Thursday, 27 October 2011

Bolivia

Last week I told you all about my time in Peru! After Peru (Cusco) we all took a 25 hr bus ride to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, lake Titi is in Peru and Bolivia but we heard from travellers that the best bit to go to is called Punto which is on the Bolivian side.
The Bus ride was hell as usual, comfy seats, but the only toilet on board was absolutely disgusting and at one stage we had to swap buses and had to wait for it for about 6 hrs....FML. Crossing the Peruvian border in Bolivia was a little scary! There were so many different areas you had to go to and I had lost a tiny piece of paper at the start of the trip that apparently I was supposed to hold on to which then cost me $40 for loosing it, mother f*****s...they really know how to rip you off in these countries if you are not careful!!

When we arrived at Lake Titicaca it was so beautiful! It is the highest lake being 3,811 m above sea level and the largest lake in South America.

We found a little hotel to stay in and went exploring! There really is not much in Punto.. very very small and there are no ATM's!! The bank is only open 1 day a week there and none of us had money so we had to wait two days before we could get some!! Lucky the people in Punto were very trusting as we had many IOU's!!
Our nights were typically all the same, drink, go out and be naughty...I won't get into too much or I would get in trouble..but you know how South America is! We loved the way the Peruvian and Bolivian women dressed, it was very cute with their little bowler hats!


After a few days in Punto we got a little bored so we decided to head to Isle Del Sol, This is a little Island in Lake Titicaca that we heard was really beautiful and something different. We caught a boat there and we really didn't have a clue what we were getting ourselves into! This View from the boat is pretty amazing!
When we got to Isle Del Sole, someone who lived on the Island greeted us at the bottom...then he started walking up this steep hill and we thought oh maybe he is grabbing the car to put our packs on and we are getting a lift up....oh no...we had to walk with our heavy packs on up the steepest mountain ever for about an hr...it was hell!!! 
We finally got to the top where everyone lives and in everyone i mean about 10 families!! It was the tiniest little town ever, we found a place to stay which was $3 a night and went exploring...there were a few animals, one restaurant, many steps leading back down to the bottom and amazing views.
 We had a nice time here but it could have got pretty boring if we were there for more than one night!
After getting back on the boat to Punto we then caught another long ass bus ride to La Paz.. Party Town!!

We were all pretty excited about getting to La Paz, we had heard amazing things about it and couldn't wait to have some fun. If you have ever read Marching Powder then you would have wanted to go to the La Paz jail like we did...we set off one day to go there and were so excited about going inside but when we got there, there were guards out the front with big guns telling people to go away...you want to know why? because a stupid American had taken a video while inside the jail and put in on YouTube and ruined it for all of us...I was so annoyed.
The way La Paz is set out is pretty cool, its in a big round bowl so when you are at the bottom you can see all the sides around you and just millions of homes
Now for people going to La Paz anytime in the near future make sure you go to Route 36...I can't tell you anything about it and people in La Paz will pretend not to know about it...either ask the people that work at the hostel or ask your taxi drivers...some may say they don't know what Route 36 is but you will find one that does and you must go!
The fun that I had in La Paz is indescribable...everyone needs to go there and check out the history, the people are gorgeous and the food is pretty damn good! They have excellent hostels that will take care of you and you can go on great day trips.
Peace x

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Peru

In 2009 my friend Sammy d and I travelled around Europe (my second time), Lived in London (also my second time) and went to South America! We only had 6 weeks in SA as it was coming up to the end of the year and we wanted to be home for Christmas.

One of the countries we ended up in was Peru! We went to Lima first to check out the Capital city and were mildly disappointed.... There really isn't much there and although it is on the coast...it really is not a very nice coast!

We stayed in Lima for a few days and stayed at a pretty cool hostel - We had the most awesomness supermarket right near where we stayed...food food everywhere and it was amazing food! Peru does have great food mmmmmmmm I could eat the ceviche now! We had never tried ceviche before (it is small bits of raw fish cut up with spices and lime juice) and we fell inlove it was GREAT!

There wasn't much to do in Lima, we walked around a lot, actually went to see the second Twlight film...we thought we were going to have to read subtitles but it was actually in English with Spanish subtitles! win!
One day Sammy d said she wanted to get her ear pierced all down the outside of the ear so about 6 piercings...she wasn't too sure if she should do it or not so stupid me said if she did it I would get a tatoo.... so we did, I got a tatoo that lasts forever and she got 6 piercings that she took out after a few weeks because they kept on getting caught on things.. aren't I silly!

We left Lima to go to Cusco but not before we had a 30 hr bus ride there! We were lucky to be on a first class bus with reclining seats, blankets, food and of course over the counter valium!

We arrived in cusco and it was the custest little town of all time, so old, with so many people roaming the streets, markets everywhere and cute little restaurants.


We stayed at the party hostel The Point and met wonderful people, we had such a good time in Cusco, it really was one of the highlights. To make it even better, two of our friends from back home were travelling SA and we met up here! We hadn't seen them all year as we had been travelling and it was just so good to see your best friends in an amazing city!

The main reason why people go to Cusco is for Machu Pichu. It is the closest main town to the amazing wonder so you start here and end here. Machu Pichu was on my definitely list and I was so pumped to see it, you see so many photo's in magazines and just hope one day that you can go explore it.
When we reached the top on Machu Pichu, you look out over the whole wonder and it is breath taking!

It looks like we are superimposed in the photo but we are totes not! It is so amazing up there I can't really describe it to you, the views, the workmanship, how long it has been up there, how on earth did they get everything up here and how on earth do they get lamas and rabbits up there!
We had a tour around the whole place which was nice but it wasn't that great so i would recommend just walking around by yourself. It was mighty hot up there as well, it felt like the sun was on top of us! Tip: If you plan on going to Machu Pichu, make sure your legs are covered completely, mine weren't and there are little pesky insects that draw blood and are mighty itchy! buggers. I had red dots on my legs for nearly 2 weeks...so not a good look!


This was one magical experience for me and I think everyone should get to Peru and check out this amazing wonder. I'll leave you with more pics and next week we go from Peru to Bolivia! Oh my Bolivia is amazing! Lake Titicaca is also a place people need to get to!





Peace xx