Hola,
I am in La Paz right now...time to rest for 5 days. Was only planning to stay for 3 days, but I found out about a World Cup Qualifier Football match between Bolivia and Brazil on Sunday (tomorrow) and simply could not miss it!! Muy Bien, Very excited!!
From Arequipa I booked a 3 day/ 2 night trek through the Colca Canyon, dubbed the world deepest canyon. The "group" turned out to be just myself, A Belgian named Kevin, and our guide, Juan.
A 3am start, with a pick up from my hostel, had then crammed into a mini-bus with 3 other tour groups for 5 hours to small town Chivay to organise our permits, and then on to Condor Lookout for a 1hour stop. Giant Condor birds frequent this part of the Canyon, gliding gracefully throught the skies looking for prey. A fantastic, but extremely touristy spot, with some wonderful photography at 9am in the morning.
From there to Cobanaconde, the starting point for the mindly strenuous 3 day, 20-odd kilometre hike down, through, and up out of the Colca Canyon. Cobanaconde is a very small village, and has a definite Wild West frontier feel about it...bleak and forbidding, with dusty gravel and dirt lined streets stretching from the main Plaza De Armas, local folk slowly going about thier business with nary a need to rush, dressed in traditional brightly coloured outfits and hats. After a brief lunch there, we set out in bright sunlight and mild temperatures across fields of corn to edge of the canyon itself, and descended, for the next 3 hours, along narrow, gravelly paths and switchbacks to the canyon floor, crossing a rickety suspension bridge over the Rio Colca. A brief 30 minute uphill stretch on the other side and we stopped at San Juan De Chucco, a local Quechuan village, where we would spend the night.
From here we could see the path we took on the opposite side of the canyon. Impressive stuff.
When I booked the tour, I was promised an English-speaking guide. While Juan was a fantastic guy, his English was actually negligible....but in this case here, it became irrelevant as Kevin was pretty well fluent in both English and Spanish, so acted as translator and teacher for the whole trip. It was a blessing in disguise as I pretty much had a free Spanish language session for 3 days, which has since proved very helpful indeed.
After a Cervesa or two and a home cooked meal of Alpaca stew with rice and chips, it was most definitely time for bed. Accommodations, while extremly basic, were perfectly fine, and I was well impressed with the Solar Powered hot water system, which gave us a hot showers inside a tiny little bamboo stall. Senorita Gloria, who ran the Pousada Gloria was a most genial host, always with a smile and a laugh, except for when I asked her to pose for a photograph...everyone here always seems to go po-faced serious when a camera is pointed towards them...its not a grumpy, displeasure thing, it just seems to be a cultural thing. Five seconds after the photo, she was all smiles and giggles again!
The next day, setting off at a leisurely 9am, was another brief 3 1/2 hour hike across, up and down and over the ridges of the canyon wall, passing through numerous villages, each as impressively self-sufficient as San Juan, with Solar Power, satellite dishes and general ingenuity, contrasted with terraces of corn fields and coca fields dug into the side of the canyon, giving us a glimpse of both how hard the life is here, and hoe they are trying the darned best to modernise and use technology to their best advantage.
The "money shot" of this trek was at the bottom of the canyon at a natural oasis called Sangalle, which has been developed over the past 10 years as a major tourist destination. Set amongst the tough, dry and dusty and forbidding granite and gravel of the canyon is a gorgeous splash of green, supplied by some internal, underground natural aquifier. Several resorts have been set up here, with pools and palms dotting the canyon floor.
We arrived just on Midday, and upon arrival, immediately slipped into relaxation maode, soaking up the salubrious surrounds, taking a dip in the pool, sunning ourselves, and swaying in hammocks with a cervasa in hand. Bliss.
Again, accommodation was still very basic, with bamboo beds on dirt floors under thatched roof huts, but still perfectly adequate.
Upon nightfall, it was Full Moon, and the moon lit up the night sky and canyon walls, and as the night progressed we had out own mini-light show as the shadows of the ridges moved along with the movement of the moon.
I had an early night, 8.30 to bed, while Juan and Kevin stayed up with the other guides and staff of the resort until 1am. Not really a smart move, given out 5am start the next morning.
We finally set foot on our way at 5.30am, with the sun already risen, blue sky, but with the canyon floor still in full shade - a godsend given that we had a tough 3 - 4 hour climb up out of the canyon to the top and back to Cobanaconde.
Locals also use this trail, and we often had to stop and let pass several mule-trains, at least 4 or 5 donkeys and mules carrying supplies up and down to and from the villages in the canyon. Trying to keep up with one of them as a personal test, I failed dismally, as a local 50-something year old guy skipped nimbly up the rocky path, put me to shame.
We were told 3 to 4 hours...I, hangover free and generally adjusted to the altitude conditons, did it in 2hrs, 20minutes. The record for the climb, by a local is reputedly 45 minutes!
Back in Cobanadconde, breakfast was had, and back on the mini-bus, we headed for la Calera, a hot springs town, for an hour, to give our weary, aching bones a nice treat.
It was a long drive back to Arequipa, arriving back at about 6pm. I then had a bus ride to catch to Puno at 10.30pm, and then on across the border to Bolivia, to Copacobana, which gave me just enough time to search out a restaurant serving the local Peruvian delicacy of Cuy...also known in English as Guinea Pig! I kid you not. It was something I had seen on the menu several times in Lima and Cuzco, but was kinda expensive. After eating Alpaca steak, another local delicacy, I just had to try the Dinner Pig, as I nicknamed it, before I left Peru.
Let me just say, MIssion Accomplished, and I have the pics to prove it. Fried Guinea Pig!! This was prepared with the whole animal splayed across the plate, head, feet, tail and all, and on abed of garden salad and chips. The meat was great, a strong, rich, chicken flavour...but actually getting to the flesh, through the deep fried skin, and multiple tiny bones, was quite a trying effort. Ultimately, not all that satisfying for the effort involved, but hey, worth the effort just for the experience.
Onwards to the bus station, and uneventful 6 hour bus ride overnight had me arrive at Puno Bus Station at 4am.....only 3 1/2 hours to kill for the next bus to the border and onwards to Copa....joy, yawn.
The time duly passed, we finally reached the frontier between Peru and Bolivia, and formalities completed, I had another stamp in my passport, and country #51 entered.
3hrs to Copacobana, and sleep was required. Not wanting the day to wasted completely, I was up at 1pm to wander the small, heavily tourist-oriented town. Another dusty, dry, but quaint South American town, every shop front was either selling handicrafts, a travel agency, restaurant or bar. Not incredibly attractive, but not too shabby either.
The reason being is that it is the Bolivian jumping off point for Lake Titicaca, an incredibly large (230 Km Long by 97 Km wide)and very beautiful spot, reputedly the worlds highest navigable lake, at altitude of 3820m above sea level. In the centre of the lake are Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun) and Isla De La Luna (Island of the Moon), said to be the cradle of the Incan civilisation, and a major tourist attraction for the ruins to be seeen, and hiking available.
I was planning an overnight stay on the island, but realising that I was rapidly running out of time, already about 5 days behind my initial "plan", i just went for a day trip. For a measly 20 Boliviano´s (A$3.50), I had a return day trip to the island booked.
I had some dinner at a local bar that night, joining a table of other tourists who were already well on the way to getting blind drunk. While there, I met a Chileno artist who was sketching with pencil various scenes going on in the bar. When he´d finished a drawing of our table, I was most impressed with the detail he had put down on paper in under an hour. 25 Boliviano´s later (about A$4) I had my very own original pencil sketch of my first night out in Bolivia....that´s gonna get framed when I get home!!
Next day, kicking off at 8am, I was on a small boat headed to the North side of Isla Del Sol, 2 hours across azure blue waters with the snow-capped mountains of Cordillera Real in the background.
It was turning into a rather warm day, and the 4 hour hike across the islands ridge was, while on a well trodden and easily navigable path, a mild challenge given the altitude and heat. but more than making up for this was the views, the barren rocky island set against a backdrop of clear blue skies, and the afore mentioned azure waters and snow capped mountains.
Tired and sunburnt, but well and truly satisfied and happy, I returned to Copa, with enough time to get ready for another 4 hour bus ride to La Paz, the Bolivian capital.
Resting nicely on the local bus I had booked, with 80% locals and 20% tourists aboard, we were all ordered off the bus at one point at around 8pm for reasons not immediately clear. Once off the bus, it became apparently clear.....there was a big lake that needed to be crossed, and rather than spend money building a bridge, the government had set up a ferry/barge system, whereby the passengers board a small ferry and all vehicles (buses, trucks, vans etc) are driven onto barges to be ferredi across the lake. once other other side, it´s all aboard on your way.....Nothing surprises me anymore!!
At La Paz bus station it was pushing 10pm. La Paz has a reputation of being slightly seedyb and dangerous at night, especially for tourists, and so a taxi to your hostel is recommended...only problem being in my place was that I was following a recommendation from another tourist, an "X marks the spot" on my Lonely Planet map, and on booking it online, forgot to write down the address...and i had no cash on me!
My poor taxi driver. 1st stop was to find an ATM...Mission Accomplished, but it only issued 100 SB notes, large currency here, so then we needed to find somewhere to change it for smaller bills...DONE... 2nd was to find my X on the map....this proved to be impossible, as my friend had labelled the wrong spot on my map!!, so then 3rd stop was to find an internet cafe that was open at 10.30 at night....DONE...now that we were on the right track, it should be smooth sailing. But the taxi wouldn´t start! Hailing a local to assist we tried to push start it by rolling down a slight hill around the corner. No Luck. Worse for the driver was that it was a one-way street in the main plaza outside a heavily fortified and policed Government building!! The driver was ordered to stop by local Policia, and was now begging and pleading to let off, given the situation. Thankfully, the cop let him off, i think after seeing me and realizing I was a gringo, and then actually assisted in push starting the car.
By this point, I had been in the cab almost an hour, and i was feeling incredibly sorry for my driver, but he was all smiles when we finally got the right street, and dropped me off....all for 30Bs!! (A$6)!!
Finally, reaching my hostel, an Irish Backpackers called The Wild Rover, at 11pm, and immediately crashed...what a ride, what a night.
