We have been busy since the last time i wrote...changed countries, diets and currencies, hiked canyons and visited floating islands. Here´s an update...
From the coastal town of Copacabana, we took a boat for an hour and half to the tranquil island of Isla Del Sol which sits in the middle of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. It was a beautiful blue sky day and we walked around this big island which has remained fairly unchanged by tourism. Villagers seve coffee in their front yards alongside their llamas, and trails are rocky leading through hills of sheeps and donkeys and plantations of quinoa which is kind of like couscous or rice and is added to soups and mashed like potato. Famous for trout, i enjoyed a change of diet from the regular Bolivian dishs of rice and chicken, and ate trout for 4 days straight. The island was really realxing so we stopped and just sat for a couple of hours on a cliff side in the sun. Being Easter Sunday, or possibly for a wedding celebration or something, there were fireworks over the lake at night before the skies turned and a tremedous storm took place overnight. We left the next day for a 3 hour bus trip across the border to Peru which was a simple process, and this is where we are now.
Arriving in Puno we could see the change in lifestyle quickly. Peru is more accustomed to tourism and people are a little more forward and friendly with travellers. Roads are more likely to be paved, toilets come equip with toilet paper (although not always), and things are just a little more organised. The food so far has been fantastic (alpaca meals have been suberb, and just new menu and market choices...woohoo), and we are throughly enjoying pisco sours which is a alcholic beverage made of pisco (white grape brandy), egg white, sugar syrup and...? Delicious.
We stayed in Puno and visted the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, which is the floating islands of Uros. Super touristy, but something to be seen regardless. People live and make a living on approx 80 reed islands on the lake. Its quite fascinating to get off the boat and be on a island made entirely of reeds which is soft underfoot. People fish for trout and make crafts and build reed boats as part of a very old culture and lifestyle which has been monopolised by tourism, but is still really special and intersting.
Off to Arequipa next which is where we are now. Arequipa is really quite stunning. It is the nicest city we have been in so far, however more Spanish than indigenous Sth American. Surrounded by huge snow capped volcanoes and mountain ranges, the city centre is remininscent of somwhere in Europe. The plaza is super clean with palm trees and gorgeous churches, the people and restuarants are trendy and the climate is warm.
About 6 hours from Arequipa, lies the worlds second deepest canyon called Canon Del Colca. We have just completed a 2 day/1 nights trek into this canyon (15km all up). It begins at an elevation of 3280m and plummets to the river at 2160m. So the first day is a steep drop of over 1000m, crossing the canyon and walking through local villages which are really quite remote. There are no roads here, so everything is transported by foot or mules or produced locally. We stayed overnight at the bottom in a lodging with a pool but with no electricity, and then of course...what goes down, must come up (the reverse of this saying still works here!) The trek up is said to take about 3 hours and we completed it in about 2 hours, 15 mins which is damn good going if i must say myslef, however my calves are definitely feeling it today! At the end, we visted the hot springs which, at a toasty 39 degrees, was good for the muscles. Another very cool part of this trip was a stop off at the Cruz Del Condor where condors glide through the valley and make spectacular viewing. Their wing span grows to up to 3 metres long and they come really close to the viewing point. We saw several cruise by, very impressive.
Tommorrow night, we are taking a bus to Cusco where we will spend 3 nights before beginning the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment