From Bolivia to Peru

After our successful crack at Huayn Potosi and the fallout from The Big Question, the four of us went out for a celebration dinner at The Flavour of India, a dodgy curry house in La Paz. We´d heard from this Scottsman called Johnnie whom we´d met in our first week that if you finish their notoriously hot vindaloo you get a T-shirt for your efforts.

So off to the restaurant we went, and because we needed more clothes, Jen and I ordered a vindaloo each (chicken and beef). The waitress looked at us as if we were crazy, but we assured her we could stomach it.

At the Flavour of India, La Paz. From left: Dave, Tim, and Jen

So the curries came out, and after the first few mouthfuls we thought it´d be ok, but then the heat really started to kick in. Looking back on it, it was probably one of the more forgettable moments in my short life so far. It was f$%k'n hot. The hottest thing I´d ever had in my life. If you looked at the curry, it was probably at least 30% chilli seeds. Ridiculous really. Jen almost threw up, and I was feeling pretty ill myself. We decided to concentrate our efforts on finishing one bowl between us, which we only just managed.

For the next 2 hours I wanted to vomit, and even tried to put my fingers down my throat to stop the pain, but to no avail. Then for the next 4 hours I had lava in my stomach. Indigestion sux. Needless to say a good curry always burns twice, and that is what happened the next morning.

The curry was hot enough to make us want to vomit.

Tim and Dave left for the jungles of Peru the next day, and we thought we´d go for a couple of days of fun mountain biking. So the first thing we did was catch up with B-side adventures who we´d gone with before, and booked 2 trips with them.

The first was called ¨Downhill Delirium¨ which is an alternative to the standard Death Road ride. Basically you skip the boring asphalt downhill and instead go on the old road which is rocky, loose, fun and spectacular. Then when you get to the end of that, the van picks you up and drives you up to the top of the classic Death Road, and you fang down that too. I think you head down like 3500m or more. It´s awesome, and we would definitley recommend anyone who visits La Paz to have a go. The scenery is spectacular! Here´s one of the classic shots:

Apparently it´s only a 300m drop below us. Not too far really. I mean, what´s the difference between 30m and 300m? You´re dead anyway.

After having fun on the easy Downhill Delirium-Death Road combination, we thought we´d challenge ourselves a bit more and have a crack at the Andean Freeride Singletrack thingy they were offering. This time we were in full body armour, with full face helmets, like we were on the Andean Balcony ride a few weeks earlier. They took us out to the styx, nice and high up, and we just spent the day heading downhill on tricky singletrack. Then when we´d finish a section they´d drive us back to the top again, so we could have another go. This was a great aspect as it meant we could go faster and with more confidence the second time around. The day was expensive, like around $150 aussie bucks each, but it was bloody worth it.

Jen heads down some fun rock garden.

After those 2 fun days of mountain biking, it was time to leave Bolivia and head to Peru. Our plan was to get to Cusco somehow, which was either a fun 12-hour bus ride, or a 2 day, 2 night trip involving some stopovers at Lake Titicaca. We chose the latter option, and it broke up the trip pretty nicely.

So the first thing you do is catch a bus for 3-4 hours and you arrive in a town called Copocabana, which sits on Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is apparently the world´s highest navigable lake, at around 3,600m altitude I think. We had lunch in Copocabana, and then we caught a ferry to the Isla del Sol, or Island of the Sun, which is meant to be the birthplace of the Inca civilisation.

We stayed at a lovely hotel overlooking the lake, and got fine views of the sunset. Our guide, Gladys, was lovely, and took us to see the Temple of the Sun which is where the first Incan king was meant to have lived. She told us that the Incan people used to live ¨in¨ lake Titicaca, and I suppose when the water levels rose they had to hike to higher ground. So there´s assumed to be a lost city of the Incas somewhere under the water in Lake Titicaca made of gold! Some divers last year trawled the area near Isla del Sol and found some golden statuettes, but no city of gold. Oh well. They plan to do some more diving and exploring in a few years. That totally brought back memories of that cool cartoon series, ¨The Mysterious Cities of Gold¨. Ah, what a show that was.

Catching the afternoon sun at our hotel, on the Isla del Sol.

One of the ferries from the mainland to the Isla del Sol. Nice view of the mountains too.

We caught a ferry back to Copacabana the next morning, and had lunch there again. Then we said goodbye to Gladys and jumped on a bus to Puno, which is on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. It was about a 3 hour bus trip. After we arrived in Puno we were taken on a tour of the Uros Islands, or Floating Islands, which are these cool islands made of reeds. About 2,000 people live there even now. We got to watch a magical sunset whilst on the islands, and we were then ferried back to Puno where we had dinner at the bus station and then caught a night bus all the way to Cusco.

The Uros Islands (floating islands).

We arrived in Cusco at around 4 in the morning, and fortunately for us we´d booked some accommodation already and crashed in our hotel till about 10am. Then we went for an explore. We headed straight for the Plaza del Armas, the main square, and had a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking the square. Here´s a view from the balcony where we ate our lunch:

View of the main cathedral, Plaza del Armas, Cusco

Unfortunately there was no champagne for us (we were trying to celebrate our engagement, but ended up with a nice glass on white wine (for Jen) and a Corona beer for me). The food was absolutely delicious though, and there was free WiFi, so we kinda just chilled for the afternoon.

The rest of the week was spent doing a Spanish course with Cusco Spanish School. It consisted of 4 hours of lessons a day; 2 hours of grammar, and 2 hours of conversation. It did our heads in a bit, but it was fun. We stayed with a lovely Spanish speaking family who provided us with all our meals and more practice at spoken Spanish. Thanks Eliana and Vignart for letting us stay with you, and for being so accommodating and friendly!

Eliana, our host mum. She was so cool.