We arrived at Copacabana next to Lake Titicaca with hopes of relaxing in the sunshine and visiting a few of the lake’s islands. Instead we got stuck there for three days while a bus strike in Peru prevented us from crossing the border and poor weather made the usually placid lake far from ideal to spend six hours on in a tiny boat. Fortunately we got a great hotel room and spent the time wisely surfing hundreds of cable TV channels.
With the bus strike eventually over we scrambled onto the first bus out to Peru along with the backlog of other travellers who were also stranded. The weather lifted along with the blockade and we eventually got onto Lake Titicaca from Peru’s end in Puno. We took a short boat ride out to visit the floating villages of Uros where people live on islands made entirely of reeds. Since the reeds need to be constantly replenished you have to watch your step in places or suffer a soggy foot.
From Puno we headed onto Cusco and spent a couple of days walking through the cobbled streets and plazas, enjoying some fantastic restuarants and arranged our next trips out to Machu Picchu and the Peruvian jungle.
With little to keep us in Uyuni we decided to take a longer route to La Paz visiting Potosi and Sucre on the way. Potosi is built around the Cerro Rico mountain and at 4060m above sea level it’s the highest city in the world and another UNESCO site. Despite acclimatising in the Salar we were still quickly exhausted climbing the stairs of our hostel and spent most of our time walking around at snail’s pace. Potosi was once of the most important city in Spain’s South American colonies due to vast amounts of silver discovered in the mountain. The silver is now long gone but mining is still performed for the many minerals found inside. The working conditions haven’t changed much since colonial times and the life-expectancy for miner’s is usually 35-40 due to silicosis of the lungs. Tours of the mine are available but we decided against taking one feeling it was a bit inappropriate, not to mention the fact that Helen is petrified of small spaces. Everyone here chews coco leaves for every imaginable ailment so we had a try but after enduring 45 minutes of it’s foul taste the old side effect seemed to be a numb throat.
On to Sucre we were greeted us with even more impressive colonial architecture. If there is one thing that the Bolivians do well it’s a Plaza and here was it’s jewel in the crown with immaculate gardens and fountains; it’s the real heart of the town. There was such a nice mix of women in traditional dress with bowler hats feeding birds, teenagers snogging and little kids hassling you to clean your shoes, that we happily sat and watched the world go by. We visited a traditional weaving museum and watched on as women created intricate patterns which made us appreciate why the work in the shop cost so much money.
After a few ropey buses our next to Le Paz exceeded all expectations. With Argentine style cama-suite booths we slept all the way to the capital. Le Paz is a hilly and hectic city with buildings clinging to every steep incline. We stayed right by the witches market that sold all types of souvenirs and a wide selection of dried baby llama foetus - yum! Between a lively reunion with our salt flat buddies and a cinema trip to see the latest Harry Potter film we mooched around the city taking in the local sights.
Like something out of the wild west, San Pedro De Atacama is full of adobe buildings and surrounded by dry deserts and volcanoes. As the starting point for our tour across the Salar De Uyuni into Bolivia we spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude and taking some much needed rest.
The 3 day 2 night trip was spectacular and we couldn’t have been luckier with our fellow travellers;, Canadians Paul and Nalin, Irish Paul and Austrian Lizzie who became the official translator of driver Reuben’s Spanish commentary. Climbing to almost 4900 meters at the highest point we visited some very smelly geysers and angry pools of boiling mud. Despite the strong sunshine it was bitterly cold. Braving the weather and lack of changing rooms we stripped off to bathe in a natural thermal pool; lovely on the way in, excruciating on the way out! At 4300m our first night’s accommodation was freezing and we piled on the layers to keep warm.
As the only couple there with altitude sickness pills we became the official drug pushers on the trip as people frequently sidled up to ask if they could have some pills to cure their ’soroche’. I was happy to share them as they disagreed with my system and I have never needed to pee so much in all my life. I can now fully sympathise with my pregnant sister’s situation.
We visited many lakes that were teeming with Flamingos and they were so graceful to watch as they noisily chattered amongst themselves. Our second night was spent in a hotel made from salt, slightly warmer and lower than the first and the interesting floor of salt crystals made you feel as though you were living in a large tray of cat litter. Alcohol wasn’t recommended on the first night due to the altitude so here we were able to enjoy a few beers before another chilly night’s sleep. In the morning only the impressive Salt flats separated us from Uyuni. Stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. The bright white conditions remove all perspective from photographs so we had lots of fun posing for different shots. Lunch at an oasis full of Cacti was our last stop before heading to Uyuni. We got our one and only flat tire a few kms outside of the town, so watched on as Reuben got covered in dust as he changed the tyre, not an easy task in deep sand.
