So it's about time I updated this blog of mine about my recent travel adventures.
In April, a few uni friends (Hannah, Heather an Lisa) were travelling up from Argentina through Bolivia and would be eventually arriving in Peru in May. So when I was asked if I fancied meeting up with them for a week to do a bit of travelling in La Paz and Peru, i jumped at the opportunity to see some familiar faces!
After a pretty unreasonably priced flight, I arrived in La Paz a bit breathless, literally! with an altitude of over 4000m, the altitude was definately evident, even talking made me breathless.
So we arrived at the hostel around 2am after the girls picking me up in a taxi at the airport , and La Paz already seemed different to Lima.
We were staying in the Loki hostel, and i would recommend it! (However, be warned, La Paz is very much a drug spot, so any hostel is going to have coke/pill heads drinking water at 8am after just getting back from a club. Fair enough if thats for you, but in fact, I dont even think they got to actually see the city other than its through its bars and clubs. What a shame!)
Anyway, after a few hours sleep on my first night, the first day was exploration day, we had a nose around the centre of town and it was nice, however, the poverty in Bolivia was certainly evident and worse than Peru. But despite this, the people in Bolivia were so friendly and helpful!!
Then the illness hit, my friend Lisa wasn't feeling good at all! Be it the food, be it the altitude, who knows in South America, unfortunately its part of the travelling package, mysterious illnesses. But on her taxi ride home, she got caught up in the protests (see BBC news in april) and had to get out the taxi due to tear gas and ended up vomitting en route, the poor girl just wanted to get back to bed!!!
So whilst all this was happening to Lisa, me, Heather and Hannah visited La Paz's contemporary art museum. At first, it seemed a bit boring on the first floor but the other two floors were so good, particulary works of an artist called Hansmann, check him out! Here is one of his pieces.
That night me and Hannah decided to try out the La Paz nightlife, so in an attempt to avoid the 'line of coke with a shot' kind of places, we went to a club called Mangos (apparently a foreigners hangout). When we turned up it literally looked like a house party, the club itself is located in a converted house, very nice inside though however. And two very large cervezas and two tequilas later (all for a tenner), me and Hannah were certainly enjoying ourselves.
But it may have been the tequila which forced me to make the worst decision ever: to break the number one travel rule. DO NOT EAT STREET FOOD.
And plus it was Anticuchos which is basically a kebab of cows heart. But as disgusting as that sounds, cooked well, its delicious tender meat! A must for all meat lovers!
However, this was from a stand outside a club. BAD IDEA. because sleeping on a bunk bed and the drunken room spinning seems to encourage vomitting. Thats right all over my bed, EUGH. And this meant snuggling up to Hannah in her bed but not before a non-stop 10 mins of her laughing at my behaviour. DO NOT TRY THIS EVER.
So the next day, we kinda chilled, went to a few shops, bought a few souvenirs, and went to the best Mirador in La Paz (a viewpoint where you see all over the city), pretty impressive!
The next day we signed ourselves up for : Death Road. Yep pretty much as scary as its name.
Th death road involves mountain biking on the most dangerous road in the world *cue dramatic music* .
The road is mostly all downhill with one uphill part but most get taken up this in minibus, an option we took happily!
The scenery itself of this bike ride is so worth the fear. The road itself is about 12 feet wide with a possible 600 foot drop on your left side pretty much the whole ride. The ride starts in the mountains at over 4000m, cold but beautiful. Then the further you descend, the warmth hits, until you reach the Bolivian jungle. Breathtaking views throughout.
After hours of biking in contrasting climates, the relief of a cold beer at the end was fantastic!
The next day was leaving day from La Paz, next stop Copacabana, the town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titcaca. After good reviews of Isla Del Sol which you can only visit from here, we ended up enjoying the boat trip more than the island! the trip being only a few hours, we were only left with 50 mins on the island after an hour's boat ride, we didnt have time to see anything and climbing up the steps to reach the Inca monuments was just impossible at altitude, especially for Lisa who i quoe 'felt like her lungs were going to explode'.
Then we jumped a bus to Puno, the Peruvian Lake Titicaca point where we reached our basic but ok enough hotel, no bad for £5 a night!
Then before catching my 2pm bus back to Lima we managed to visit the most famous islands on the Lake, los Uros which are floating islands made from straw which they have to add extra layers to every 2 weeks.
A lotof tourists complain that they don't enjoy these islands because they are very commercial and exploitive of its inhabitants, and to be fair this is true, but all in all, they are worth the visit just to see this way of life! And the girls got to try their first sip of Inca Kola! A yellow but delicious Peruvian fizzy drink!
Lake titicaca is pretty and worth a visit but its just like a big lake basically, Lake Windermere in Peru perhaps?
I would recommend this trip, Bolivia and Peru are so cheap, Bolivia especially!!! Just don't eat the street food please!
