Bolivia Express

It's been a while now since I last updated you on my trip... Well It has been a busy while on my side, that's for sure!

The last time I wrote here, we were in Arequipa, getting ready to go to Cusco. Well we have been in Cusco for 4 days now, and will be staying here for the next 3 weeks. But before I tell you about Peru, let me tell you a bit about Bolivia...

My arrival in La Paz was already quite something. First, my landing in El Alto, highest airport in the World, and my taxi ride down a bumpy road to the town center, gave me a good overview of the chaos of this town. Built on the slopes of the surrounding mountains without any apparent urban logic, filled with cars that barely stand together, women in traditional costumes (forced on them by the Spanish and that still haven't been traded for more modern versions) selling all sorts of things in the streets, from Alpaca clothes to Lama foetus, weird heritage from old believes... All mixed in a compact crowd that comes and goes in the incredibly steep streets of  the highest Capital in the World. I did have to catch my breath a couple of times. I got lucky enough not to get sick from the altitude though...

We just spent one full day in La Paz, wandering through the busy market place of the main avenue, where orchestras were playing typical music and people, young and old, were dancing happily together. Besides this festive sight, the town was truly too compact, too messy, to fast and in the same time incredibly slow for me. I guess it was just the same for Tiphaine and Celeste as the 3 of us decided to head the same night to Copacabana, on the shore of the Titicaca Lake.

Our ride there was a public bus in which you could have seated no more than 6 people. Well, we were 10. And the package the guy next to me was carrying had that weird smell of old fish that was making me feel quite sick. We also shared the bus with a French girl, who had apparently left civilisation for a tiny bit too long... She had been travelling for a while now, and her and her dreadlogs friend had to move fast out of Bolivia cause their visa was about to expire. We couldn't help but thinking that she was probably convinced she was living the real thing, by not taking showers, sleeping on beaches and getting acquainted with local hippies... But really, how much did she know about Bolivians and their way of living? Besides smoking weed and having a " chillllled time" in a sort of new woodstock experience, she wasn't quite the most openned minded person I had met so far...

Anyhow, we made it a bit after nightfall to Copacabana, and dropped our bags in the hotel. Celeste wasn't feeling quite well, so only Tiphaine and I left the hotel for a quick dinner, asking beforehand the receptionist at what time the doors would close. Assured that we would make it back way before that, we took off. We were back only an hour later, to find the doors closed and no one to open them for us, despite our shouts and continuous knocks. After 30 minutes of trying, with no one to help us in the streets, and hotels closing one after the other, Tiphaine and I settled for an hotel down the street were we tried to get in touch with Celeste, left alone in her hotel room... well it turned out to be much more complicated than expected... The rest is only history, history the 3 of us have tried hard to forget, for it was one of the longest and scariest night we have had. Only important thing is, in the end, we were all ok and ready to continue our trip..

We took a day trip to Isla Del Sol, where we hiked in the mountains for 4  hours. The view was unreal and even if the hike by itself was surprisingly hard, we enjoyed every minute of it. Clearly we were not the fastest, but we just blamed it on the sights, which by themselves justified the extra time we took... Funny enough, we bumped into that same French girl we had travelled with from La Paz to Copacabana. She had put down her bags on the beautiful beach of Isla del Sol, and at the time we saw her she was giving a foot massage to another hippie, drinking and smoking I don't know what, and spoiling a bit the beauty of the place... Well I would not be surprised if she were still there now..

The same night we took a bus from Copacabana to Puno, and from Puno to Arequipa-Peru, from where I posted the previous message. Passing to Peru truly felt like a relief after what we had lived in Bolivia. I did not get to see the incredible Salar de Uyuni, and I hope I will have the occasion one day to go back and see this wonder on earth... But except for that, meeting the Bolivians truly was the worst experience I had since the beginning of this trip. I mean, my previous messages were sufficiently explicit for you to understand how much I enjoyed Argentina and the Argentinians. I was definitly not prepared for this: completely unfriendly, unaffected, inefficient, and infinitely slow. Lonely Planet should clearly review its description of this country's people. There was no such thing as a welcoming spirit and generous character in what we have experienced..

Well, I can tell already Peru is much, much better... I will tell you a bit more in a following post, this time about Arequipa and the great Colca Canyon, and also about Cusco, where Celeste and I have started to work for Mother Teresa, with handicaped children and orphans. It already looks like it's gonna be the hardest but also the most fulfilling thing I have had to experience so far...

So I will give you more news very soon, and for now I send you many, many kisses all the way from Peru, and hope all of you are well!
Lea