Hello everybody,
When we last left you we were just about to leave Cuzco, and today we find ourselves in sunny La Paz, Bolivia, the highest seat of government in the world. A week ago we left Cuzco for Puno, the small town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titikaka. We started out by taking a boat tour to the floating islands, Los Uros (anybody reading look them up, they are amazing!). They are made entirely of reeds, as are the houses on them and it was almost unfathomable to think that people actually live there. We also got to try on some traditional Peruvian clothing (which, it has to be said, is almost identical to traditional Bolivian clothing but with different headwear) which for women consists of lots of bright colours and long skirts, much of which would not look out of place in Topshop. We spent that night staying with a family on the beautiful island of Taquille. The family were absolutely lovely and the husband Selso showed us all around the island and made us amazing food. The lack of electricity and running water went almost unnoticed. After supper that night the family treated us to a musical performance on the panpipes, drum and a maraca-type instrument made out of sheeps nail. It was very charming but after about the seventh number we had lost track of how many songs they had dedicated to us and were getting a little tired of spinning in circles with the women, all of whom were about half our sizes.
The next day, after having walked up to the highest point of Taquille (4,100 feet!!!) to see their place of worship, we took a boat back to Puno and took a bus over the border to Copacabana, a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. We spent the next two and a half days on the North side of Isla Del Sol in a hostel run completely by an 8 year old girl. The island was absolutely beautiful, so hot and full of hippies and we spent our days soaking up the extremely hot sun on the beach and our evenings eating soup, trout, rice and chips, the only food available in any of the 3 local restaurants in the tiny village. A highlight of the island was the constant presence of pigs, donkeys, cows and guinea pigs running wild on the beach. You haven`t lived until you´ve seen a pig making its way across the sand on Isla Del Sol.
Yesterday we took the bus from Copacabana to La Paz and upon arriving at the outskirts were greeted by the amazing, sprawling view of the city and the mountains. Contrary to what we had been led to believe it is actually very sunny here and everything costs about 2p so that´s pretty great. Last night Rebecca and Maya had their first Bolivian night out in what was apparently a "cocaine club" - we only found this out as we were about to leave and are still not quite sure what it means. Today we visited the witches market where we saw dried llama foetuses which are THE MOST DISGUSTING THING IN THE WORLD EVER and dried toads which come a close second (they were decorated with glitter so looked a bit nicer). We also finally managed to track down some falafel which was pretty exciting. Tonight the plan is karaoke so watch this space for more exciting details!
Till next time
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When we last left you we were just about to leave Cuzco, and today we find ourselves in sunny La Paz, Bolivia, the highest seat of government in the world. A week ago we left Cuzco for Puno, the small town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titikaka. We started out by taking a boat tour to the floating islands, Los Uros (anybody reading look them up, they are amazing!). They are made entirely of reeds, as are the houses on them and it was almost unfathomable to think that people actually live there. We also got to try on some traditional Peruvian clothing (which, it has to be said, is almost identical to traditional Bolivian clothing but with different headwear) which for women consists of lots of bright colours and long skirts, much of which would not look out of place in Topshop. We spent that night staying with a family on the beautiful island of Taquille. The family were absolutely lovely and the husband Selso showed us all around the island and made us amazing food. The lack of electricity and running water went almost unnoticed. After supper that night the family treated us to a musical performance on the panpipes, drum and a maraca-type instrument made out of sheeps nail. It was very charming but after about the seventh number we had lost track of how many songs they had dedicated to us and were getting a little tired of spinning in circles with the women, all of whom were about half our sizes.
The next day, after having walked up to the highest point of Taquille (4,100 feet!!!) to see their place of worship, we took a boat back to Puno and took a bus over the border to Copacabana, a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. We spent the next two and a half days on the North side of Isla Del Sol in a hostel run completely by an 8 year old girl. The island was absolutely beautiful, so hot and full of hippies and we spent our days soaking up the extremely hot sun on the beach and our evenings eating soup, trout, rice and chips, the only food available in any of the 3 local restaurants in the tiny village. A highlight of the island was the constant presence of pigs, donkeys, cows and guinea pigs running wild on the beach. You haven`t lived until you´ve seen a pig making its way across the sand on Isla Del Sol.
Yesterday we took the bus from Copacabana to La Paz and upon arriving at the outskirts were greeted by the amazing, sprawling view of the city and the mountains. Contrary to what we had been led to believe it is actually very sunny here and everything costs about 2p so that´s pretty great. Last night Rebecca and Maya had their first Bolivian night out in what was apparently a "cocaine club" - we only found this out as we were about to leave and are still not quite sure what it means. Today we visited the witches market where we saw dried llama foetuses which are THE MOST DISGUSTING THING IN THE WORLD EVER and dried toads which come a close second (they were decorated with glitter so looked a bit nicer). We also finally managed to track down some falafel which was pretty exciting. Tonight the plan is karaoke so watch this space for more exciting details!
Till next time
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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