There´s a lot to report! We were in transit for a good portion of it, flying from Bogota, Colombia to Lima, Peru and busing our way down to La Paz, Bolivia where we are now! To recap. . .
Bogota - Was nice, but not somewhere we were too keen to stay, especially after hearing reports from English teachers working there that they´d all been robbed, mugged or held at knife-point over the last two weeks! Yikes. Nothing bad happened to us (thank goodness!) and we did journey up to Monserrate (see photo) on a cable car up to the highest point overlooking the city, which was really beautiful!
Lima - I love this city! Can´t wait to get back and spend some more time there before flying home. We stayed in this artistic community called Barranco which is lovely and just a few minute´s walk to the ocean. We were on a tight schedule trying to make it to Bolivia in time for Carnival so we were only here a night before hoping on to another lengthy bus ride (17 hours) to Arequipa.
Arequipa-Puno - I hardy remember these places since we pretty much just arrived, slept, ate, and were on our way! We opted for the ¨no frills¨ bus to Arequipa, which had absolutely no leg room and I woke up with massively swollen ankles one morning which freaked me out a bit (they seem to be back to normal now, however). We started to feel pretty good about our seating arrangements though when we saw a guy crawl out of the luggage compartment during one of the stops! So hillarious. Getting to Puno was supposed to only be 4 hours, but a tiny skiff of snow on a slight incline (I would not call it a hill!) delayed us for 3 HOURS!! It seems that Peruvians are even less prepared for snow than Vancouverites.
On to Bolivia - Getting across the border to Bolivia was an adventure in itself! We opted for the shorter route rather than going around Lake Titicaca (which is longer and more touristy) since we are planning to come back into Peru that way. We jumped on a tiny bus with the locals from Puno to the dirty town of Deseguadero. The Lonely Planet´s description of Deseguadero as a chaotic border town was a huge understatement!! Trying to get our entry & exit stamps for each country was completely insane as the migration and immigration buildings for each country were nearly impossible to find. People seemed to be crossing the border at their own free will and there was absolutely no control of who was coming and going. Buses, cars, wagons and foot traffic were all travelling on the same path across a tiny bridge dividing the two countries. After much chaos and a few fights with pushy locals (must learn more Spanish swear words!), we got our stamps and were on our way to La Paz!
La Paz - We found a great hostel with a brew pub attached to it (a night´s stay includes a free pint!) as soon as we arrived and have been there since Friday. We took a day tour on Saturday to Oruro for the kick-off of Bolivia´s biggest and best Carnival celebration. We left at 3am to get there for the 8am parade start. The parade was awesome and the costumes were so colourful and intricate! After about 5 hours of parade, however, the novelty started to wear off. And after 10 hours of parade, we were really over it. Our bus left at 8pm and the effing parade was still going!! How long can these people dance for? Apparently it continues into the wee hours of the morning! The water fights were also a lot of fun for the first bit and we held our own against swarming gangs of local kids trying to peg the tourists (I swear, my blonde head is like a bullseye!), but after three days of foam in the face and water down the back, we´re ready to get out of this place.
Tomorrow morning we´re heading to Copacabana and Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca which will hopefully be a little more relaxed and a little more dry. Until then!
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