| DIARY 7 |
| 23rd Aug 2005 Fried egg sarnie for breakfast - the food gets better every time!! Said our goodbyes to Wanika and Esteban and boarded the boat again, over to Taquille - another static island on the lake. Looked at some old Inca ruins and had a walk round the island. The lake and the islands are so impressive - people are really friendly and all work together - no police or dogs on the island because there is never any trouble. Back to Puno after lunch - took 3 hours to get back across the lake!! Claire got exam results, so went for Chinese again to celebrate/commiserate!!! 24th Aug 2005 Bus to Copacabana in Bolivia, with an easy border crossing. Copacabana very small and not as nice as we thought it would be. Decided not to go to the Isle de Sol as we're running out of time and we've already seen the Peruvian islands. Had some laundry done at our hotel (the cheapest one yet, but very nice) including Terry's new red T-shirt, hence the result is that Claire now has no clothes as most of them are pink or with pink splodges - thanks!!! Bolivia is a lot cheaper - room with breakfast is about 4 quid and that's apparently expensive!! Had a walk round the town.... bought a big bag of monkey nuts for 30p (thought of Goff!!), and started taking malaria tablets - great!!! 25th Aug 2005 Bus to La Paz.... interesting journey.... just outside Copacabana we had to get off the bus and cross the lake in a boat, while the bus floated across on a precarious looking raft!!! The rest of the journey was extremely bumpy - coming out of our seats on several occasions!! Back in another capital city, but shouldn't be here long. Took ages to find the Gravity Assisted Mountain Bike Co. to book the trip down the world's most dangerous road for tomorrow, but on the up side we found a Burger King and despite saying we wouldn't have any familiar fast food while we're away, we caved in - it was lovely!!!! Also went to the British Embassy to collect a parcel from home - posh building but nobody spoke English!! Once everything was sorted we went to the Mercado de Hechiceria - a witches market, where they sell llama foetus', stuffed animals and all sorts of herbal remedie amongst all the usual tourist stuff. Pretty cobbled streets, but not so much a market - just lots of little shops, with a table outside. Nearly died from Terry singing along to Neil Diamond on the MP3 player - feel sorry for our neighbours! 26th Aug 2005 Not a good day, but I'm sure we'll laugh about it one day......... Got up and got to the meeting point for the bike ride at 6.50am - not leaving till 7.45, so time for breakfast. Nobody else there though - bit strange..... waited till 8.15, still nobody there and not been picked up......... so Terry went back in cafe to check the time and found it was 9.15 - basically we should have put our watches forward an hour when we crossed the border to Bolivia - didn't know anything about it... nothing in guide book, bus driver didn't say anything, border control didn't say anything...... but now a few things make sense such as getting our laundry an hour early in Copacabana, the bus to La Paz leaving an hour early, etc... Went to Gravity office to explain but not allowed money back. Booked it for the next day, but had to pay 75% again - an expensive lesson as it was $50 each in the first place. Had to book into another hostel so found a much cheaper place near the witches market and cooked pasta for dinner to try to save some money! Ended up just hanging around in the city all day looking at sights. That evening we met some people at the hostel who gave us some good info about the jungle and Rio, so good choice of place to stay. 27th Aug 2005 Wow!!! What a fantastic day - another highlight of the trip! Mountain biking down the world's most dangerous road - going faster than I've ever been before, basically on rocks & dust with sheer drops and trucks & buses on a single lane - what an adrenaline rush!!! The guides were crazy which always makes it more fun - can't describe how good it was!!! Terry hacking it at the front all the way down, me in the middle going faster than we thought I would! Free beer and t-shirt at the end and a much needed shower and buffet in Coroico!! We were with the best company though safety wise, as other groups were just all over the place and I don't know how they got down in one piece!! Stayed in Coroico at a place with a pool (much warmer down here - 3500m lower than La Paz) and some fantastic views. Had a few more well deserved beers with a couple of others from the ride and went to a local 'club' - danced with some local old ladies!! 28th Aug 2005 Lie in for the first time in ages, but still up at 8ish. Had breakfast on the terrace overlooking the valleys and forrested hillside - shame we can't take any photos, too hazy as it's so hot. Booked our trips for the next week, then sat by pool for an hour or so before getting our bus to Rurrenabaque - should be 15 hours but we've been told it could take up to 20 - bus might break down and road extremely bumpy - can't wait!! 29th Aug 2005 Arrived in Rurrenabaque about 6.30am after the worse bus journey ever.... was extremely bumpy the whole way and really hot and dusty. We passed an accident where a car or truck had gone over the edge of the cliff - I think we were safer on the bikes yesterday - bus really close to the edge at times and nobody drives slower considering the dangers!!!! No sleep - very tired!! Got picked up from the bus station by 'taxis' - a motor bike each with our rucsacks over the handle bars - and taken to the tour company to sort bits out. Had a mucho bueno desayuno para 14 Bolivianos - great breakie for a pound!!! Rurre very small, very nice people and very hot. Went down to the river and got in a long canoe with our guide Rene (and Sophie who did the bike trip with us) and headed for the jungle - a 3 hour trip down the river. Dozed most of the way in the sunshine, but saw lots of birds, incl vultures and eagles. Met the cook - Esmerelda - and had a delicious lunch, before going for a 4 hour hike in the jungle, wearing flip flops!!! Had to cross a river which was waist height according to Rene and we could swim across if we wanted.... what he didn't tell us was the current was very strong and it wasn't waist height at all - more like shoulders.... interesting especially for Claire - couldn't stay upright and might have ended up being swept to the Amazon!! Climbed up a hill and arrived at a cliff top above Macaw nests, where we could see out across the jungle above the trees, with Macaws and green parrots flying around. Back to camp for dinner and saw an ant eater. Slept in mosquito nets listening to the sounds of the jungle. |