on the coach on the way back. i have finally sorted out my photos so they are being safely stored on a cd for me, so maybe in the next week or so when i am back in good internet area i will be able to load some pics up for everyone to see.
so the end of la paz....and our little group was ready to leave and we went to the bus station to get our tickets down to uyuai to see the salt flats and the doctor that tash had been waiting all day to see...why she chose a sunday is beyond me...turned up and said that actually tash was too ill to travel. so she got packed off to a clinic in la paz and everyone else pottered off on the bus. after 1 night on a drip and various other antibotics she is getting better...but for those people about to travel or planning.... if you get ill take the correct pills and drugs...dont´ leave it till the last moment.
so ive been hanging around today in la paz doing some chores and planning a bit of what we are going to do next on our travels. next stop is hopefully uyuna tmro but we will see what happens.
all for now. J xxx
So it has been a busy few weeks thus not really much blog time. Also having a nightmare with my memory card so currently all my photos are locked onto the sd card for the time being. So once again no photos but i wanted to fill you all in on Arequipa and the first little part we did in Peru.
We didn´t mean to go to Arequipa but met a lovely French girl called Marie so jumped on the band wagon and travelled up north to Peru and stayed in Arequipa for a few days. Apart from partying in our hostel we got to see the Colca Canyon which is meant to be one of the largest canyons in the world. Also part of our tour involved seeing some condors but we didn´t see any....bit of a disappointment but we did this amazing walk down one side of the canyon and stayed in a place called Paradise aptly named because after the long hike we all got to jump in the pool which was super refreshing after all the walking we did.
After that we travelled up north to Puno which is a pretty ugly city on the edge of Lake Titicaca...whic you should call Lake Titi ha ha which is the local way apparently. and on the bus journey we met up with a Dutch guy called Ruben who joined the group so we all went and did a tour of Uros which is the floating islands on the lake. It was the biggest disappointment ever!! it was commerical, touristy in a bad way and you felt uncomfortable the whole time. The locals would lead you into their house to show you it and offer to let you try on the local clothes which sounds fun but seemed so forced. I was cringing the whole time and frankly could not wait to get off the islands. Apart from that Puno didn´t have that much else to offer us. We were at 3000m ish so the altitude was beginning to affect us all and walking up to a view point was quite tricky. you feel fit and then you try and walk up 100 steps and suddenly you can hardly breathe!!
We swiftly made our way out of Puno to La Paz in Bolivia. We had the most unusual way of getting across which involved our bus being put on a ´ferry´which was merely a couple of planks of wood put together powered by a small outboard engine and ferried across lake titicaca...we all thought the bus would sink!! but it didn´t and we got to la paz safetly.
la paz is also at altitide so that was also a shock to the system but made getting drunk easier so ups and downs to be had. The city itself it very strange. There is only one main street with no good restaurants and a small touristy part for shopping. Its nice to go but after a while you get a bit bored of it all and it was nice to finally get out of la paz and me, Ruben, Anna and Neil all went to climb up a MOUNTAIN! its called huyana potosi and it is 6088m high. which for those of you that don´t work in metres...its high! so we trouped up the mountain. we got to do some ice climbing which was really cool. we had crampons on and we scaled a small ice wall which was part of a small glacier. then the second day we had a small hike up to high camp then at 6pm that evening we went to bed to get some sleep before getting up at 12 to hike at 1 with our crampons on up the glacier and ice and snow 6 hrs up to the summit. one of the best experiences i have have done. the view from the top was fantastic. panoramic views over la paz as well as lake titicaca and you could see all the valleys surrounding the area. it was mind-blowing.
tash and i also went and cycled down death road. it is the most dangerous road in bolivia and was the main road until 2006 when they opened the new road. over 200 deaths occured on the road every year but now its mostly used by tourists and the ocasional car. we passed about 3 cars. but it was really safe the whole time we were cycling down the road. we had loads of protection on which came in useful because i managed to fall off my bike at one point but didn´t get hurt or anything - just felt a bit silly. but it is more common now for people to fall off and hurt themselves than actually fall off the road. anyhoo...i didn´t really enjoy it that much, the road was track and very bumpy and i was very happy to get to the end and jump in the pool that was waiting for us and sleep on the coach on the way back. i have finally sorted out my photos so they are being safely stored on a cd for me, so maybe in the next week or so when i am back in good internet area i will be able to load some pics up for everyone to see.
so the end of la paz....and our little group was ready to leave and we went to the bus station to get our tickets down to uyuai to see the salt flats and the doctor that tash had been waiting all day to see...why she chose a sunday is beyond me...turned up and said that actually tash was too ill to travel. so she got packed off to a clinic in la paz and everyone else pottered off on the bus. after 1 night on a drip and various other antibotics she is getting better...but for those people about to travel or planning.... if you get ill take the correct pills and drugs...dont´ leave it till the last moment.
so ive been hanging around today in la paz doing some chores and planning a bit of what we are going to do next on our travels. next stop is hopefully uyuna tmro but we will see what happens.
all for now. J xxx
