Copacabana and Isla del Sol

             When Aoife and I decided to make our escape from La Paz, Copacabana was our destination. After taking a bus and a ferry to get there, we settled on a cheaper hostel (which in the end had some rooms that looked like murder scenes) and went to explore by the water. It was nice to be by the water again. Lake Titicaca is so vast that it looks like an ocean. It felt like being back on the Island as I soaked up the sunshine and watched the water.

 Pumped for what´s about to happen Zorbing!

               What made this even better though was the discovery that on Lake Titicaca they have zorbing balls. Zorbing balls! I have only ever heard of it being done in Germany, so when Aoife was keen to give it a go I was so in. I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard. If one person goes to move before the other, you´re falling and then toppling all over yourself just trying to stand back up. I lost the things in my purse so many times. You only go for 10 minutes but honestly 10 minutes is enough. Definitely a highlight in Copacabana.
          After that we went to a restaurant on the water for happy hour and dinner. After dinner, we went to use the bathroom above the restaurant. I went to take a picture of the view and my wallet fell out of my bag. I didn´t realize until we got back to the hostel and when we went back to the restaurant everything was closed and locked up. We banged on the door and shined our flashlights but no one answered. The area itself was kind of a little ally that shared its back with a hotel so we thought we´d go ask in there. The man at reception thought I lost my wallet in the bathroom and then after explaining took us out to the back where they hang the sheets and the wall is. While trying not to decapitate myself on clotheslines, I went closer to the wall. This led the man to think that we actually were trying to jump over the wall and break in and a bunch of yelling ensued. Not at all what was happening. Then we went back to the door and there was another man who had a key but he wouldn’t let us in because he didn’t know us, even after we explained all we wanted was to just look at the stairs. We gave up after that and went for drinks.
          The next day, when we went to the restaurant there was my wallet with all my cards (both debits, VISA, and Driver´s Liscence)! So lucky!! After that it was on to Isla del Sol. While everyone tells you to go to Isla del Sol, no one tells you how pretty it actually is.


 We got there around 3;30 in the afternoon and were welcomed by an Argentinean filled beach. This surprised me. I hadn´t expected beaches. We had decided to do the hike from North to South that day and set out for the ruins. By the ruins, there is another lovely beach that hardly anyone was at. If I were to go back in the non-rainy season this is definitely where I would choose to camp. The hike itself was very pretty. It gave views of the lakes and mountains and a thunder storm that kept threatening to take out the sun. However, we were lucky. We hit the south part of the island and found a hostel right as darkness was hitting. When we woke up the next day, it was pouring. So we waited it out rather than getting rained on and enjoyed ourselves for the sunny afternoon. When we got back to Copacabana, the power was out. This made for an interesting sing a long on the main road once it got dark out. It was really cool to be by the water and see all the stars and have a hippie group of Argentineans perform an impromptu concert

Back to La Paz

                    Coming back from the Pampas, I wasn´t sure I was going to stay in La Paz for more than a day. But things changed. I decided to go to Tihuanaco with Aoife and her friend. We took public transport which was a lot like a roller coaster on the way back. If you go to the ruins without expectations or you haven’t seen the ruins in Peru these are good ruins. The main attractions to me, were the large statues that they had put in the center of the sun gate and this lower dwelling that had all these carvings of faces. Some of them were still so intact considering it is a pre-incan ruin.
                   The next day, Aoife and I decided to go on tour of Mount Chacaltaya and the Moon Valley. Mount Chacaltaya is a part of the Cordillera Real and is 5,421m above sea level. In the winter, it is the ski hill for Bolivia, however, due to global warming they only use it for about a month. On the tour, you are bussed up the mountain to 5000m and then you walk the rest. Even after bring in La Paz for a while I could feel the altitude. The buzzing in my ears, the rapid pulse of my heart, and the twisting in my stomach. It is amazing how much it can affect you. The mountain would give striking views on a clear day. But it is the rainy season and clouds were in sight. I still had a lovely time though and would definitely recommend it just for the different lakes and scenery. The Moon Valley in the La Paz was made from a lake. It is all silt that has been formed into craters. Originally, I wasn´t into going because of the moon valley tour I did in San Pedro. However, I am glad I did because their definitely is a stark difference between the two.

Speed Travelling

So since leaving Cusco things have been a bit of a whirl wind! Elisabeth and I have come to call it speed travelling considering half the time we've forgotten the day or one day feels like 3.

Day 3 on the trail admiring the view. 

 

First, I'll start with the Inca trail. I am super happy I did the Inca trail even though I feel as though I had a bit of a love hate relationship with it. I didn't go with the other vols and it ended up that there were only 4 people in my group including me. One girl was from Ireland and then there was a German brother and sister with limited English. So it was interesting. The day we started the car was late picking me up at the house and I wondered if I was even going to get to do the trail at all!
We started out in the rain on the first day, but it cleared. It quickly became apparent to me that I was going to be the last person in this group and the trek was going to be very solitary. On the second day, whoch is the hardest, I think I was a bit dehydrated in the beginning as my one eye was kind of blurry like it was swimming and then my tongue and hand went numb. After our second check-point it rained for a solid 4 hours. All the way up Dead Woman's pass and all the way down. I literally got to the top, had a vague idea that it was the pass, and the rest of the group had gone down, so I took a picture and headed right down. Down sucked. I almost fell so many times. It definitely was the most trying day. Plus, we all finished early so none of our porters were there with tents! We stayed next to this really nice waterfall and when the clouds cleared (for a moment) the mountains we were in were gorgeous as well. The third day was definitely my favourite! It was beautiful, yes!

 Parts of the Jungle

There were lots of ruins and jungle, and I finally figured out the right way to carry my pack! I spent a good hour of the hike without anyone passing me.. which led me to question if I really was on the Inka trail/if something were to happen who would help me? On the fourth day, we got up at 3:30 am so we could leave by 4 and be in line for the check point which opened at 5:30. We were the fourth group in line which was good because we got through fast. On the walk to the sun gate, I fell on my knee right before you reach all the steps! That part really hurt and my knee bugged me for a few days after. At the sun gate (where you see all the postcard pics of Machu Picchu) all we could see was mist and when we got to the ruins it was the same.

 Above: The ruins coming out of the mist.
Below: One last look before leaving. 

But as we watched it was so cool to watch the city in the clouds form out of the mist! The rest of the day we toured around the ruins and then Dee and I went to the hot springs in Aguas Caliente. It was really nice even though I needed a lot of convincing to go in!

The next day, Elisabeth and I said bye to Jenny and got on our first bus adventure... a night bus to Arequipa. From there we caught another bus to Tacna and in Tacna, we caught a taxi over the Chilean border into Arica. The taxi was definitely an experience. They make sure it is full and they take your passport to get your info (which they end up copying down wrong) and then you drive. I was really happy Elisabeth was there to do thaf with me for the first time! Otherwise, I probably would've been on a bus and waiting a lot longer.

Once we got into Arica and found our hostel we decided to explore. Arica is actually nothing special.. it's rather run down in its central area, but has a charm that gets you. Our hostel was cool.. really nm open concept and beachy feel. Plus, it helped that we went to the beach and surfed both days and went out with a big group the one night.

 Part of Arica near the square.

A saying I liked in Spanish: I am you. You are me. 

 

From there we headed on a plane to Santiago where we were supposed to catch a morning flight to Buenos Aires. BIG SNAG. I didn't know you could only pay your reciprocity fee online and I thought that they would ask me at customs. Nope..no one did so then I just assumed they would ask once we got there. So when we went to board, the man told me no you can't go no reciprocity fee. He said there was no time for me to go pay it and that was it I wasn't going. It was rather intense and I felt my stomach drop. Thank gosh Elisabeth was there and could ask questions because they barelt spoke English. This wonderful flight attendant ended up rebooking our flight, cancelling our stamp out of Chile (which made us look like criminals, and then showing me the dinky computer I could pay my reciprocity fee on. LITERALLY no info was around it and I would have never found it on my own. I felt really bad because Elisabeth only had 10 extra days to spend and then herenit was that one of them was not in BA like we planned. But she was really good about it and we went and explored Santiago for a few hours. We ate there and did a hop on hop off tour which was hard not to fall asleep on after all our nightime airport napping. After that we headed on our flight to BA.

When we got to BA, it was a good thing we were exhausted because our hostel was nothing special. In the morning, we woke up to find bugs, like roaches, under our bags!! Good thing we went to explore for a few hours and got a bus to Iguazu at 3. Iguazu was amazing. You can't not be happy there! We got there and immediately went to the park. We went on with this jungle adventure group, where they take you througg a bit of the jungle ans then on a zodiac to some of the falls. We got so wet from the spray! It was so amazing! After we walked up and saw the falls from a different view and then we went to the Devil's Throat which was amazing as it is the top of the main falls. You cannot go near it without getting wet! The next day, we went on the Marcuca trail and swam in a pool with waterfalls. It was so nice and so worth it! I can definitely see why it is one of the new seven wonders of the world

The Sacred Valley Tour

It is when you go on a tour that you really see how well you bond as a volunteer group. There’s no escaping to your rooms on the bus. For our group, the tour of the Sacred Valley was two full blown days of ruins trekking, photo taking ridiculousness.  
On Saturday we started out to find that Sylvie was sick and would not be leading our tour. So we went and met Berta, another local Peruvian at the Chincherro ruins. She was very cute. However, her English was limited at times and we would ask her questions to which she would answer now and then revert around to yes. The Chincherro ruins were mostly converted by the Spanish and it is the view of the mountains here that really takes your breath away. They were gorgeous and you can totally see why someone would choose to build there.

At the Chincherro ruins, we visited a woman who showed us how they dye their strings to make fabrics. It was very interesting to see how everything was made from natural components. We also saw a large family of guinea pigs and many of our volunteers felt bad that they had chosen to indulge in this the night before. Vegetarian for the win!
After lunch, we went and saw the Ollantyambo ruins. They were built into the side of a mountain and overlook the cobblestone town. They were left primarily untouched by the Spanish as the Inca’s had not completed their building by the time they arrived to attack. We had gorgeous weather for touring this ruin. It was really cool to see how they created the terraces and the sun temple. Plus, some of the stones they used were huge! I can’t believe they brought them from Urabamba on the other side of the mountain. Their craftsmanship is rather incredible.

Saturday night, we stayed in Pisac so the next day we could go directly up the ruins. The hotel was lovely to be in. The night before, Elisabeth, Jenny and I stayed out dancing at Mama Africa till 2 am, we definitely did not get enough sleep for the tour lol. Totally worth it though.

The Pisac ruins were by far my favourite. We took the bus up the side of the mountain to the military area. We could see the view of the terraces going down the mountain and then on the opposite side we could see holes in the mountain which the Inca’s used as tombs. We joked that Lee might end up in those tombs because of all the photos she took and her need to get so close to the edge.
The Pisac ruins take about 3.5 hours or more to walk down. I like to think of it as Inka trail prep. We saw the ceremonial center of Intihuana and lots of lookout spots. There was this ruin that looked to me like a lost city that I swear I have in about 30 different photos.

We ended up getting to the temple area and going to the look out and reinacting a scene from Titanic for all the world to see. There were also some llama poses and a couple "lets do Miley Cyrus shots"

Definitely fun stuff. Other highlights include walking through a tunnel, looking at a lookout over the sacred valley, and climbing down numerous (sometimes precarious) steps to make it down to Pisac.

Our Lunch was definitely well deserved! After that everyone separated and tried our hand at bartering in the market. There are so many stalls and shops. I know I did not see them all. Sylvie had been telling us for the longest time to just wait to buy things till the Sacred Valley. I am glad I listened. They have some unique things and some things you can see everywhere, but you cannot beat the prices. Everyone walked away with some very nice treasures and gifts.

The last highlight if this tour is the visit to the Llama and Al Paca farm. Having a bad day? Go feed a Llama. It was so much fun. There is grass that you can feed them with and they come running. It was so funny. I was a mix between really wanting pictures and being afraid that they were going to bite or spit on me. Definitely worth it though!

A week in Review!

I swear the wifi here runs on Peruvian time! I like the feeling of being disconnected in a lot of ways..but it is still an adjustment. So an update on the past few days:

Today - I learned how to mix cement for the stairs. I don't think I ever thought about if I would ever learn how to do that before (for anything more than a craft purpose). I realized today, as I was shoveling cement into a bucket for Elisabeth, that had I not participated in this project I still wouldn't know how. It is interesting to think about the things I'm learning without being quite conscious of the fact that I'm learning them. We are hoping to be done with the stairs soon and nexr week we will be putting in some of the playground equipment other volunteers have donated! We are also going to be working in a community members green house.

Tuesday/Wednesday - My newly discovered love for fruity drinks on the weekend led to my demise and I was rather sick. I am glad Sylvie and Jane know what to do and they were able to go and get me antibiotics right away. I am much better. Tuesday, we were rained out anyways so I didn't miss anything. On Wednesday,I discovered bites on my back which Jane deduced were flea bites. Great! My bedding and most of my laundry that had just been washed went back to the laundry. But no more bites today! We also had hardly any kids at the school because the teachers had a meeting with the education minister. Thus, any kids who showed up we mostly just played with!

The Weekend- Last weekend was pretty great. On Saturday we did a tour of the ruins around Cusco. At the one historic site called Saixawayaman (aka Sexy Woman) there was this tunnel/cave we went through. It was so dark that I had to shut my eyes to stop from freaking out. At this point, Elisabeth was walking fast and Nicole was holding onto my hood which resulted in a bit choking lol. Afrer we got out, we came upon what looked like a huge rock slide. Elisabeth immediately turned to me and was like "Let's do it!" We assumed Sylvie wouldn't let us, but he was more than willing to ler us give it a try! The speed you pick up is crazy! You only use your hands to stop and it isn't that easy. I slammed into the ground with my feet on the second half. Totally worth it. The ruins were pretty cool too. The Incas made animal shapes in the wall and one of the stones was over 100 tonnes! Only the Incas could go to the site and every solstice they hold a traditional celebration there!

The rest of the weekend was spent wanderin around Cusco. On Sunday we went to an interesting restaurant called Fallen Angel where our table was a piece of glass over a bathtub full of fish! It was interesting!
This weekend we tour the Sacred Valley and then we only have four says of volunteering left! It's crazy how quick its gone by and this feeling I have that I have been here so much longer.