South towards Bolivia

Every so often we need an admin day to sort our route, get bus tickets and the most important thing…do laundry! We are becoming very bored with our clothes now as we are wearing the same stuff all the time but at least when they’re clean it’s a bit better! Alex needed to get his walking boots fixed as well. The repair was amazing as it was done on a sewing machine that was turned by hand. They were both then polished and came out looking brand new! The owner gave Alex a 12 month warranty card which we thought was hilarious but very nice of them.

We had arranged to meet up with some our walking group for coffee. Alex also devoured some lemon cake as he decided he needed the calories. We sorted our bus to Puno for the next morning and then yet again did a walking tour. Only this one was rubbish. The first hour was spent in the market showing us fruits. We bailed early and even though we gave a tip to the guide he seemed very miffed. That night lots of people from the walking tour met at a vegan restaurant that came highly recommended. The food was good but service was awful. We waited 80 minutes for our glass of wine to arrive (not that I was timing it or anything!)

I was very sad to leave national geographic on tv and our enormous bed but our southern journey continued to Puno and Lake Titicaca. We took a bus with Cruz del sur and it was SO comfortable. We even got a tv each and could watch films. I watched Kung fu panda 3 in Spanish! In Puno, our hostel room was big but the curtains were a waste of time. Why can’t hostels put up curtains that work?! We decided to do an all day tour of the lake as the shorter ones were only 2 hours which didn’t seem enough. With hindsight 2 hours would have been plenty! I was feeling a bit ropey and had a sore throat so scrambled to find the fist defence and vicks! That night alex was back to suffering from altitude insomnia so didn’t get any sleep. On the plus side my throat was better.

The next morning we heard what appeared to be chanting and potentially protesting at 545. Slightly apprehensive, following all the riots in Bolivia, we were relieved to see it was the police running around the town doing some training. Why they have to start before 6am on a Saturday we had no idea. After breakfast we were picked up and taken to our ‘speed boat’. Less of the speed when describing the boat. We stopped off at the floating islands and were shown how the islands are made using the reeds. Members of the island then grabbed different tourists to show them their hut and then their items for sale. It was all quite cringe and not really our thing but we were amazed by their huts. The structure and woven reeds were so impressive. We then had to endure a 2 hour boat ride to another island for lunch. I fell asleep! The lunch was an exceptionally dry omelette with rice and boiled potatoes. Luckily we had bought some ritz biscuits. They are our favourite snack out here as salty not sweet and so we feel better for us! It was another 2 and a bit hours back to the port. With 30 mins to go the heavens opened and there was torrential rain and thunder and lightning all around us. The roads were flooded within minutes and we got told to run to the bus. We bought our bus ticket to la paz for the next day and walked home through the markets in the drizzle wondering what we were walking through as the floor was covered in market bits!

Arriving near our hostel we could hear a band. We were then met with the most bizarre scene. Men and women dressed up in suits and ladies equivalent were dancing along the street and had these rattles they would shake above their heads. In between the dancers were different bands. We have no idea what it was for but it was great to watch. Feeling in need of some comfort food I had spaghetti carbonara and Alex had the biggest calzone we’d ever seen! We saved half for lunch the next day! We popped into the pharmacy to see if they had anything to help Alex sleep. They suggested some vicks sleeping tablets which seemed to help although I did wake up at 2am to find the tv on and wolves and bears on the screen….national geographic again and Alex couldn’t sleep!

The next morning we filled up on free breakfast and also made a couple of marmite sarnies for the road! We were heading to La Paz in Bolivia and we were extra excited as Anna Slemmings/Ward was flying out to join us on our travels the next day. We had 2 bus journeys ahead of us. One across the border to Copacabana and then a mini bus to La Paz. On the way to Copacabana we watched the last episode of the west wing. It was pretty traumatising as we had been watching it for months. Now we had to find a new series! The border was chaotic as there were no barriers, just a continuation of the road and so people were just crossing back and forth. After getting the required stamps we were on our way. The second bus to La Paz saw us drive through small towns with evidence of the recent riots. Burnt out cars and graffiti everywhere. We arrived in La Paz at rush hour and it was crazy. About 4 cars trying to drive down one lane with no one wanting to give way. A short taxi ride later we made our hostel. Whilst looking pretty dodgy from the outside the inside was very pleasant and we were glad to have a shower and flop into our comfy bed.