Peru, Bolivia and San Pedro de Atacama

OK so it would appear that my last post didn't work. So it really has been a while between updates innit? I don't want to go into too much details now or else I'll be writing for days. I'll let the pictures tell most of it but here's in brief what I've been up to.

Not long after I came back from Valparaiso Esther arrived. It was around the 12/08, and it took about 24 hours for her to be in bed sick with some hideous cold thing. Not the best start but at least she was well enough by the 21st to travel to Peru.

Peru was brilliant. Such a close neighbour to Chile yet in so many ways totally different - but then again not! Our tour leaders was really lovely too - Tito and Hugo.

We started in Lima, spending just two days in the capital sight seeing before flying out to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital. The altitude hit me almost as soon as the plane depressurised. When I bent over to pick up my back pack from the carousel is was a good 5 minutes before I could stand up again without fear of fainting. Lucky for us there were women selling coca leaves as soon as we walked out the front doors. It tastes like grass and the consistency can make you gag but it cures your altitude sickness almost instantly.

A few days in Cuzco and surrounds before going over to Aguas Caliente, at the foot of Machu Pichu. The town is clearly a tourist town but in that lovely welcoming way some tourist areas have. There was no resentment towards us tourist by the locals, except one time when I ventured alone to the river side and interrupted some women laundering and men fishing. Clearly the tourists don't do that sort of thing often.

Machu Pichu was AMAZING! We took an early morning bus ride to the top of the mountain where the ruins begin, and from there, after a short tour of the main ruin site, we headed up to climb Waynapichu, the nose of the Inca profile seen in the landscape. Two hours to climb up, half an hour to climb down. Some areas were so precarious that slightest gust of wind or tremble of your legs could have been the end of you. There is something quite exhilarating doing something so clearly dangerous, something that back home would be regulated beyond almost all thrill.

Although I took some amazing photos of the top of Waynapichu, our return to Cuzco saw my beloved indestructible camera stolen. Thankfully everyone on tour had a digital and all have assured me a copy when they return home. I think it fell out of my bag as I was sitting in the waiting room with Esther for her tattoo to be drawn up, else it was stolen from my bag on the way to my Inca massage appointment - I have no way to be sure.

After Cuzco we went by bus to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titikaka. Puno was much bigger than I expected and had the feel of an up and coming starlet trying to impress everyone with her talent. We spent two full days on the lake, visiting floating reed islands and some of the real islands on the lake. The reed islands were so strange, they made me think of what I used to imagine walking on clouds would be like. The people who live on the reed islands have a strange blend of modernity and tradition in their lives. They'll dress up and show off their traditions to the tourists that come to see them but they also have modern luxuries like TV and Internet run from solar panels. At one house where I asked to see inside, the mama tending her stove out the front got the idea of dressing me up in her brightly coloured skirts to add to the feeling of being a local. I loved it! When she saw how much I was enjoying it she even insisted I put on the shirt and petticoat to go with the skirt. The latter was clearly too small but instead of heeding my protests for her not to worry about it, she RIPPED the petticoat in one quick move and insisted on putting the now larger opening around my hips. Others saw what we were doing and in no time there was half our party laughing and playing dress ups with this gorgeous mama.

On one of the earth islands, we stayed a night in the home of a local family. The lake is at very high altitudes and the islands are hills almost from the moment they come out of the waters. Teamed with a chest cold, I found I could hardly breath the entire time we were there, but it was still very enjoyable with friendly children and a local dance thrown for us by the entire village. We were even given local out fits to wear to the dance - more brilliantly coloured skirts! As one of the guys so simply put it, I'm all tits and arse in those costumes but it was still fun.

After the adventures on the lake we spent one more night in Puno. Having well and truly got to know the tour group by now, we decided it was time for a piss up. We were in the tourist part of town and felt safe enough to get raucously drunk and go dancing into the wee hours of the morning. Brilliant fun. It was so nice to be out playing with a big bunch of new friends after having spent so much time in Santiago by myself.

The next day we again took a bus, this time to Copacabana, and then onwards over the boarder and into La Paz. There was a bit just after the boarder crossing here we had to ferry the bus across the Lake. For safety the bus and passengers were put on separate boats. How odd it was to see the bus sailing along next to us, bobbing and swaying in the little waves of the lake.

As the bus came round a bend heading into the city, my jaw hit the ground at the sight of La Paz. It is so overwhelming to see this undulating mass of houses and structures rippling in the shape of the valley that contains it. There are possibly bigger cities in the world, but I've never seen one that looks so much like a living breathing carpet before. Of all the places we travelled to, La Paz was where I felt the least safe. This city had a beat and pulse of it's own that waits for no one. Narrow streets filled with market stalls selling souvenirs and witchcraft ingredients, and musical instruments and food. Beautiful colonial architecture and precariously balanced shacks. Charming little plazas and desert landscapes. The city is just full of contradictions and makes no excuses about it.

Esther and I along with our new friends Gillian and Keith were lucky enough on our first day to meet the wonderful Willy. Willy was a taxi driver, tango singer, tour guide, and Bolivians number one fan. What started as a 5 min ride to the markets ended up a 5 hour trip to some ruins out of town and endless stories and histories of Bolivia. My favourite was the story of the curicuri - a human like being sent from Holy Rome by the Pope to steal the fat from wanderers at night. He only works from 5:30pm to 7:00pm but if you're caught walking by him he'll suck all the fat from your body and send it to the Pope. Although I don't think he's making soap with it, it's supposed to be used for some holy pope thing. Mean while you have just 5 days to enjoy your new slender figure before you die an untimely death - your only hope is to make it to a small village known for it's witch doctors and hope they can cure you in time.

La Paz is where our tour ended and we flew back to Santiago. We here stayed about a week before heading back north by bus almost as far as we'd just flown. San Pedro de Atacama is the mecca for tourists wanting to visit the worlds driest desert and all the wonders it has to offer. We spent 4 days there and crammed as much as we could into each day. Flamencos, geysers, salt lakes, lagoons, hot springs, desert sunsets and big nights drinking. It was gold!