Finally! in Sucre - an absolutely stunning, stunning city. I loved it! It was so cute and really edgy. But, high - at 2750m. What a shock to be cold after suffering from heat exhaustion about 4 days earlier! I was sure I´d have some symptoms of altitude sickness, but nothing, fortunately. Though we got in late, I was able to book a hike for the next day - thinking that it would be good preparation for the Inca trail, and it was! I was a bit naive though- didn´t ask too many questions, just heard 6 hour hike, Inca and older cave paintings..... Of course, we drove up a mountain for over an hour, and commenced the hike at 3500m, walking UPHILL to 3800m, then over the next 3 or 4 hours down to 3500m, and then down to 2800m. I didn´t ask how far it was until after the hike - 22km - If I´d known that, I´m not sure I would have done it! The uphill section was hard work - such a strange feeling just not being able to get enough air, but having the strength and power in my muscles.... it was so clean and crisp. And cold first thing in the morning,but we warmed up pretty quickly. Derricko gave us coca leaves to chew to help us cope in the altitude and placebo effect or not (remember, coca good, cocaine bad, so we´re all cool), I think they worked. I didn´t need to eat, drink or pee for 6 hours, so they must have done something.....
It was great though - I loved every minute. The scenery was awesome and the trail is rarely used. It was part of the Inca trailover the Andres, absolutely pristine, not often walked by tourists. You could see the terraces and carvings into stone the Incas had made. On a different note, parts of the track that we walked you would not be able to walk in Australia without harnesses and balays (I´m rapidly realising how risk averse Australia is as a nation!). Dericko, our guide, told us that there were steps down to a cave where there were paintings thousands of years old - and the steps were carved by the Incas. The steps were actually grooves cut into the side of the rock, with a couple of hundred metres drop off in either direction. I was crapping myself - but it was a LOT of fun. Up and down steep valleys all day with the most amazing views.... see for yourself...
Steps made by the local villagers to create the path to join the Inca trail to the caves
The steep (!!) descent to the first cave. I didn´t take photos of the Inca steps (grooves!) a bit further down, as I couldn´t balance with my camera and cope with the drop off. It was damn scary -but I wish I`d captured it.... where was the harness??
The second cave paintings...
Derricko our guide was dutch, but married a Bolivian villager a few years ago. Hearing from him all the customs and differences was great - and better than a local guide in terms of explanations... It was a really interesting day, and we had great weather up until, of course, once the worst of the hike was over (ie we´d done all the uphill needed, and had an easier stroll on a rough road down to 2,800m) there was a massive thunderstorm. I've never seen lightning break 10m in front of me but it did. And, I was a little concerned when Derricko said that we had to get a wriggle on as we had three rivers to cross and they could rise by metres in minutes with the rain.
Within seconds of that comment the paths that we were walking became torrents of water.... and the moutain behind us turned into 300 waterfalls. We were literally walking in rivers. The first two river crossings involved BIG jumps onto little slippery rocks, and there was squealing from me... I got wet feet slipping off one rock, and to be honest that made the rest of the day a lot easier, as I just didn´t care anymore!
The worst was the last river.... We walked down to the edge and couldn´t find a spot to cross that was shallow enough. The contraption the locals use to cross was broken, but of course one entrepreneurial Bolivian found a way to make a quick buck and for 10 Bolivianos each ($2 Australian), he pulled us by hand and cable across the raging river......
As you can see he stood on the back - no harness or anything, and just pulled us over. I was scared, and after grabbing Jamies leg (helicopter pilot style!) I needed a distraction so I took out pub cam and snapped this.....
Oh yes, we had a wow of a time rocking in the wind 20m over the raging river.... Not cool!
The next day I was surprised I was able to walk.... but walk we did to the local produce market. We bought a whole bunch of food to drop off at the the local orphanage.
They were a well dressed, well fed bunch - very cute - aged 0 to 6 years. We played with the kids and I was pleasantly surprised at the conditions after what I saw in Africa.... but three lads that were with me had a big tear-up all the way to our lunch spot. Once one started, the others couldn´t stop.... I don´t think it helped that one little boy latched on to Mick and wouldn´t let him go.... no photos for obvious reasons.Post the orphanage, we wandered around the city - it was gorgeous. Then we got the bus to Potosi.....
....and Potosi was where the ´fun´began. Girls and boys dropping like flies - at 4,100m it is the highest city in the world (unless you speak to the people from a city in Nepal that comes pretty close) - I was lucky and just felt a little bit drunk.... but had no other symptoms (like vomiting and insomnia... nice). For some crazy reason though, I did need to pee every 15 minutes on the knocker regardless of the volume of fluid I drank, so that made for some interesting moments. I`m always the first to call for a pee stop - what a great reputation to have! After a 25 minute walk uphill to get dinner - which was only about 500m away, the next day we did a tour of the Potosi mine. First stop was the miners market to buy gifts for the miners. They drink 96 percent straight alcohol, so we gave that a go. At 9am, it was a bit early, but it warmed me up from the sub zero temperatures. Friday is the night of the miners bender, so there were plenty staggering around the streets. Moy and I agree that after one sip, we can see why.....
Moy and me with our ¨potable 96% alcohol.....
Here we are down in the mines. Those that know me well will know of my intense hatred of being underground, but I decided to bite the bullet and kick that nasty fear..... So here I am five minutes in when I thought I'd calmed down and was actually smiling for a photo - clearly I´m not as self aware as I first thought. I think it is hilarious. And, we were at nearly 4,800m so I have a big mouth full of coca leaves in case you`re wondering.....
Once we were out of the mine, Jamie who works in mines went through all the differences between Bolivian mines and Australian ones. The only safety we had was that miners don`t want to blow each other up, so they look after each other, but underground it's a rabbit warren and they have no idea how thin the rock is between each cavity - also all of the tunnels are unsealed, so there were rocks and things falling down all the time. There's asbestos in the rock and most miners die of silicosis pneumonia within 5-10 years of entering the mine... I was glad to get out and appreciate my Tiffany silver a whole lot more now.....
One of the presents we bought for the miners as well as coca leaves was dynamite. Nanna Kathryn put her foot down and said that we were only giving it to them if they didn`t use it while we were down there.... so, when we got up the top, we got to make some bangs..... Now not only will I probably have unintended cocaine residue on me for customs, but I'll also have explosives. For $5 you can buy a stick of TNT, some Nitrogen Phosphate and a fuse - one miner asked for two - one for his seam and one for his mother in law.... Two of the boys packed our boombas.....
then lit them.... and here´s the mountain before we blew it up....
This bang looks small, but mother of God it was loud. Explosives expert I'm not, but I`m pretty confident that what we did is not allowed in Australia.......
After Potosi, it was an overnight bus to La Paz. Seriously, the worst bus station I've ever been in - including the toilet. Thank god for hand sanitiser. I`m an expert now at bucket flushing. The overnight bus was a local one, so I found a lad to sit next to so I could actually sleep rather than be paranoid about my personal safety all night (Nanna Kathryn again.... )......
A visit to Valley of the Moon was a good way to start the trip to La Paz. Old mate here played us a little song on his flute and did a little dance. Again, Bolivian safety standards meant that we were trekking around paths with 200m drop offs with no rails or the like.....
This place is an ancient lake that had a sand bottom, and now rain has eroded the bottom of the lake into all these interesting shapes and patterns...
And here´s La Paz from the valley....
Having decided that playing with explosives and going down a Bolivian mine wasn`t risky enough, I decided to try mountain biking (being the expert I am) down ¨Death Road¨- a narrow dirt road from 4,875m down to 1,200m in 60km (work that gradient out for yourself). The first 20km were super fast bitumen (ha ha - I went super safely), then the dirt road began.....
Here we started off, at nearly 5000m with snow capped mountains all round, and in sub-freezing temperatures.....
The view down the valley from the super fast bitumen.... (taking pictures was banned - one of the road crew had my camera and took these for me - people roll off their bikes to their deaths taking pictures - you`ll see why in a tic)....
The ¨death road¨ we took - the turns were awesome and the view just absolutely stunning. We were in full suits and full face helmets....
Here is the corner of hell! A couple of hundred meters on the other side of this bend is a 700m fall - sick making on a mountain bike on a rocky road.....
From the above pics, you get the idea!
Sarah did it pretty tough, so I stuck by her and we were pretty pleased to finish (see above).
The prize for our efforts was lunch at Coroico, looking down on the hard work we´d just done riding 60km down the above mountain....
Worse than the mountain bike ride down, as the van trip back to the top - the drop offs looked a lot worse going back up than they did going down - and I preferred being in control of the means of transportation. Here are the clouds at the highest point at sunset.
From La Paz, it was ¨Hello Peru!¨. First stop PUno and then onto Lake Titcaca. The highest lake in the world... at 4000-odd-m..... It was local limousines to the port for our boat.
Sean and Dan paid their driver an extra 5 soles to make them win!
First stop was the floating islands - these islands are made of reeds!
This lady, Alessandra showed me her house made of reeds - and her bed made of reeds.....
These are her sons, Alexander and (couldn´t understand in Spanish) trying to catch the chickens under their house.... tormenting them actually!!
I really took a shine to Alexander. Yes, I´m missing Will and living vicariously through children along the way. The bottom of the reed he´s holding they eat like a fruit, so he tucked in and didn´t offer me any. I´d already tried some, so I wasn´t disappointed...
And, here I should credit Moy for his expert photography!! Handy to have an SLR expert who didn´t bring an SLR.... means more good pics for me!
Our final stop on Lake Titicaca was to a stay with a family overnight on Amanti Island. I stayed with Rebecca and Hermando, and their three children Liz, Judith and Bryan (9, 4 and 1 1/2).
Here are Judith and Liz - gorgeous!
The house was made of mud brick, no electricity, running water or showers or anything really - very very simple. The families are all farmers, farming the nearby islands. It was amazing to realise how little you need to be happy. We played with the kids all afternoon, and then watched a soccer match in the afternoon.
Judith was teaching me the Spanish version of Frere Jacques - which I made a lot of mistakes in which kept her and her mum laughing while she cooked us dinner over the wood stove in the smokey kitchen, while Bryan slept at her feet. I taught her Incy Wincy spider!
After dinner (remember, no refrigeration, no handwashing - but it was delicious!) - which was simple soup, and rice and vegies and local grains, we got dressed up by our Mama Rebecca to go to the local party. Here are Sarah and I in traditional Amanti island dress....
The head piece has no pins and was impossible to keep on while dancing. Hermando taught us all the local dances and we had a lot of fun. When I got home, it was dark, and we had only candles, but I could see the spider in my bed quite well when I pulled the covers back. I killed it and got in, having few other choices available!
The blanket of stars in the middle of a lake, with no electricity from anywhere was the best I´ve ever, ever seen. Even so, I made use of the travel john in the middle of the night as I`m happy to own it - it was too dark and cold to go out, and I`d had maybe a little too much beer to make it through to the morning....
Rebecca knitted the hat I´m wearing - here I am with my family, holding baby Bryan. He`s grown up very quickly though - not a nappy in sight which for 1 1/2 is pretty good! Liz, the oldest daughter, was at the next island buying vegies for the family. They lead a tough life. Rebecca and Hermando are my age.... When they asked what I did for work I was lost for words... I told them I worked at a bank. It was the closest thing I could think of that they´d understand. They live in a tiny one bedroom mud brick house with a separate mud brick building as the kitchen (which I´m standing in front of). We had a room upstairs which was 5 star compared to their quarters....
The mama´s in their ¨good¨clothes!
Just when you think it can´t get any better, I end up singing ¨Down Under¨on a bar - yes, on a bar. But, let´s not go into the messy detail!
In all seriousness, just when I thought it couldn´t get any better, I start the Inca Trail in two days. I have waterproofs and thermals as of this afternoon and get fitted for my poles tonight! Yay! I arrived in Cusco today....
Love to all. Miss you all so much, but am so glad I´m here and I´m not missing work at all. Hoping August doesn´t come around too soon. Great to speak to those of you I spoke to just now. Kathryn x
Wow - cool pictures and great adventures! Those roads look good for biking...
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