PUNO
Had a 6 hour bus journey to Puno, the last city we will be visiting in Peru until we enter Bolivia. Quickly dropped our bags in the hotel and had a 30min tour of Puno.
Puno is situated beside the highest lake in the world (Lake Titicaca). We will be visiting local families tomorrow on the islands and staying with them for a night.
We had the rest of the day off in Puno where we just chilled in our hotel.
Day 27– 1/09/09
UROS & AMANTANI ISLAND
In the latest fashion trends!!
We took the local taxi, a tricycle to the port of Lake Titicaca (the birth place of the Incas). The taxi was like a tuk tuk! At the port we stocked up of rice, pasta, oats and fruits to give to our new ‘parents’ on Amantani island, we also got kids toys and colouring books in case we had and new siblings!! From the port we set off to Uros or the reed islands, called the reed islands cuz they are literally man made islands made from the roots of the reeds. If you dry these roots out they become buoyant. Then the roots (which looked like turf) are tied together and covered in layers of dried reeds to make up the ‘ground’! Pretty impressive, the place looked like a toy land! Everything is made from reeds, the houses, the seats and the islands symbol…or landmark. The island we got to was called Jacha Challwa, its symbol was the fish!
With Gladis and her family!!
We got invited into a families home where they dresses us up in their clothes and told us about their family. Gladis looked after us and was really friendly until we didn’t want to buy her wall coverings, then she just ignored us!!
From there we headed to Amantani Island, at the port we were all divided off in pairs and handed over to our new mom’s!! Our ‘mom’ was called Maurja, she was so small and cute, and she knitted the whole way up the hill to her house… that is multi talented, because the hill was steep!
At the house we were introduced to ‘dad’ – Ruben, he was super smiley! After a lunch of quinoa soup and rice with fried cheese (the local specialty) we headed up to the local football field to play against the locals (not easy to do at 4000m!) but Super Rob scored 4 goals!!! And won the match for us The Condors!! Yeah go Rob!!
From there we headed to Amantani Island, at the port we were all divided off in pairs and handed over to our new mom’s!! Our ‘mom’ was called Maurja, she was so small and cute, and she knitted the whole way up the hill to her house… that is multi talented, because the hill was steep!
At the house we were introduced to ‘dad’ – Ruben, he was super smiley! After a lunch of quinoa soup and rice with fried cheese (the local specialty) we headed up to the local football field to play against the locals (not easy to do at 4000m!) but Super Rob scored 4 goals!!! And won the match for us The Condors!! Yeah go Rob!!
Star player of the Condors!
We took a long hick up to the top of the village to see the temple of the father son – Pachatata Temple. Here we got to walk around it 3 times – Inca tradition for the past present and future- then we watched the sun set! Aww!
Now for the night I’ve been waiting for!! After dinner our mom came down with a load of clothes…. Yes dress up time!!
With our new family!
Rob showing off his smooth moves!Now for the night I’ve been waiting for!! After dinner our mom came down with a load of clothes…. Yes dress up time!!
With our new family!
Abbey and I showing off our skirts!Rob got dressed in a red and grey poncho and a hat and I got the full works! Two skirts, an embroidered shirt, a corset like belt and a shawl! So cool! Then she took us off to the local community centre for a dance!! Great fun! At least the dancing kept us warm, lots of swinging and swaying!! It was a great night so much fun dressed up and mixing with the locals!!
Day 28– 2/09/09
AMANTANI ISLAND & TAQUILE ISLAND
Woken up early by our new dad for a pancakes breakfast!!! They also had a 2 day baby goat which Danielle fell in love with; the little thing could barley walk!!
Our mum walked us down to the port also with a sad farewell!!
We headed over to another close island on Lake Titicaca - Taquile Island; it was an hour walk uphill to view the local town. Andy Smyth could blend in easily on this island as the men were only aloud to knit and the women were only aloud to sew!! If they were found doing the opposite they were kicked off the island!!
Day 28– 2/09/09
AMANTANI ISLAND & TAQUILE ISLAND
Woken up early by our new dad for a pancakes breakfast!!! They also had a 2 day baby goat which Danielle fell in love with; the little thing could barley walk!!
Our mum walked us down to the port also with a sad farewell!!
We headed over to another close island on Lake Titicaca - Taquile Island; it was an hour walk uphill to view the local town. Andy Smyth could blend in easily on this island as the men were only aloud to knit and the women were only aloud to sew!! If they were found doing the opposite they were kicked off the island!!
The Knitters
We all know Andy loved a bit of knitting when he was younger!!!!! The scenery at the top of the village was amazing, Danielle bought a local hand bag, very colorful and pretty but when buying it our tour guide told us it was a local bag to distinguish single men to married men!! So Danielle is now a local married man!!! Headed back down to our boat with 500 steps in front of us, at least we won’t come back fat! We are doing some serious walking. The boat was a joke, the speed was around 4km fast which took us 3hours to travel back to main land!! Sooooo slow!!! Headed back to the hotel for a few drinkies, ready for Bolivia the next morning!!! Bye bye Peru!
Day 29– 3/09/09
LA PAZ- BOLIVIA!!
A nice ten hour bus journey to La Paz- Bolivia! We crossed the border, which was a doddle in comparison to what our guide Alex had prepared us for! He said we might have to pay off the guards if they weren’t happy with us! Anyway the whole group was pretty tired that day, so not a very eventful day crossing the border. Just a lot of gossiping about the night before, a few of the girls on the trip met some germen men… and our guide got jealous and disapproved so there was war!! Once at our hotel we had a briefing about the next days tour…. DEATH ROAD!!
Day 30– 4/09/09
LA PAZ
Death Road (photos coming soon)
We were up and out by 7am, 9 of us decided to cycle down the Death Road! Yes the Death Road! This is the world’s most dangerous road and only in Bolivia would you be allowed to do this! So we started at the top of the snow capped mountains at 4700m above sea level, it was freezing, but we got kitted out in our biking gear, knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, helmet and luminous vest (in case we fall this will help them locate our bodies!). The first 18km were down a new asphalt road, so not so dangerous. It was steep and had many pot holes and the traffic just beeps at you but there is nowhere for you to go! But we all made it to the end of the new road with no accidents! Then we drive to the old road for the real thrill seeking part!!
We parked at the top of this dirt track, and my heart sank…. This was so dangerous (I know I signed up for it and I was aware it was dangerous but when you see the state of the road it really hits you!). The road was steep full of loose rocks and pot holes and it had no barriers, it was a single lane track that drops off to nothing!! I was petrified, I mean I really thought that I could die, and obviously if you know me – I am not a cyclist and I am not athletic!! I have no body strength! Ahhh!! My heart was pounding! So was Rob’s but that was adrenalin because it was exciting for him, an adventure! – by the way last week two people died on this part of the track and a few people every month! This is not a joke this is a seriously scary death road!
So anyway, we head off down the first part, and the tears are rolling down my face, every bump I go over I wobble- so I’m trying to stay as close to the inside cliff! But soon my tears and fear turn to hysteria, I start making a noise like a child going over bumps (my voice vibrating!!). I can’t stop the noise, I think it was may way of getting over it something just flicked in my head… by the way looking back, I don’t remember the first leg of this I totally blacked it out!
Rob was up the top the whole time he was able to manage the speed and obviously he has the strength to old himself on a bike!! He had one big scare though and I’m glad he told me after! He was going over a big rocky area and suddenly his hands came off the handle bars… but he sorted himself out! He also got a fright when a truck wouldn’t stop for them, it just kept driving up hill and beeping its horn, they all managed to pull in and while they waited they radioed back to us, Rob heard nothing, just the truck beeping the whole way up the hill! He wasn’t sure if we had gotten out of the way, but we had we were going so slow that we had pulled in long before the truck was in our sight!
So the group was in two parts the fast ones at the front and us at the back, that’s me and Monique and our guide Lucio, oh and the van (that’s how slow we were!). but we ended up having a good laugh, Monique joined in with the noise and we eventually started singing, sometimes ‘chitty chitty bang bang’ and ‘she’ll be coming round the mountain’ but most of the time it was the noise and a lot of other words too that described how I really felt… use your imagination!
So we finally made it to the finish line… and we did it our way!! I was so proud that I did it and that I over came my fear! I’m paying for it with crippled hands and a seriously sore ass, but at least that’s all of my injuries! We all made it down safe and sound and got the T-shirt to prove it! Then we had to drive back up the track…. God it was even worse to see what we had just done! So far that is the most extreme day we’ve had!! We cycled 65km from freezing 4700m above sea level to 1000m tropical rainforest in 6hours!! ‘We survived the Death Road’!!
Day 31– 5/09/09 Day 27
LA PAZ
We had our first full day off today- slept til 10. We went for a wander around the local markets, again loads of raw meat just lying there. Then we came across the Witches Market, this is where you can buy various animal fetus, generally llama, for sacrifice. You can also buy various amulets for protection or travel (the condor), for money (the turtle), for love and family. Danielle got one for love. I wanted to buy a different one until I realized it was for a future family, so thought id hold off till I grow up!!!! This is by far the craziest and cheapest city we have been to. 1.8m people but it seems they all just trade on the street all the time because they are packed with people and markets! Just to show you how much we are getting ripped off in Ireland we got lunch (ham, cheese, tomatoes omelet- garlic bread- cheese, ham toasty- 2 juices and coffee for €5.) haha makes you sick!! Went out for dinner for 2 for the fist time in a while so it was nice to clear the head, ready to visit the silver mines tomorrow.
Day 29– 3/09/09
LA PAZ- BOLIVIA!!
A nice ten hour bus journey to La Paz- Bolivia! We crossed the border, which was a doddle in comparison to what our guide Alex had prepared us for! He said we might have to pay off the guards if they weren’t happy with us! Anyway the whole group was pretty tired that day, so not a very eventful day crossing the border. Just a lot of gossiping about the night before, a few of the girls on the trip met some germen men… and our guide got jealous and disapproved so there was war!! Once at our hotel we had a briefing about the next days tour…. DEATH ROAD!!
Day 30– 4/09/09
LA PAZ
Death Road (photos coming soon)
We were up and out by 7am, 9 of us decided to cycle down the Death Road! Yes the Death Road! This is the world’s most dangerous road and only in Bolivia would you be allowed to do this! So we started at the top of the snow capped mountains at 4700m above sea level, it was freezing, but we got kitted out in our biking gear, knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, helmet and luminous vest (in case we fall this will help them locate our bodies!). The first 18km were down a new asphalt road, so not so dangerous. It was steep and had many pot holes and the traffic just beeps at you but there is nowhere for you to go! But we all made it to the end of the new road with no accidents! Then we drive to the old road for the real thrill seeking part!!
We parked at the top of this dirt track, and my heart sank…. This was so dangerous (I know I signed up for it and I was aware it was dangerous but when you see the state of the road it really hits you!). The road was steep full of loose rocks and pot holes and it had no barriers, it was a single lane track that drops off to nothing!! I was petrified, I mean I really thought that I could die, and obviously if you know me – I am not a cyclist and I am not athletic!! I have no body strength! Ahhh!! My heart was pounding! So was Rob’s but that was adrenalin because it was exciting for him, an adventure! – by the way last week two people died on this part of the track and a few people every month! This is not a joke this is a seriously scary death road!
So anyway, we head off down the first part, and the tears are rolling down my face, every bump I go over I wobble- so I’m trying to stay as close to the inside cliff! But soon my tears and fear turn to hysteria, I start making a noise like a child going over bumps (my voice vibrating!!). I can’t stop the noise, I think it was may way of getting over it something just flicked in my head… by the way looking back, I don’t remember the first leg of this I totally blacked it out!
Rob was up the top the whole time he was able to manage the speed and obviously he has the strength to old himself on a bike!! He had one big scare though and I’m glad he told me after! He was going over a big rocky area and suddenly his hands came off the handle bars… but he sorted himself out! He also got a fright when a truck wouldn’t stop for them, it just kept driving up hill and beeping its horn, they all managed to pull in and while they waited they radioed back to us, Rob heard nothing, just the truck beeping the whole way up the hill! He wasn’t sure if we had gotten out of the way, but we had we were going so slow that we had pulled in long before the truck was in our sight!
So the group was in two parts the fast ones at the front and us at the back, that’s me and Monique and our guide Lucio, oh and the van (that’s how slow we were!). but we ended up having a good laugh, Monique joined in with the noise and we eventually started singing, sometimes ‘chitty chitty bang bang’ and ‘she’ll be coming round the mountain’ but most of the time it was the noise and a lot of other words too that described how I really felt… use your imagination!
So we finally made it to the finish line… and we did it our way!! I was so proud that I did it and that I over came my fear! I’m paying for it with crippled hands and a seriously sore ass, but at least that’s all of my injuries! We all made it down safe and sound and got the T-shirt to prove it! Then we had to drive back up the track…. God it was even worse to see what we had just done! So far that is the most extreme day we’ve had!! We cycled 65km from freezing 4700m above sea level to 1000m tropical rainforest in 6hours!! ‘We survived the Death Road’!!
Day 31– 5/09/09 Day 27
LA PAZ
We had our first full day off today- slept til 10. We went for a wander around the local markets, again loads of raw meat just lying there. Then we came across the Witches Market, this is where you can buy various animal fetus, generally llama, for sacrifice. You can also buy various amulets for protection or travel (the condor), for money (the turtle), for love and family. Danielle got one for love. I wanted to buy a different one until I realized it was for a future family, so thought id hold off till I grow up!!!! This is by far the craziest and cheapest city we have been to. 1.8m people but it seems they all just trade on the street all the time because they are packed with people and markets! Just to show you how much we are getting ripped off in Ireland we got lunch (ham, cheese, tomatoes omelet- garlic bread- cheese, ham toasty- 2 juices and coffee for €5.) haha makes you sick!! Went out for dinner for 2 for the fist time in a while so it was nice to clear the head, ready to visit the silver mines tomorrow.
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