The floating islands on Lake Titicaca were
amazing but unfortunately over-exploited by
the tourist industry as usual. It was actual
island made out of reed from the lake which
the people bind together thick enough to build
a few houses also made out of reeds. Some
of the bigger islands even house a school
for the children, a church and other communal
buildings. The people have to add reed to
the surface of the island now and then since
it rottens from beneath. After this island
hopping we continued to Amantani, a "real"
island on the Titicaca. Here we stayed with
an old woman for a night and in the evening
we got dressed up in the local dresses and
danced their local dance. It was a fun thing
to do. The village we stayed in was spotted
by bright shiny orange outdoor toilets, so
it was very obvious loads of people came here
every day doing the same thing. The next day
we went to the island of Taquile where we
joined a local festival which was much more
authentic.
Some of you have complained about only stating
names of small cities which are hard to place
since the South American geography not is
the best for the common man. I´ll try
to be a bit more precise. We followed the
coast of the Titicaca lake from Puno, crossed
the border to Bolivia and ended up in Copacobana.
This was a small relaxed town also on lake
Titicaca. Here we visited Isla del Sol (Island
of the sun) where the first Inca was supposed
to have emerged from a rock.
The three if us headed for the great city
of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. It was
a pretty rough city with a lot of character.
We were greeted with a festival the day we
arrived. The people from the universities
had a dance competition which formed a parade
through the city from dawn to dusk. I also
met up with Cris a Swiss guy I shared host
family in Quito with during my Spanish classes
there. Nice to bump into familiar faces along
the trip exchanging travel stories and tips
for future travel. The second day we went
to San Pedro Prison. It´s a fairly low
security prison mostly run by the prisoners
themselves. We came during visiting hours
and a guy named Willy guided us though the
prison for some money including body guards.
The prisoners have to buy their own cells
from other inmates and do different jobs inside
to get money. The money they need for medicine
and luxury things if you don´t like
the food provided which seemed to be soup,
soup and soup. Needless to say the hierarki
was extreme and the president of the prisoners,
an inmate, lived in a three story apartment
with an own restaurant and a few bodyguards.
Wives and children can live inside the prison
walls if they want and there was a wide variety
of restaurants, shops and entertainment opportunities,
if you had the money of course. A scary social
experiment.
We have been travelling at high altitudes
lately which have meant cold crisp weather
with sun and freezing cold nights. The local
jumpers, hats, scarves and gloves made out
of llama wool are essential. We took a bus
up to the high mountains north of La Paz and
started a mountain bike journey from the snow
capped mountains to the deep jungle. It was
almost only downhill for six hours on a very
windy bumpy dirt road which was tough especially
on the arms. This stretch of the road is called
"the most dangerous road in the world"
due to their track record of averaging running
over with a couple of busses and trucks a
months with an average death count of 50.
Last month was bad with 70 kills including
one foreign girl biking over the cliffs with
her brakes failing her. Hope she enjoyed her
last six seconds during her 160 m free fall.
Our group didn´t have any worse accidents
than seven flat tires and some trouble with
the gears. The roads are clinging on to the
very steep mountain sides with sheer drops.
The traffic going down have to go on the outside
and usually have to back up when meeting another
car since the road is only just wide enough
for one car. We continued the next day 12
hours in jeep on a slightly safer part of
the road. Still happy I didn´t take
the buss which takes 16 h with the same driver
which might be another reason for them driving
over the cliffs. We arrived in the evening
to Rurrenbaque, a small cute town in the middle
of nowhere. Since we where in the middle of
the jungle the climate was warm and nice.
Time to pack away the flece and llama jumpers.
Went to the jungle for three very relaxed
days doing walks in the rain forest looking
at toxic and medicinal plants. We had a knowledgeable
guide who knew his biology but I guess we
wouldn´t have known if he were making
up all his stories. Saw a lot of plants, insects,
a wild boar and a few birds. Nothing really
exciting but then we went for three day Pampas
which on the other hand was very action filled.
We caught a dangerous animal every six hours
with the help of our guides macho and crazy
as true Rambos. The first evening we went
alligator watching. The scary evil eyes reflected
the light of our torches. Our guide wrestled
a 1.5 m alligator which we then all could
cuddle with. The next day we went to a swamp
and were looking for Anacondas walking in
hip deep mud. We caught a midsized Anaconda
of some three meters. It was very strong and
it did stinc bad. It bit one of the guides
but they´re not toxic so it wasn´t
bad. In the afternoon we went fishing Piranas
with meat as bait. Not much meat on them but
they tasted all right. The last day we spent
swimming with some pink dolphins. The forest
and the river seemed to be home to all possible
animals like birds, fish, frogs, snakes, alligators,
Cayman crocodiles, monkeys and Capybara. The
Capybara is a big very strange looking animal.
It belongs to the rat family but looks like
an enormous wombat or a mix between a rabbit
and a beaver in the size of a sheep. They
all die the horrible death of leprecy at the
age of some 15 years; our guide told us which
certainly doesn't have to be true. I also
had the pleasure of trying out the local ticks.
Strangely they were only attracted to the
Swede. Anyone knows if ticks do carry nasty
viruses here?
We didn´t want to rough it and risk
our lives again so we took the military plane
returning to La Paz. The original plan was
to cross Bolivia into Brazil through the deserted
jungle but travelling here is very time consuming.
So we´re considering heading south instead
and do Chile and Argentina. The distance is
much greater but the means of transport is
just excellent we heard and it´s extremely
cheap in Argentina since their economical
problems. We might even be able to do some
budget flying there.
Take care and enjoy the world, the adventures
is out there. Love Emil
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