Copacabana, Bolivia: 18-19th Feb 10

Yesterday we chilled out in Copacabana, reading our books and catching up on sleep.

Today was much more action packed as we visited Isla Del Sol – this is an Island on Lake Titicaca, an hour and a half sail away from Copacabana.


Isla Del Sol is famous as the Incas believed it was the birth place of the Sun God, where the beginning of all creation took place.


We arrived at the north of the island around 11am, the idea being that you then visit the Inca ruins and hike across the Island to the South, to be picked up again by the waiting boat. Unfortunately they only give you about 4 hours for the trek, which is about 8km up and down hills, so you really don’t have time to dilly dally!


We were joined on the walk by Tania, who is Dutch and Lex, a chap from London who builds charity web sites.


The walk was beautiful, often with views for miles of Lake Titicaca on both sides of us – it was very sunny and the hills could be quite grueling but we managed to get back to the boat in time - even with a short stop off for our packed lunch in a ruined farmhouse.


In the evening Matt and I had to change guest houses as the first one had messed up our booking – our new room in the adjacent guest house was excellent – complete with an indoor garden, hammocks and a 20-foot window over- looking the bay!


Tania and Lex joined us for drinks on our terrace and then dinner in town. Lex leaves for Peru tomorrow, heading the way we’ve already been, and Tania is moving on to La Paz in a couple of days where we’ll meet up with her again!

Copacabana, Bolivia: 17th Feb 10

Today we crossed the border into Bolivia. We’ve really enjoyed Peru, it’s been a blast. Bolivia will be different as it’s the poorest country on the continent and Peru is one of the richest.

At mid-day we reached the village of Copacabana (not to be confused with the famous beach in Rio). The village sits between beautiful hills on a lovely bay on the banks of Lake Titicaca.

Although much of the village itself is very scruffy – suffering the familiar scourge of half-finished buildings, it does have its charms and is blessed with a stunning colonial style cathedral. All of the women wear traditional dress but it differs slightly from Peru and Ecuador – here they all wear bowler hats!

We’re staying in a great guest house with amazing views from our room over the bay and across the lake to the horizon. The local women use the gardens for grazing their herds of sheep.


We had lunch on the lakeside of locally caught fish (aka Titi-trout) which was delicious and then wandered up to have a look at the cathedral – only to be confronted with a most bizarre sight! It transpires that the cathedral is famous around Bolivia as the home of ‘vehicle blessings’. So at 9am and 2.30pm every day people travel from all over the country to have their new vehicles blessed. Not just cars, but vans, trucks , tractors and JCB diggers!


They all park up outside the cathedral and deck out their vehicles with garlands of flowers and streamers. Then the owners, some of whom bring instruments such as drums and trumpets start playing music and dancing in circles around the square, covering themselves in streamers as they go.

On one side of the square we saw a monk blessing a huge pile of potatoes and beans on the floor, which the hungry travelers then tucked into!

At 2.30 the blessings start – a lone monk (strangely wearing a baseball cap!) comes up to each vehicle, says a few prayers and circles it, splashing holy water. At the same time the owners let off very loud fire crackers. Then a couple of local women walk around the vehicle throwing petals – and finally the owner christens the vehicle with bottles of champagne and beer.

Matt and I watched the festivities for ages, mesmerized by the crazy happenings – we think we’re going to like Bolivia!

Cuzco to Puno, Peru: 16th Feb 10

Today we took the bus from Cuzco to Puno, stopping at various sites along the way.

First up was the village of Andahuaylillas, which has a spectacular church, complete with amazing frescoes.



Next up was the village of Raqchi and the ruins of the temple of Viracocha, which once had the largest Inca roof ever.

Then we stopped at a viewpoint at the highest point on the route – 4,335m above sea level – where we saw snow-capped mountains.


Feeling slightly breathless our final stop was a small village which is home to one of the oldest Inca sites, and a run-down but very atmospheric church. It’s also the place where they make ceramic pigs which the indigenous people all over Peru put on top of their houses - we never did find out why!


We arrived in Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the early evening. It’s in a beautiful setting, in-between hills and the lake, but the town itself is UGLY with a capital Ugg. It looks like there’s been a war here – with lots of the buildings unfinished and looking like they’re about to collapse. We also ate the worst meal ever in the town’s ‘best’ restaurant - a very odd place indeed! Tomorrow we’re off to Bolivia!

Cuzco, Peru: 15th Feb 10

Today we spent the day looking around the town, visiting the Qorikancha, which was once the most important Inca temple and was covered inside with Gold. Unfortunately the Spanish converted it into a monastery and took all of the gold away!

We also walked around San Blas, which is to the North of the main square and consists of lots of narrow winding alleys, with loads of character.

Following that we popped into the Inca museum and had a tour of the cathedral – all very impressive.

This is our last day in Cuzco and we’ve both loved it – we’ll definitely come back one day.

Cuzco, Peru: 14th Feb 10

Today we had a tour of the Sacred Valley.

First stop was the typical Andean village of Cinchero, which has some Incan ruins, a beautiful colonial church, and a very colourful market where we bought scarves made from Alpaca wool - we have some cold places coming up in the next few weeks!



Next up was the village of Taramba and the Inca terraces of ‘Moray’. The terraces were used by the Incans to cultivate and experiment with crops at different altitudes.


The final stop was the huge Inca city of Ollantaytambo, which is set amongst the hills where 3 valleys meet and is very beautiful. The walk up the hills was quite tiring as we’re over 3,500 metres up here and the air is thin, but we managed just fine!




Unfortunately we couldn’t visit Cuzco’s most famous sight ‘Machu Pichu’ as there were very heavy rains a few weeks ago and the train tracks and roads were washed away by landslides – the walking trail had also been partially destroyed. We count ourselves lucky though as we may have been stranded if there at the time – 3,000 tourists were stuck for up to 10 days and had to be airlifted out! Although we’re disappointed not to see it, it’s always good to have a reason to come back.


Aside from seeing the amazing Sacred Valley and ruins, today was special for another reason – it’s Carnival time in Peru! This isn’t the type of carnival you get in Rio or London – it’s actually a HUGE water fight that takes place all over the country!

Everywhere we drove the car was pelted with water balloons or buckets of water. When we got back to Cuzco we sat in a café with a great view over the main square and watched for hours as hundreds of people of all ages soaked each other with water and foam – it was great fun!