May 29, 2013 - el alto.....post apocalyptic mayhem

so we actually passed thru el alto a few times...one of the biggest markets in the world supposedly. actually, its one of the biggest shitholes in the world.....indescribable poverty, everyone doin everythin includin living their lives on the rubbish filled streets (both bolivia and peru seem to see bins or any form of organised rubbish disposal as an alien concept) everything just gets chucked with zero thought for what they are doing to their environment. You sometimes see old burds taking all the crap from the side of the road and...

May 29, 2013 - tiwanaku, the most excitin expedition ever........hmmmm

Ok, so I know archaelogically and historically this is stupendous, it predates the Incas and every other bloody thing and survived allegedly as a society for 27 centuries. They even had some drink that when the women gave birth, they'd drink this stuff and it would render them infertile for the next 5 years to control the population (how they know this? Hmmmm) they'd mummify all their dead by removing their internal organs and shoving their legs in the body cavity, then wrapping the whole lot except the face which they'd still offer food...

May 27, 2013 - time for la paz craziness

La paz and all its craziness.....loved it! The witches market full of touristy crap and plain weird crap. Cheap as fuck eats. Crazy people tryin to sell u crazy shit. Picked up nice alpaca stuff for the familia and crossed the road heaps just to get crossed by cheery whackos dressed as zebras. Heaps of fun. Hotel good, gangster as, run by a total chollo and all his chollo mates.....not a burd in sight. But fully helpful and friendly in every way (apart from the grumpy sod at breakfast but with some of the halfwits he had to put up with who...

May 26, 2013 - copa to la paz

So me and Lou got the coach to head to la paz this morning. Pretty stunning scenery on a right dodgy coach (see pics of windscreen) though unbeknownst to us this part of the trip involved actually crossing lake Titicaca. The shady wee rafts looked like they'd come apart in a mild breeze never mind supporting the weight of a coach plus luggage across a choppy lake! So we dutifully and sceptically piled off to let the coach get its raft while we filed on to some teeny motor boats to make the same crossing. Having done boats my whole life this...

Mar 14, 2013 - La Paz

La Paz is the highest capital in the world, sitting at an altitude of 3,650 meters above sea level. We arrived early in the morning for what would be a week’s stay in this beautiful city in the mountains. We cheated death, found some of the best food in South America and had the opportunity to purchase dead llama fetuses. The week went something like this. Five thirty in the morning is not the ideal check in time for a hostel, but La Paz is a big city and we had nowhere else to go. After an overpriced cab ride (by Bolivian standards) we...

Dec 4, 2012 - La Paz

La Paz I thought we had seen the last of dodgy water crossings but this last hop to La `Paz was one of the craziest. All aboard the typical tour bus for an easy 3 hour jaunt to La Paz. So it was a little unusual when an hour in we appeared to come to a stop at a large section of lake. no bridge, no overpass,no large ferries. hmmmm. What we did see were soma very small passenger boats (another 40hp engine) Ah, we get on the poassenger boats and another coach meets us the other side....no? Ah no, they had a much better plan. They had what...

Nov 16, 2012 - La Paz, Tiwanaku

Nous voilà arrivés à La Paz. Nous ne nous y sommes pas attardés, car nous y avions déjà passé plusieurs jours lors de notre voyage en 2009. Toutefois, la ville nous impressionne toujours autant : avec ses maisons construites à flanc de montage, le centre est dans la vallée et l'on voit des maisons tout autour. Le traffic est aussi toujours autant caothique alors qu'il n'y a quasiment aucun véhicule privé, mais presque uniquement des minibus et des taxis. Nous avons profité de faire un peu de shopping d'artisanat bolivien. Nous avons acheté...

Nov 6, 2012 - Freey across Titicaca and into Bolivia

Llamas watched us leave the hotel outside Puno and we skirted Lake Titicaca as we set off for La Paz. The lake edge had reed beds with boats parked where there was a gap. Next to the lake was a large cultivated area. The crops were interspersed with tethered pigs, cows and sheep and there were alpacas. As we passed successive villages it was noticeable that there were a large number of outdoor latrines. They were more noticeable as they were all painted the same colour; we passed a blue village and then a green village. It looked like – and...

Sep 3, 2012 - Hängengeblieben in La Paz plus ein Fehlstart.

Bericht folgt. Ich bin immer noch in La Paz. Nachdem ich sicher anderthalb Wochen gebraucht habe bis ich die Routenplanung für Bolivien abgeschlossen hatte (studieren der Route auf Google Earth/Kartenmaterial + zusammenstellen der GPS Wegpunkte inkl. Routenbeschrieb) muss ich nur noch die Erkältung loswerden + und noch ein klein wenig Rückstand (;-) im Blog aufholen, damit es dann hoffentlich sehr bald mit dem Abenteuer Südwesten Bolivien losgehen kann. Nachdem ich am 9.August aus Trinidad zurückgekehrt war verbrachte ich noch ein paar Tage...

Aug 10, 2012 - Entry 7 - Beautiful Bolivia

Today has started perfectly, with a beautiful breakfast, a haircut that cost less than $3 (I was in dire need of a trim) & now here I sit in a local internet café to share with you what an amazing past week it has been. Firstly a shout out to Jenny Severich! Just wanted to say we have fallen in love with your homeland and we have passed on your love to your relos! Bolivia, has surprised, delighted & astonished us with its amazing landscapes and at the same time stolen our hearts with its beauty but broken our hearts with its poverty. It...

Aug 2, 2012 - Entry 4 - The Journey of 42km Starts With a Single Step…..

Hola From La Paz, Bolivia It's felt like some time has passed without an update, due to time restraints. Today is our first day on our own as we said our goodbyes to our tour group last night. It’s been a great start to the day with a lazy breakfast and stroll through the streets of La Paz and now here I sit with a few hours to spare to share the amazing sights and experiences of the last 2 weeks. I will do my best to be brief! Pisac – Peru The day before we tackled the mighty Inca Trail we stopped via the town of Pisac. Whilst it was...

Aug 2, 2012 - Entry 5 - A Lake Called Titicaca

After arriving back in Cusco after our jungle break we took off for our next stop Puno which would be our base for heading out to Lake Titicaca and our home stay on the island of Luqina. Lake Titicaca is the world´s largest high altitude lake sitting at 3808m above sea level and leaves one breathless at the best of times given the altitude and the view. On our way to our home stay we stopped in to a floating community – Isla Taquile, built entirely of reeds. Google images does this place little justice, out of this world is the only way I...