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Category: Bolivia Page 1 of 3

Isla del Sol, Largo Titicaca

I awoke early, do I start a lot of posts like this, anyways I left the hotel ready to catch the 8:30 boat and then panicked that I didn’t have enough cash and I knew there wasn’t a cash point on the island. I ran to the only bank I’d seen and it didn’t accept MasterCard, I know I’m going to have this issue a lot moving forward. Luckily there was a man in uniform outside the cash machine and he directed me to the towns only other bank which did luckily accept MasterCard.

With a fist full of cash I headed to the harbour where there are a tonne of boats heading to the Isla del Sol. If you don’t have a boat chartered as part of a tour then they leave for the Island at 8:30am and then at 1:30pm. You don’t need to book as there are tonnes of spots. The boats dock on the Isla del Sol, then Isla del Luna. I believe they then return to Isla del Sol and go back to Copacabana. At time of writing due to a disputed the North of the island is closed so you can not go there. The boats return to Copacabana at 10:30am and 4:30pm.

Actually the North side being closed did mess up my plans. For one it is the did with the most ruins so it was a shame to have missed them. I had planned to spend two days on the island, returning in the evening and getting the night bus to Cusco on Saturday night but now I only really needed one day. But we will come to that later.

I arrived at the docks and the girl in front of me was also going one way. The man took my change and she said hi and this is where I met Wiene from Belgium, who can speak about 5 languages fluently. She was about to fly home on the Sunday and had come for a quick tour of Lake Titicaca. This is where I realise I travel slowly as I ended up here for 5 days, although not be choice as I had wanted to catch a day bus to Cusco-I hate the night busses as I feel you miss the scenery. Anyways she had arrived the night before and needed to be back in La Paz the following day.

We chatted on the boat and it turned out she was thinking about staying in the same hostel as me and by confidence I had booked a twin room as that was all that was available so we shared to save money and it meant need not have worried about the cash machine debacle. The boat trip is about 90 minutes. I opted not to take pictures for most of the journey but did as we approached the island.

I had been warned not to take a large bag to the island as the walk from the harbour to the town is steep and I was glad I took that advice. If you do go don’t take yir big bags. Most of the hostels in Copacabana will let you leave your bag there. The walk up is steep and it’s high altitude so I was quickly out of breath. There are also no roads on the island so you either carry everything or you can pay for a donkey but I expect that is expansive. The views, however, are spectacular.

We arrived at the hostel and quickly set down our bags and headed to the mirador at the highest point of the island. There were some complaints in the review of the hostel that it is the furthest from the harbour, which is true, but it’s the closest to the mirador and as we returned for sunset and sunrise the next day I think it’s he perfect location. Also the island is pretty small, nothing is very far. The island you can see in the pictures is Isla del Luna. I didn’t visit as there is not much to do there but if you wanted to you can stay there or just stay on the ferry in the morning that will bring you back around lunch time.

After the view point we decided to explore and walked to the south of the island, looking for Inca ruins on the way.

After walking along the ridge we decided to visit Pilko Kaina, which is one of the few things to see in the south of the island. It turns out that the reason for the dispute is that all the restaurants and hotels are in the south of island and the attractions are in the north. So tourists stop in the south to spend their money and just walk to the north to see the attractions. I’m not sure why they don’t charge but the sites still have a large religious significance for the locals so this might also be why they don’t want tourists visiting.

After the ruins we circled back north and stopped to have lunch whilst admiring the view. After the ended back in town and watched the donkeys carrying up supplies from the harbour to the town.

After all the walking we decided to relax and had a drink with a glorious lakeside view. Although you can’t really not see the lake at any point.

As the sun started setting we returned to the viewpoint for sun set. There were only around 20 people and it was perfect but freezing. A lot of people left as the sun disappeared behind the mountain and we stayed longer and I think the colours became more amazing as it went completely dark.

After we went for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the lady working at the hostel. I had trout and it was delicious. The service was really slow as everything is cooked after being ordered but they provide you with cards to pass the time. We went back to the hostel and had an early night in preparation for the dawn.

We awoke at 6:20 and it was already getting light. I took a couple of photos near the hostel and we headed up to the view point for the third time. On this occasion there were only two other people and we were joined by two more a little later to watch the sun rise.

Once the sun had rises we went back to sleep for an hour before breakfast and heading back to the harbour to catch the 10:30 boat. I had planned to walk to the north of the island and catch the boat back in the afternoon but as I had seen everything and couldn’t go to the north I decided to call it quits.

I arrived in Copacabana around 12, said goodbye to Wiene and headed to my hostel where I rested for the afternoon and sorted photos. Annoying as I had planned ahead my bus to Cusco didn’t leave until 6pm the next day but it has meant I’ve had time to research and catch up on the blog. I was about two weeks behind, although my Mother is months so you know.

I went to a cafe for lunch and to use the WiFi and the cat helped me finish off my food.

That evening I treated myself to a two course meal as I wanted soup and some vegetables. I had another early night and cafe hopped until the bus was due to leave. As I had a lot of time to sit and relax I was finally able to read some of my book. And then that was it for Bolivia as I made my way to Peru.

Copacabana, Largo Titicaca

My last stop in Bolivia is Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, this would put me firmly on the Gringo trail which I’ve hopped on and off before but until now I’ve not hit the busiest parts. Lake Titicaca is the highest altitude lake int he world and has some spectacular views, especially on the Isla del Sol which will be the next post and here is Wikipedia to explain everything better than I can.

After realising that I’d left my card in a cash machine across town when I went to buy a bottle of water, I hadn’t drunk any for over 12 hours and I partly attribute this to why I left the card in the machine, I sat in the bus station waiting for my bus to leave, cancelled my card, and this time I wasn’t as shocked as the first time. Maybe I’m getting accustomed to losing things or maybe it’s just that I have three months left and the last time I threw away a card it was on my first intercity trip and I didn’t know for how long I’d be travelling.

I jumped on the bus pretty tired and ate my crisps and crackers for breakfast. I’ve seen the scenery several times so I buried myself in my iPad and watch Dirk Gently, a really good series if you’ve not seen it, as we drove through El Alto and up towards Copacabana. Due to me having zoned out I was slightly shocked when we were told to get off the bus and on a boat to cross a small section of the lake. The bus went on a separate craft that didn’t look all that stable and I later overheard people saying a bus had toppled in a few weeks before. I could easily believe this but at the same time who knows.

Once back on the bus the rest of the journey was pretty fast and soon I was in Copacabana. Whilst a lot of people were milling about after te bus stopped i headed to my hostel, which was amazing to let me check in before 12pm, we actually had arrived early, so I had a shower and sorted myself out and then headed down to the beach for some trout. Lake Titicaca is famous for trout and although not indigenous they are now plentiful in the lake. There are a load of stalls selling food on the sea front. I walked along them until I saw one that was busy and the local police were having lunch so I joined them, in the restaurant not at the table and ordered trout.

Whilst eating I made a quick plan of what to do that afternoon and decided to head up to Cerró Calvario. There are two routes up so I took the harder route up and came down the steps which would allow me to walk out of town to the north and see some Inca ruins. To get there I needed to walk along the beach.

The trail was easy to find and follow and the hill is not too high, I say hill although it’s over 4000 metres high but is doesn’t rise too high above the lake. Here was my view on the way up.

I arrived at the top after having taken a few wrong turns and was greeted by fireworks and what looked like some kind of ceremony. I have no idea what was going on. There was lots of confetti around, a mix of locals and tourists, a tonne of stores selling tat and a stream of people heading to the top up the easier stairs with various bottles of local soda. Slightly bemused I took my photos and moved on.

The hill does have religious significance, hence the fiesta, and as a result there were a lot of crosses so I also photoed them.

There is also a secondary peak called Santa Bárbara, and for some reason I thought there was a church up here but there wasn’t. There seemed to be a fire on the way up and I’ve seen several fires randomly burning now. It wasn’t out of control and I was told about a bush on the Maragua Crater Hike about a bush that dies set fire to itself. Actually on my walk the next day I saw a lot of evidence of small fires. Anyways I did the logical thing that one should do when they see a fire on the only path back down and headed straight towards it and took photos and then continued knowing I’d have to pass it on the way back down. This summit was not so crowded and here were a few stalls and locals hanging about. I didn’t stay long as I still had 6 km more to hike.

I followed the steps all the way back to town and as I was leaving I saw a man in his 20s crying his eyes out and he seemed to be defending himself as three women were arguing with him, there were a couple of men watching and keeping quiet who seemed to be on the side of the women. I’ve not seen many people crying here, although there was one time in La Paz where a women was in a huge distress which has just popped into my mind, I can’t remember who she was shouting at now but I think someone had cheated on her, but yet again I’ve digressed. So I started walking slowly as I wanted to see that he was alright but with my command of Spanish I couldn’t find out and I had no idea if he was being bullied or had slept with the vicars daughter. I realised it wasn’t my business and all I could probably do is make things worse so I carried on.

Soon the houses gave way to country and I started to see a lot of farm animals and open space. It’s dusty and dry here also so each time a car passed by me on the road I was covered in dust. I had seen a pier in the distance and thought I would take a look but there were only some dogs and some people making repairs.

I headed back towards my destination and just before I arrived a dog came bounding up from nowhere. I thought he was aggressive so I backed away slowly and picked up a large stone. He seemed to get the message and ran away a little. I dropped the stone and began to relax but he came bounding back but his approach was much more friendly this time. I scratched his head and he decided to follow me. He actually followed me all the way back to town and I can’t remember where I lost him but I saw him around a few times over the next couple of days. Annoyingly the attraction I came to see was closed so I headed back to town.

You can see the Church in some of the photos above and it really is a huge structure that dominates the town and plaza, especially for a tow of this size. I didn’t stay long as I was tired and wanted to rest.

I headed out to dinner at a restaurant mentioned in the guide books and treated myself to a two course meal. Soup to start followed by fajitas. It was too much food and I realised I’ve been eating a lot recently. When I was at Upclose I wasn’t having dinner most nights and I need to stop. I think the hiking is balancing it out at least!

There were several things I wanted to do the next day and I decided to try all of them. I realised that I could do a loop which would result in around a 20km hike. Leaving at 10am I was confident that I would be back by 4pm and I was actually back in 5 hours.

I followed the road uphill which was really taxing but was soon rewarded with some beautiful views of the lake and town.

I saw another path and decided to walk along a little way hoping it would lead up to a small summit. It didn’t but I got some good views of the valley. I turned around and followed the road up the larger Cerro San Sebastián. I checked the map and again I was on the wrong path. I cursed myself as I had given myself further to walk, and up a steep hill. I checked and it was only another 750 metres to the top and I started to walk but then thought why am I giving myself another 1.5km to what already was a long hike so I went back down and followed the right path.

I was walking really fast along what might have been an Inca Trail. It certainly seems to be constructed the same way and was largely made of sones. I suddenly found myself falling forward as I put all my weight on a rock that tilted forward and went running before I fell flat on my face saving myself with my hands. I banged my knee a little and ended up with a tiny bruise. I took a minute to think about how lucky I was as my hands weren’t even grazed and the rest of me was fine. It was a long way to help if I had needed it and I remember how easily I cut up my hands when I fell chasing the dog in the car park on the Isle of Wight. Somehow I had needed up in the softest place in the trail for a landing. Again I felt that something was watching over me.

After a few more wrong turns I made it to the Inca ruins at the top of the hill. To be fair I’m not sure if what is in the photos below is ruins or walls built by farmers. There was no one else up here and no information about the site. It was now nearly 12pm and I had only walked about 6km. Well 6 km of my route. I had walked further due to the wrong directions I had taken. So I sat and ate my lunch and enjoyed the views.

The next stage involved walking 7km out to a peninsula. This was all along roads and a section was on tarmac road. I had also planned this as if I were feeling tired I could get a bus back to town.

The oddest thing I saw on this journey was a huge airstrip that looked completely deserted. I’m sure I read in the guide book that it was disused, however, it looked brand new. I’ve always wondered how long runways are and as the road took me around the airport I found out. The answer is long.

On the way to the peninsula I started passing houses, fields of animals and small villages. At one point I passed a whole group of people who were leaving what appeared to be a town meeting. It was made awkward for me as I’d just picked up a big stone to throw at an aggressive dog, I hate the dogs here sometimes, if he came too close. I couldn’t discreetly drop it and I think all the villagers saw me with the stone.

The walk to the peninsula was beautiful but there was nothing there when I arrived. I stopped to eat some more food and take a break before walking the final 6km back to Copacabana. This is the section that was suggested in the guidebook and it is a really beautiful journey as you walk back towards the town alongside the lake.

At one point I walked through another town meeting and passed a lot of school kids who had a long walk home from school.

The road eventually leads down to the beach and I went to the shore to explore. Soon after I arrived back in town and returned to my room where I collapsed exhausted having managed to walk 24km that day.

Whist resting I ate a whole pack of cookies so tried to have a smaller meal. I couldn’t find the place I wanted to go so in my tired state I ended up with a burger, but no chips! I then went to bed early as I need to catch a boat at 8:30 then next day to the Isla del Sol.

Santa Cruz and return to La Paz

After three hours in a mini bus, which was so steamed up I don’t know how the driver could even see out of the window, I arrived at the trufi office in Santa Cruz in the middle of the strongest rain shower I’ve seen. The rain hadn’t stopped during my travelled and some of the roads looked more like rivers. I quickly put on my wet weather gear, which I’ve only previously worn in Patagonia, and tried to find the best place to hail a taxi. Luckily it didn’t take long and I was soon in the centre of town.

The taxi driver didn’t seem to know where the hostel was but I did so I got out the car and walked to the location. I was greeted by Ceci, who I had met on the walking tour in Valparaiso and was working at the hostel, and was soon shown to my room and had a warm shower. The city which normally has temperatures of 30 degrees was deserted, despite being a Saturday night, and was freezing. I stayed in the hostel and that night I had agreed to meet another friend Pamelita. She took me to a couple of bars, the first being open air which was freezing and deserted. I can see how it would be amazing place in the sun. The Bar decided to understandably call it quits and we went to another bar near the hostel.

The next day I was pretty tired and the weather was still terrible. I relaxed at the hostel and ended up having a quiet night with some pizza. The Monday was a bank holiday and because Pamelita works for a government company they take part in a big parade. I was invited to her parents house so I could experience a Bolivian BBQ with her family. There was a lot of meat including a cheesy sausage. The meat here is really good and it’s only really flavoured with oil and salt. Afterwards I went to experience the parade which fascinated me. You can see in the photos below lots of red signs, these are in reference to the president breaking the constitution and trying to run for a fourth time despite the county holding a referendum and the answer being no. In Santa Cruz the people are particularly opposed to him.

After the parade I returned to the hostel to have some more pizza and played beer pong which is a regular game they play. I sadly don’t have any photos but you can see that the hostel has a great view of the Church as it’s right by the main plaza.

The next day I went to San Jose, and you can read about it here. I returned to Santa Cruz on the Friday in time to go to a BBQ with Pamelita’s colleagues. This time there was even more meat and karaoke with songs sung in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

On the Saturday I realised I needed to do some life admin which included washing most of my clothes which I’d failed to do in San José despite the heat. I met Claudia, who is Dutch and it was her first day in South America and a French girl who was going home that day and finally explored the city in the sun.

Now there is a cat in the hostel called Khaleesi, which is the perfect name for a cat. She seemed a little nervous but after some time playing with her she decided to be friends. Claudia and i did a little photo shoot when she was asleep.

At 5pm we were supposed to go on a city tour. Claudia and I headed out with a group of Spanish nurses who had been volunteering in Bolivia. The guide didn’t show up so we investigated the church on the main plaza.

I spent the night in the hostel hanging out with friends and the next day I took and Uber to the airport to catch my plane to La Paz. It’s only an hour flight so I had time to check into my hotel and meet up with Miri, who i met on the bus to Santiago, and her boyfriend. They were about to go on a 5 day hike of the mountain range just outside La Paz and they have a tonne more experience than I do. Afterwards I grabbed a Mr Pizza, some beers and headed back to my hotel room so I could do some photo admin and catchup on Netflix. You won’t believe how much time I spend deleting, transferring, backing up and uploading the photos to this blog. It takes hours especially if the WiFi is decent which it’s often not, well not good enough to upload photos.

I awoke early the next morning as I had a tonne of things to do. I went to the bus station and brought a rock to Copacabana, then I went to the Killi Killi mirador which as you can see has amazing views of La Paz.

Afterwards I took the new cable car line down to Zona Sur. I knew the cages down there and wanted to get my haircut.

I decided to go to a cafe first and chose one I’d been to before as I knew the WiFi was decent. As I approached someone shouted “David Lortal” and i thought I was about to be told off. Emma and David from Upclose Bolivia were there and invited me to Darik and Michelle’s leaving party at Colribi Camping.

I had lunch and then quickly got my haircut before returning to Sopocachi where I’d agreed to meet up with Andrea for a few drinks. She had to leave around 7pm so after I jumped in a taxi to Jupapina and joined in the party. I joined in with some of Michelle’s line dancing, picked up some more travelling tips and had a farewell Ron and Cola with Darak before jumping back in a taxi and packing as I had an early rise the next morning as the bus left at 8am.

I was probably over early and managed to leave another card in the cash machine on the way to the station. Again I cancelled it with no many taken and I really shouldn’t get cash out when I’m tired but I still have two cards left and I’m glad I didn’t say no to seeing friends over organisation. But I boarded the bus and I was finally on my way north to the border with Peru.

San José de Chiquitos, Cerro de Chochis and Aguas Caliente

After a wet and cold weekend I’m Santa Cruz, I’ll come to this in the next post, which normally experiences tropical temperatures all year round I decided to head over to my last stop in east Bolivia before flying back to La Paz.

I was a little tired and confused and when I arrived at the bus station I realised I hadn’t done my research properly. I wanted a trufi and this time I held my resolve as various people tried to lead me around the bus station and buy tickets. Luckily I had a friend and found out where the trufis left from. I brought a ticket and then had to wait until there were enough passengers. I instantly regretted my decision but it did give me time to sort myself out and soon enough we were on our way.

The journey takes around 4 hours and this is the best road I’ve had the experience to drive on in Bolivia. The weather was warm and I was happy to enjoy the heat as I headed towards Brazil. I think I’ll always love this country and that was confounded when we stopped at a check point and a tonne of people swarmed the bus selling chicken and rice to the passengers through the windows, receiving their payment as we drove off.

The bus stopped on request and soon I was the only person on the bus heading ally he way to San Jose de Chiquitos. We arrived at a bus station and I was too tired to walk on the heat with all my things so I jumped in a cab to the Plaza and booked a room in the hotel that I had been advised. Everything on Booking.com was more than £30 a night and although they looked nice it was way out of my budget. This place was still pricey but I had a room to myself for the first time since I left Upclose Bolivia and I set about washing my clothes which is not had the chance to do in too long and relaxing.

At 6pm I decided to explore a little and realised I’d missed the tourist information office as it had closed, but we will come back to that. I had a walk around the plaza and the town and took advantage of the colours the sunset created.

And after the plaza I walked around the town a little to take a look.

I returned to the hotel to do some more research and then went for dinner. As it was a Tuesday following a bank holiday, they seem to have a fair few of these in Bolivia, most of the restaurants were closed. I found a local Bolivian place and took a punt ordering some chicken. It was nice and jade a sweet and sour esq sauce although I would come to regret this as I only ate fried chicken for the next day.

I had an early night and awoke early as I wanted to visit Aguas Caliente the next day. All I knew is that I had to get to a town called Roboré, which was around 150km away. I awoke early and headed to the tourist information. Despite my lack of Spanish they seemed as if they really didn’t want to help so I went to the bus station. I was told a trufi left at 11am and as it was only 8:40 I headed back to the hotel and on the way to the hotel I was excited to see a train.

Aguas Calientes

I returned to the bus station to catch the 11am trufi and the bus didn’t leave until closer to 12pm and stopped at a few towns along the way. I arrived in Roboré around 2pm and realised I still didn’t know where Aguas Caliente was. At this point I decided it was best to find a bus back but the earliest was 9pm. My bus driver directed me to his bus company and I was told I needed to get another bus to Aguas Caliente. I soon found out it was a town another 30km away so I waited for the bus which took another hour to leave and 30mins to arrive. But I did manage to find some food at the bus station, fried chicken and rice.

I asked the driver about how to get back but he implied that there was no return and I’d need to get a taxi. I saw there was a bus due at 10pm and as it was now 3:30pm

and would be dark soon I decided to push ahead. On the map there were two locations for the springs so I headed to the closest one. It was about 1km away and although it was a beautiful location it was practically deserted other than a women who left soon after I arrived, charming, and an old man who seemed to be shouting at no one. It unnerved me a little so I decided to check out the other location.

The other location on the map was around 1.5km away and I got to follow the train tracks. Yes I love trains.

When I arrived I saw a much bigger park where I had to pay 10bs to get in. However, there were other people and facilities and I was glad that I had made the move. I asked the lady at the entrance and she told me there was a bus at 8pm, so I headed into the water and was glad I had made the trip. I had around an hour before it was too dark and enjoyed laying in the hot water. I didn’t venture too far as I had my bag with my camera that I kept in sight. I would later come to regret not exploring more but there is only so much one can do.

I left the Park and headed to the plaza to find a ticket. I was unsuccessful at flagging down a taxi and went to a shop where I was sold a ticket for the 8pm bus. I’d later find out that this is also the 9pm bus from Roboré that I’d also purchased a ticket. I wondered around town looking for a restaurant but everything listed on the map was closed or didn’t exist, so I headed back to the plaza where one restaurant was sort of open. I asked if I could sit and they said that I could until they opened which took around and hour. I cursed myself as I realised my phone battery was nearly gone and I’d brought the wrong charger. Soon the restaurant filled up and I was offered fried chicken and rice, which is what everyone else seemed to order so I went with it, and got chatting to a British family on the table next to me. They told me about the hot springs and how the water bubbled to the surface. I kicked myself a little as I hadn’t explored at all but I couldn’t just walk up the river with my bag and it would have been stupid to have left it unattended.

The bus soon showed up and drove back to San Jose, and I arrived back at the hotel at midnight. All in all it was a long day.

Cerró de Chochis

I awoke in two minds about going to visit Cerró de Chochis. I’d passed the town twice the day before and somehow hadn’t seen the rock and I didn’t want the same mission as I’d had the day before. I decided to bite the bullet, booked an extra night and this time I knew be trufi left at 11am. It doesn’t, it actually leaves at 11:30am. I was told there was a bus that returned to San Jose at 3pm so in my mind if I arrived at 1pm I’d have two hours to see the rock and get back in time for the bus. We arrived just after 1pm and the driver told me there would be a return trufi at 5pm. Luckily I could see the rock from the town and I finally found it on the map. It was 3km so easily I could get there and back in 2hours. I was torn between rushing and returning for 3pm and taking my time and arriving for 5pm as I really didn’t know who to trust. I decided to try for the two hours and snapped some shots of the plaza before I left.

As I left the plaza and walked through the town I noticed they had a very relaxed policy on animals wondering around.

My general walking pace is actually quite fast I partly thank and blame my sister Zoe for this as she used to make me walk fast as a child. In this instance I’ll thank her. I made short work of the distance and started heading up the road to the rock. Even from a low vantage point I could see the scenery was beautiful. I really wanted to find a way up to the cliff you can see but With little time, no guide, which apparently you can hire although I have no idea where, and no routes on the map I decided that would be foolhardy. It was also probably miles away even though it looked close.

I crossed the train track and took a short cut thought the jungle, which nearly backfired but I kept going and found the road again. At the top of the hill there is a really interesting church that this area is famous for but we will come to that later. Before let’s look at the rock I came to see.

To get to the mirador you have to go through the church yard, climb some steep steps and then follow a path that becomes harder to traverse as you go along. It’s quite short and well worth the effort as you can see by the beautiful views.

All of this took me less than an hour and I decided I could easily make it back by 3pm if I got a move on. I quickly had a look inside the church.

I arrived back in town at 3pm only to discover that the first bus back was at 10pm, this was the one I caught the night before. I spoke to a women on the plaza who sold me some delicious empanadas and she said there was a trufi at 5pm, so with two people telling me the same thing I hoped it was true. I had a little walk around town and took some more pictures.

As I said above they really left the animals do what they want here. So as I waited for the trufi and ras my book I was entertained by all the animals running around.

Luckily for me the trufi arrived just after 5pm. I told the driver several times that I wanted to go to San Juan, he looked confused and luckily instead of saying no he told me that the bus went to San Jose, which is the town I wanted to go to. No idea where San Juan came from. But I could have easily missed the bus. Soon o was on my way and returned at a much more sensible time.

Hike to Valle de la Luna and Parque Historical Santa Cruz la Vieja

On my last day in San Jose I was tempted to take and early bus buck to Santa Cruz but one of the reasons I had come was to look at the sites of San José. There is an archeological site about 2km south of the city and I could see on maps me that there was a mirador 6km away. I decided to walk to the archeological site and decide what to do from there. I left just before 10am and by 10:25 I spotted the sign below. It suggested that the mirador was only another 2.5km and I thought that if I walk until 11:30 then I could be back by 1pm to get the bus back to the city.

Soon after I started down the dirt track I saw the archeological site. At this point my challenge was to reach the mirador so I decided to check out the site on the way back and I marched up the hill to the view point.

It was a hard walk up the hill especially in the heat. But I made it ahead of time and these are some of the sites along the way.

Valley de la Luna

The valley was only another 1km up the road and as I had time to spare I thought I should take a look.

I didn’t stay at the valley for long. It appeared to some kind of shrine or graveyard but I didn’t have much time left to get back to town as it was 11:25 and I had already walked 8km which meant I needed to walk the same distance back to town. There were a few other groups looking at the sites but they were in cars and I seemed to be the only one hiking the distance. Some people took moto taxis and others car taxis so if you don’t want to hike I think it’s a fairly regular thing to hire transport to visit. I also believe that you can hire guides from the tourist office. I didn’t do this as I wanted to hike, my Spanish is bad and doing this kinda thing is cheaper in groups but so investigate if it’s of interest.

When I was going back I realised I was tired and my pace was slower. I decided to forgo the archeological site as I wanted to make it back to the village for 1pm so I could eat before I got the trufi. The restaurant I wanted wasn’t open and I tried another but they were just serving Bolivian food and I wanted a break after all the fried chicken. I went back to the restaurant I went to the night before but as I sat down the waiter said no. I wasn’t really sure why but I decided to call it quits and head back to Santa Cruz. The guys at the bus station were great and soon I had an ice cream and bus ticket and chatted to them a little about life. Then I was on the bus and ready to return to Santa Cruz.

Samaipata and El Furte

We arrived back in Sucre and I quickly brought a new iPhone charger and supplies before heading back to the hostel to rest. I was shown to a dorm room where I appeared to be the only occupant so I collapsed on the bed and relaxed. The next day I decided to head to Samaipata and brought a ticket from the bus station, I was again herded into using a company I wasn’t entirely happy with but i don’t sleep on night busses and it was cheap so as long as I go there I suppose there wouldn’t be a problem. The bus left at 6pm which is earlier than I thought so I set out finding some wifi for life admin and replacing some more of the things that I’d realised I’d lost, like nail scissors.

The café I chose for it’s mirador view over Sucre, was full of couples, the food wasn’t great and the WIFI sucked. I went to a place I’d been previously and spent the afternoon working. I realised at this point i was quite happy to leave Sucre. It’s a really pretty city and a great place to relax, if that’s why you want, and I’ve met people who have spent weeks doing just that but there is not a whole lot going on. After the café and the okay Thai meal I’d had the night before I decided I’d made the right decision.

I went back to the hostel to collect my things and arrived at the bus station in time for the bus. There was a lot of chaos at the office where I brought my ticket but I wasn’t transferred this time and the guy who would be looking after us on the journey showed me which bus to get on. Aboard and with everything loaded I realised I was the only passenger with no one sitting next to them must be because I’m a gringo. Still at least I wasn’t one of the people left behind at the rest stop. The bus pulled off with half the people missing. We managed to stop the bus so that most of them got on board but a guy behind me never returned despite his bag still being on the seat. Again the diver was told but didn’t seem to care.

This is probably the bumpiest road I’ve had the privilege to experience and that is saying a lot. There are a lot of cars here but I have a feeling that people tend to stick to the cites as they are far apart when you account for the state of the roads and it’s not a fun drive. I had been told that I would arrive in Samaipata at 6am but I found myself watching the bus drive off at 3am. I was in a town I didn’t know and all I can say is I’m so happy I travel with a phone and a map. I had pre-booked, another reason I do this and told them I would arrive early but myself and the hostel did not think it would be this early. After a few rings of the bell i woke up the manager and was shown to an empty room so at least I got some sleep.

I hadn’t checked the weather as Samaipata is so close to Santa Cruz, where the temperature is normally between 30-40 degrees, I felt I didn’t need to. I was a little sad to wake up to think freezing fog and drizzle. I quickly realised that today was going to be a write off and checked the weather for the next few days. It really didn’t look good! There was a lot I wanted to do here and it looked as if it was all going to go wrong. I toured the agencies in the morning and booked myself on a trip to Amboró for the Saturday as the next day i decided to hike to El Furte.

I decided to go with the guidebooks advice for linch and had a delicious steak sandwich. I then retreated to my room to watch Netflix and after went to an Italian restaurant and had one of the most delicious spaghetti dishes I’ve ever had. Maybe because it’s my first pasta dish since I arrived but it was really needed. The food is actually amazing in Samaipata and it really cheered me up.

El Furte

El Furte is a pre-Colombian fort at the top of a mountain in a strategic position. I won’t tell you about be history as it’s not my style and why bother when Wikipedia can tell you all you need to know. The fort is about 10km outside of Samaipata and I’d read a fair few blogs about people hiking up and down. The most popular thing seems to be to take a taxi to the top and hike back down but I was in need of a challenge and set about hiking the lot. This resulted me walking about 24km that day.

The hike there is not particularly hard, the first 4km is pretty flat and then the rest is mostly uphill. The same with any hike the last km is the hardest. I set off at a good pace and made it to the top im 1 hour 40min which I think is good, but it’s along a road so it’s not hard terrain. I would say that it’s not the most exciting hike I’ve ever done and the first part is just along the main road so it’s probably a really good option to just walk one way or get a taxi there and back.

I didn’t take a lot of shots along the route as despite the weather being warmer and no longer being in a cloud the sky was still pretty grey and despite what anyone says life does not look as good with a grey blanket getting in the way of the sun. Some of these shots were taken from the top.

On the way up i saw this message that made me smile.

I was really happy with my progress to the top as I’d walked 10km in 1 hour and 45 mins. I was pretty tired and struggled to walk around the ruins due to fatigue but the point in this really is about how great I am at walking not to see ancient Inca Ruins…oh. I sat at the top and enjoyed my lunch and after dropping a crisp I discovered I was sat far too close to an ants nest.

Here is what it looked like from the top.

It’s rare to see flowers in this part of the country so I snapped a few that were growing on bushes.

A sign said Eco Chamber. I assumed that this meant that if I shouted I could hear an eco. Either someone was playing a prank, this sign didn’t mean what I think it does or I’m really bad at shouting as I didn’t hear any echos.

After walking around the top and seeing more views I headed towards the ruins.

As I was by myself I decided not to hire a guide as it was expensive for one person. However this meant that I didn’t really know much about the ruins. I can confirm that in these pictures are where people used to live, sleep, eat and do general people things. It’s after writing a sentence like this that I really think I need to do some research when I get back but hopefully you are here just for the pictures.

As mentioned above one of the main reasons for visiting the fort is that it has beautiful views of the surrounding area. Although hampered by the weather I think you can see the beauty in the pics and hopefully if you ever visit you will have better luck with the weather than I did.

As I was leaving the sky’s cleared a little and I took these shots.

On the way back I passed some chickens in the road. For some reason this guy really started panicking as I tried to take some pictures of him. He ran all over the road but he did enable me to get some good shots.

On the edge of town I saw this dog lying in the road and some ducks nearby. It was at this point I realised that the duck was pruning the dog, who seemed either oblivious or not to care. It was at this point I figured that I’d pretty much seen everything.

I returned to the hostel and collapsed after walking the better part of 24k. I got talking to the German girl who was also in my room and she invited me to dinner with some of her friends she had met that day. She had a crazy day as she managed to get on a tour to Amboró, where I was due to go tomorrow, and went to El Furte in the same day. It was a nice evening and I had an interesting take on Lasagna.

The next day I awoke to torrential rain. My tour was cancelled and I was fed up with being cold and wet. Knowing I had friends in Santa Cruz I decided to call it quits and headed out on a trufi for the three hour journey.

Maragua Crater Hike

I decided to do the hike with Cóndor Trekkers, a charity that organises hikes in the local area and supports local communities that also runs a vegetarian cafe. Again you can hike the trails yourself but they are not so clearly marked on the maps. I awoke against early, if I can’t handle early mornings when I get back to London then there is something seriously wrong and was outside the office for the 6:30 call time. I met our guide, Alex, who could speak fluent French and English and had spent a year studying in France and my four French hiking partners. I’m writing this about two weeks later so I’ve forgotten all of their names. But I was outnumbered once again and the only solo hiker on the trek. All I can say is that there are a lot of French people in Bolivia

After around an hour of driving we arrived at our starting point and had a quick breakfast, i mentioned above that one thing that Cóndor do is run a vegetarian cafe so all the food on the hike was veggie, and then we were ready to hit the road. Here are the views from where we had or breakfast.

There was a very short walk up the road to the top of the pass and here we started walking along the Inca Trail. You follow the path just over 4km downhill.

Alex told us a lot about the plants and trees and I decided to take a load of photos having been given the opportunity as my hiking partners were pretty slow, slough it’s good there were as I was still left at the back of the pack.

The path was used by villagers until about 30 years ago when a dirt road was built. So right up until the late 1980s this would have been the only method to get to the villages in this region. It’s still used by some today and you can see evidence of donkeys on the trail as the path winds down through the mountains.

One thing that Cóndor does is works with the local community as evidenced by this sign. They are an NGO and this is one reason the path is kept in a decentish state of repair, hence the sign apparently.

Towards the end of the trail it’s less well preserved although this is a good thing as it’s not so easy to hike on stones that were laid hundreds of years ago. You can see the scenery changing as we made our decent.

Soon the Inca Trail ended and we had to sign in and pay the fee. Make sure you do this if you are hiking alone. Sadly for the rest of the morning we were hiking up the new road that linked the villages. It’s a dirt road mind so don’t expect much but it’s a lifeline for anyone who lives in this area. I just prefer trails and I think in a similar way to how I don’t perceive it to be a hunk unless mountains are involved someway, and I don’t mean the hills we have back home, I don’t really consider it to be a hike if I’m just following a road.

We stopped for lunch and there were a bunch of chickens looking for scraps.

And afterwards we crossed the Roger we had been following using a rather long bridge. I went first and realised I was not scared in the slightest despite the bridge listing badly to the right and being pretty rickety. I don’t know if I’ve crossed so many now I don’t care anymore or if worrying about things being safe is something that’s better not to do here.

We then began our first climb of the hike, which to be honest was easy and I can now devour hills. I think if I was a cyclist then I’d be one of the guys that does well going up. I used to like down but i find this is where I fall the most, it hurts my legs and I’m just really slow. Going up on the other hand i just power through. I get as much speed as I can and push the others out he way, because if I stop I don’t know if I will make it. So who would have thought that? I used to hate hills. I’ll still take flat over up but you don’t find much flat in mountains. Tends to be one extreme or the other.

My fellow hikers were pretty slow here so I pushed in ahead and the guide told me where to wait for them.

We had a little break at the top but te climb seemed to have left everyone without much steam so again I pushed ahead. There was one part where the path is only about 30cm wide and is really gravelly. You are right up against the rock and if you slipped then it’s goodbye. You can see it in the photos below but with this in mind I just pushed ahead and waited the other side. Afterwards having seen the others struggle, yeah I’m amazing I know, the guide asked me if I was scared. I said no, I always think about falling but I’m not scared of the heights anymore. I’m more scared I’ll jump as I always get that feeling but I’ve walked in too many places where I’ll drop off the edge to care anymore. Besides the witch doctor in La Paz said I’ll be fine. She didn’t say I wouldn’t get hit by a bus when I get back to London mind.

After another couple of hours walking we made it to the crater and at this point my bag was getting really heavy and I was looking forward to stopping. There are two towns in the crater, an old and more, and no one seems to live in the old anymore.

After dropping out things in the hostel we hiked to a nearby waterfall.

And I wondered off to take my usual shots.

And then the aún came out a little for sunset. I don’t know if you can tell in the photos but the afternoon had been pretty grey, which is good for hiking as it’s not so hot, but really bad for photos.

I was exhausted after not recovering from the night bus and having been on the go so I took the opportunity for an early night and it was also freezing. I was sad to miss the stars as the sky cleared and Alex told me it had been amazing the next day.

And you can see the sky had cleared from the photos. So I’ve not really talked about the Crater too much but apparently far from being a crater where a meteor hit its actually an unusual situation where due to seismic activity the earth here was moved around 360 degrees which creates the lines on the mountains.

We hiked up to a small museum which was a little random and still confirms why I don’t really like museums and then on to another waterfall where we could look out over tee valley we saw the day before.

We then followed the river bed for a few kilometres before heading up our last ascent.

The most striking thing about his part of the journey for me was the colours. Remember that none of the photos below have been altered in anyway.

We stopped for a break on the ascent and looked back on the crater. It was here that I learnt that some of my hiking companions were injured and sick but we had to carry on to meet the car. Actually they could have jumped in the car here but opted not to.

There was one final push up to the top of the final hill.

At the top and next valley

And then we saw the next valley where is was a fairly quick downhill walk to the car.

When we got in the car I was told that we had ended the hike early, which really annoyed me, especially as we drove the last 4 kilometres that had the not spectacular views of the trip. I wasn’t even given the opportunity to take photos. We were behind schedule and I appreciate there were injured members of the party but they could have been put in the car sooner and I wasn’t even given the opportunity to walk the last distance which I would have been completely capable. Why even bother telling me? I was annoyed but there was nothing I could do and I think this valley was much more beautiful. There is a mountain called the white mountain and I put a point in the map where I think would be amazing to hike and I’ll come back one day. It’s a shame as until this point the hike had been perfect.

We drove for an hour before stopping for lunch. The food on the trek had been amazing, and that is impressive. There are some photos to enjoy below. And after we headed back to Sucre and for me some much needed rest.

Sucre

I had one more evening and day in Cochabamba after the trip back from Torotoro. I met with Paula one last time for a fried chicken dinner and went back to the hostel for an early night. The next day I awoke early, repacked again for the fourth time that week and lost some more things in the process and headed to the bus station to buy my ticket. I took a detour as explained in the Cochabamba post and thanks to Vary I had a new camera lens. I spent the rest of the day uploading pics and writing blogs, there is a lot of admin involved in this.

I headed to the station to catch my night bus, all the busses seem to be at night here, and the reason being is that you don’t lose any time. Meaning that you can get on the bus, fall asleep and wake up in your new city. This doesn’t work for me as I can’t sleep on the bumpy roads and then getting to a city at 5am is not really helpful as you can’t check into the hostel until after midday. Anyways I’m not complaining.

I arrived at the bus station no thanks to the taxi driver that kicked me out a few blocks before and desperately tried to understand Spanish. The busses here are much more complex than in Chile, Argentina or Uruguay. There you buy a ticket, get a time and a number for where the bus will arrive. The bus arrives you take your bag to the back and get on board. Here it seems sometimes your bag is weighed, sometimes the company wants to take it, they send you to various doors, the busses can be parked anywhere it seems ohhhhh and the thing I keep forgetting is you need to buy tax ticket for each time you use the bus terminal. Whilst this adds a challenging element of fun to getting a bus it makes it more scary for me. Firstly I had to go to the ticket company and was told the bus wasn’t running and I seemed to be sold on to another company. The door they wanted me to leave by was locked and after waiting until 10 minutes before the bus left I was told to use another door. The guards wouldn’t let me out and after a while I realised I needed to pay the tax. I couldn’t find the tax office and started to panic as my bag was already on the bus. Someone saw me looking troubled and pointed me to the right place. I paid the tax, for on the bus and then it left 40 minutes late. A lesson learnt in trying to relax.

We drove through the night and arrived in Sucre at 5am. It was still dark and I hadn’t contacted the hostel to say I’d be arriving early so rather than risking sitting outside on a random street in the dark I waited in the bus terminal until 7am. Time passed slowly but it soon became light and I went and jumped in a can. The hostel luckily let me in and I had really fast wifi so I could finish my photo admin. By 10am I realised I wasn’t getting into a room anytime soon so I headed to the Cóndor Trekkers office to sign up for the Maragua Crater tour that is been talking to them about. It also turned out that they ran city tours and one was about to leave so I joined to see more of Sucre.

The centre of Sucre is UNESCO heritage protected and you can see why. It’s truly beautiful and unlike other Bolivian cities the original buildings have been preserved so you can have an idea of what cities looked like during colonial times. This is the central plaza which is a feature of all South American cities.

Sucre is also famous for chocolate. I’m afraid I’m gonna come clean and say chocolate on the whole is not great in South America, except for certain cities like Bariloche. I missed the chocolate in Bariloche and I was happy to make up for it here and we got to taste some on the tour.

Next up was Templo San Francisco and as it was a Sunday morning we got to join in with the service for a short time.

Next stop was the market and despite these being in every town and city across Bolivia the ones here seem be more famous. They are full of fresh and delicious produce. Ideally I would have taken the time to stay here and learn Spanish but I opted to volunteer at the zoo instead. If I do ever get the chance to come back for a significant amount of time this would be my first stop to enjoy the sunshine, food and take Spanish lessons.

The tour took us past more churches and we were given a tip that there was a fiesta in a local private school. The guide had never been inside either so we took the time to have a look inside.

Sucre also has a bit of a theatre scene and this is the most famous one.

There is also a huge park in the middle of the city.

After we took a bus up to a viewpoint in the city. The streets seemed to be named after cats. We were taken to a “bar” to sample some chicha. Sadly they were out but I did get to play with a puppy who lived there.

Drinking and animals

The last stop on the tour was the little market which had a lot of foos ball tables.

I returned to the Cóndor Treckers office which is also a veggie bar and took advantage of being able to eat some vegetables after all the meat. The soup was delicious but the main not so.

I returned to the hostel finally able to check into my room. I was exhausted and the hot shower was amazing. I had to get ready for my 5:45 wake up call ahead of the trek the next day. So everything was repacked again and I headed out for some more food. Being a Sunday most places were closed so I ended up with another delicious burger.

Parque National Torotoro, Umajalanta Caverns, The Vergal and Ciudad de Itas

Reluctantly with my DSLR out of action I decided to head to Torotoro. This page might take a little while to load as the photos are different. Anyways at the time I had wasted two days, having fun but not really achieving much, in Cochabamba trying to find a solution and having booked a flight to La Paz from Santa Cruz to La Paz on 12th August I needed to get moving if I still wanted to see everything I had planned.

Luckily the night before I had met Adriaan and Guido who were also headed to Torotoro so I banded us together and suggested they book the same hostel. We left at 6:45 in order to get the 7am minibus from Avenida Republica so we could try and get on a tour that afternoon. And we were treated to Thai sunrise.

I was told by many people that you can either get a minibus or a bus to the National Park. The busses are cheaper and take longer so we opted for a minibus which is 35bs. They leave when full so it’s best to get there early as the journey is 4-5 hours along some of the dustiest and bumpiest roads I’ve had the pleasure to experience so far-don’t expect to be comfortable. We arrived at 7am as I was told by other travellers that if you go later you can be left waiting a long time before you get on a bus. Luckily we only waited an hour and at just after 8am we were on our way. Be careful as although there was a toilet break on the way there there was not on the way back!

After bouncing around for 4 and a half hours I was happy to arrive in the little town of Torotoro. We were especially lucky as for once I arrived in a town during the fiesta. The town was buzzing and we quickly checked in, got some water and headed to the plaza to get on a tour. There was nothing to help us in the plaza and after stopping by the town hall, which has a dinosaur bursting out of it, we went back to the hostel and were sent to the right place which luckily for us was around the corner.

You have to buy a ticket for the park which is valid for 4 days and is 100bs as a tourist and then you must explore the park on an organised tour. The office is open from 7:30-12 and then 2-5pm. Basically it’s up to yourself to split into tour groups and the cost of the tour is then divided by the number of people. Luckily there were three of us and we decided to explore the caves on the first day and were easily paired up with a Bolivian family, a father and two daughters. At around 2:40 we were in a jeep on the way to the caves and in hindsight this was a good choice as the weather started to become cloudy and that didn’t matter as we would be crawling around in the dark.

Umajalanta Caverns

We arrived at the car park and it was a short walk to the caves, passing a snack store and we stopped to register and get our helmets with some flashy LEDs. And then we were off towards the mouth of the cave which you can see below.

As we walked I to the darkness it was time to turn on the lights and we met a group of people exiting the cave. They were dusty and looked very happy to see daylight again. I asked them how it was and they said “I hope you are not claustrophobic”. This reaffirmed what Bell, from Upclose, had told me about he caves and I was nervous but determined. A big part of me did think what is the worst that could happen if I did get stuck. I mean that Tun tours here every day and it would be hard to find me.

We climbed down a ledge with the help of a rope and then back up and immediately we were crawling in a very small space which opened out into a larger cavern. Our guide Eugenio took us about the cave and we climbed up and down ladders and ropes exploring more of the cave. We reached a part where we could go no further and Eugenio asked us to sit down and turn off our lights. We spent a few minutes in the darkness which I thought was a really nice touch and then continued. I thought we would head back the way we had came but no. I was about to find out what the other group meant.

We crawled through tiny spaces that I wasn’t sure that I would fit but actually it was all a little too easy and really fun. We came to a pool and saw some blind fish and then crawled and climbed more. After about 2 hours we ended up where we had started and it was a relief to see the sky again.

The Vergal

The next day we had all agreed to go on the canyon and waterfalls tour, meeting at 8:30. I liked our little group and it was a shame they were all leaving that afternoon. The night before we had pizza and I didn’t get to enjoy the fiesta as I had a migraine due to not drinking enough water. But I was happy to explore more of the park. The group was expanded by an Argentinian girl and a man who didn’t really interact with us. He did however have a great hat umbrella. Our guide was a little late as he had been enjoying the fiesta the night before.

This was a walking tour and we were first taken to see the footprints which as over 80 million years old. Just think about that for a second.

After the foot prints we headed up the road towards the canyon. On the route you get great views of the whole park.

We left the road and then started following a dry riverbed bed. This would be teeming with water in rainy season. It was actually really fascinating to see how the water shapes the land and how powerful erosion is.

And then we reached the canyon and my mind was blown. Firstly the signs they have here are great, especially this one asking you not to shout. But the enormity of what the water had achieved was astonishing. There was a walkway out above the canyon and I went straight on, my heights fear is diminishing by the day.

After we followed the path a little further and walked down the 800 steps to the bottom of the canyon. I lost count so I can’t tell you if the number is true.

We then hiked downstream a little way before meeting waterfalls. I was a little upset not to have brought my swimming costume but then I paddled and my feet started to hurt as it was so cold! I put my boots back on and had fun jumping across boulders and walking in the river whilst some of the others jumped in.

After a quick break we headed back up the 800 steps, there was no way I was counting this time and then walked back to town. On the way we spotted a party and the guide took us along. Before we knew it we were handed free beer, food and chicha. One of the Bolivian girls commented that she wishes she was a gringo as we got free things but we shared everything we were given. Everyone was so friendly and I wish I could have stayed but everyone else left and I decided not to stay alone…maybe I should have done!

As a group we decided to have lunch and walked though the town which is really pretty.

After lunch I was alone again and decided to chill at the hostel. There were only four of us staying on this night and it was full the day before. I met a French guy and we decided to check out the fiesta later and I ended up playing games with the daughters of the hostel owners as I made the mistake of asking them what games they were playing. I actually ran around for about an hour before heading out to see the fiesta. Sadly as this was the last night the town seemed a little exhausted and there were parties but not much going on at any of them and none seemed inviting. I had one more tour I wanted to do the next day and with an early rise I decided to call it a night.

Ciudad de Itas

I headed to the office not very hopeful that I would be able to get on a tour but then lots of people started turning up. My French friend suggested that I speak to people to join a group and I awkwardly managed to join a group of 6 who were doing this in the morning and caves in the afternoon. Actually if you can this is a better way to do the tours as it’s much more cost effective.

The Ciudad de Itas is at 4000 metres and take around an hour to drive. On the way we stopped and I snapped the most famous shots of Torotoro.

Eugenio was yet again my guide and I started bonding with my new group. Two French, town Canadians and two Dutch guys.

We started by walking up nd over the first hill.

As you can see the views from here are stunning.

On this tour you see some very different cave structures which are tall and have big curved edges.

There is a lot of climbing, some of which is quite sketchy and you do need a head for heights but everything is beautiful.

We came across a second cave complex.

And saw some of the local rabbits.

After a couple of hours we headed to the lunch stop. It was at this point I was due to leave and I was told there would be transport back to town. I thought the Jeep would take me but no a 17 year old boy showed up on a motorbike. There were of course no helmets as this is Bolivia and I realised I could either walk the 8km back to town, wait for the group or jump on the bike. So I took the sensible option and got on the bike fearing for my life the entire time. He actually drove really safely but it didn’t stop me holding on for dear life. But there was another first. I was back at town and soon on a 5 hour minibus ride back to Cochabamba.

Cochabamba

I awoke early in La Paz and decided to try and not wake the French girls in my room, failing miserably, and headed up to the restaurant of the hostel. Say what you want about the party hostel that is Loki La Paz, but they do a decent breakfast. I resisted the urge for a full English and had an interesting toaster, packed up my things and I think this is where I started to lose everything and headed to the bus station.

The bus stations are more confusing in Bolivia as I had to get my bag weighed and also buy a ticket which covers the cost of using the terminal. I failed to do the latter but luckily Simone came aboard the bus for me to Pat the 2.50bs tax. With the help of some different French girls, there are a lot of French people in Bolivia, I got on the bus sin baño (no toilet) and headed to Cochabamba. I was told the bus was due to arrive at 6pm but that was not to be. It took some time to leave La Paz but after that there is a good road until the rest stop at Caracollo. After that it’s not so fast and they are building a new road through the mountains. I was actually really lucky as the rain hit La Paz, in dry season, and they had snow so the city came to a halt as did the Uyuni tours. It mean that my progress was very slow but I was treated to a beautiful mountain drive at over 4000 metres. Seriously I’m still impressed that they can build roads at this height. Due to the weather the terminal was crazy and we were kicked out of the bus around 8:30pm. The French girls and I banded together, battled through the queued busses into the terminal, through the crowds and jumped in a taxi to the hostel.

I was late to meet Paula, one of Pippa’s friends who I had met the week before at her leaving party. When I mentioned that I was visiting Cochabamba she said she would show me around but I didn’t realise the extend to how amazing she would be. Paula and her friend Sandra collected me from my hostel and ate some local food. It was battered chicken, rice, salsa, friend potatoes and it was huge. After we walked to a bar and met Paula’s other friends before heading to a club in a taxi. Four of us in the back and three in the front. It’s not uncommon to see two people in the front seat and I can’t remember the last time I wore a seatbelt in a car or any form of transport. You have to just trust on Bolivia! I made it back to the hostel around 3am but most people seem to work on Saturday mornings so I had nothing to complain about.

I hung around the hostel in the morning and had some interesting political conversations with a Chinese girl who lives in Australia. This is one reason I love travelling is meeting people from around the world and finding out we are all basically the same. But it’s good to find out others opinions. Afterwards I met up with Paula again one her shift had ended and she took me out for Pique Macho. Im not sure if I mentioned that Cochabamba is the food capital of Bolivia and if you like meat then you are in for a treat. Pique Macho and is delicious, the plate is intended to be for two and featured sausage, chips, chicken, calamari, beef and some vegetables. Legend has that it was invented when some drunks entered a cafe at closing time and demanded food. The owner stuck for ideas just threw together everything she had. It was actually too much for us to eat and Paula asked to take the remaining away which we gave to a mother and her children. I think it’s important to remember that there are some really poor people here and it’s a side of Bolivia I’m not sharing so much in this blog.

Watching over Cochabamba is the statue of Cristo de la Concordia. I’m sure I’ve read that is is bigger than the statue in Rio but don’t quote me on that. To get to the top you can climb a tonne of steps, but I’ve read and Paula told me it can be dangerous, or you can take a teleférico. This is much older than the brand new cable cars in La Paz but through it’s slow creaking I think it has much more charm. Sadly it was a pretty grey day which is unusual for Cochabamba which at a mere 2500 metres has a much warmer climate than La Paz. But there is nothing you can do about the clouds and I’m sure the city is much more beautiful in the sunlight. Actually I know it is. Stay tuned.

This statue trumps the one in Rio again because you can climb up inside. And that is exactly what I did.

I went back to the hostel to rest and booked a flight back to London, I won’t call it home just yet as I’m not sure that it will continue to be, and a flight back to La Paz giving me a deadline to see everything in this part of Bolivia.

Later that evening I met with Paula and her friend Paula, finally not a new name to remember, and we had more meat for dinner. I’m not sure exactly what we ordered but it consisted of two giant sausages, a huge steak and chips. I couldn’t finish the dish and we were sharing. Bolivia has been hit by the craft ale big too and here I was able to sample some more ales. After we tried to go to a club that had karaoke but as no one was there we bypassed and went to another huge club with a big outdoor party playing all the raggaton hits. As I’ve said before Bolivians Like to drink and this is great. When we arrived everyone seemed fairly sober but this changed as the night went on and a big drink here is Fernet and coke, same as Argentina. I can’t stand the stuff so stuck to beer and had a really fun night dancing away. I’m starting to learn the lyrics to the songs even if I don’t understand them.

The next morning I was woken early by the annoying US engineers who seemed to have overtaken the hostel and really can’t handle their drink. I decided to take Paula up on her suggestion and tour the city. I snapped a few shots from the balcony in the hostel and these would turn out to be my last. As soon as I left the hostel my lens stopped focussing and would only take pictures in manual. I don’t use manual and I soon discovered that I had an auto focus only lens. You can see the shots at the bottom of this section.

I desperately googled and sulked for a good 30mins knowing I wanted to go to Torotoro which is known for its beauty. I was already annoyed as my washing came back missing a pair of pants and I couldn’t 100% remember if they were there or if I’d left them behind and so started a week or more of losing items and things breaking. But after realising there was nothing I could do and reception told me there was a camera repair shop I decided to stop being a grump and actually I was in a good mood. I remembered the woman from yesterday and her children and realised that it’s just a camera and I can get it fixed. I think this is the biggest change in me. Those of you who know me well will know I’m kinda a glass half empty kinda guy. But no longer. The people here have inspired me to change my attitude and I will no longer feel helpless about anything. I’ll take the proactive approve, be kind, happy and fight for everything I believe in. Wow that turned a little heavy.

I had a little walk around town and you can see the photos later. But before that I will talk about the BBQ. I met with Paula and we had some fried chicken, it’s the kinda thing I would do myself before a bbq so great minds. And then went shopping. This is the meat you can buy and there is a lot of it here. We met up with Sandra and had some alcoholic ice cream before meeting the others and being driven to Pairumani parque.

When we arrived Sandra took me on a walk to the waterfalls. You can see the photos are not quite so good but I shouldn’t complain as my iPhone has a decent camera still.

When we arrived at the falls there was a little alcove, I’m not sure that’s the right word, you can stand on with a drop either side. So I did this to prove that I’m not scared of heights. I was still scared but less scared than in the past.

City views

After we returned the others had kinda done all the cooking so I got to eat more meat. They had also brought some chicha which is a home brewed drink. I could tell that because it was in a reused Pepsi bottle. It’s the drink of choice here and works perfectly well. I had one cup and it was horrible. I was enticed into trying another and the second glass was better but after two nights of drinking I couldn’t face a third so called it quits.

We packed up and headed back to the city and to the Parque de la Familia which seems to have a show each night of fountains dancing to music. I should add the the next day was Día del Amor y Amistad, which loosely translates as friendship day. I think it’s something we should celebrate in the UK as it’s really nice and as it was on a Monday everyone was celebrating this weekend.

I also had my photo taken with this mask on. I’m still not sure why I said yes.

The next day I took my camera to the repair shop and with my bad Spanish arranged to collect it the next day. Resigned to spending two more days in the city I decided to make the most of things and explore and update my blog admin. Although the WiFi at the hostel was really slow. This gave me a lot of free time so I wondered around the city as Paula had suggested. I also met a really nice British couple Alice and Christie who it turns out know my cousin Anna. I kept running into them and we ate dinner in the hostel.

I also made fronds with Leah, from North Carolina who had an in-depth knowledge of Bolivian politics, its what she’s doing her masters in after all, as well as the world in general. We had a lot of in-depth chats and I really enjoyed finding out more about the world.

The next day Alice and Christie took me to the camera shop and I was told there was no way to fix it as the lens was broken. I was left a little confused as I was told there was nowhere in the city to get a new lens. I accompanied them to a museum which was closed and then after spotting a restaurant with WIFI I grabbed lunch and messaged all my Bolivian friends for help. I was sent to a few shops but whilst I found new cameras I couldn’t find a lens. Brad was also amazing and looked at the possibility of shipping a lens out to me. I resigned myself waiting until I got back to La Paz as there is a Nikon shop there. Brad would also have to ship the lens to La Paz.

So I decided to go to Torotoro the next day, two days late and this ladies and gentlemen proves there is no such thing as luck. In the hostel I met two people who were headed to Torotoro the next day and we decided to go together, but this will be the next post. But I’m not going to leave this with a sad ending. On the way back from Torotoro I received a message from Vary which was a pin in a google map. It was deep into the south market zone which is not supposed to be safe but k was told there were cameras there. I meant didn’t go but it was close to the bai station and I needed to buy a ticket. So there I went and showed the shop keeper my camera and he sold me a lens from a new camera. It looked as legit as I can tell and works really well. And below are the test photos I took and you can see how beautiful the city is. I really liked Cochabamba and it was an interesting and personally defining week.

Last meal

Coroico

I jumped in the colectivo my guide from the El Choro trek flagged down for me and we wound our way up the mountain until I reached the small village of Coroico. It seems to be primarily a holiday destination for Bolivians set in beautiful jungle surroundings and a perfect place to escape the cold and craziness of La Paz.

I was exhausted after my hike and pleased to discover that my Hostel, Hostel Chawi, was close by, so I followed the directions and found it quickly. There was no bell so I let myself in and there was no one to be found and no obvious reception. I put my bags down and started wondering the complex, finding half of it a building site, which is a shame as it has real potential. I found a dorm and through the windows I could see that people were staying there, so that was good. I went around knocking on all the doors until eventually a lady answered. She “checked me in” in the loosest possible way but I had a key and could take my first shower in three days.

I wanted to explore but was too tired so took to sorting my photos instead. There was no wifi so it made everything a little difficult. After and hour or so two German girls returned from a day out, one had to leave right away, but the other Eva was staying the night. She told me it was just us at the hostel and she had booked another hostel for the next night. I went out to explore and found pizza so had that and an early night.

The next morning a British guy who worked at the hostel greeted me. He was in La Paz the day before and gave me a little introduction to the town and a map. There was no breakfast at, what is the weirdest hostel I’ve stayed at so far, so Eva invited me to her new hostel which had a restaurant where we could buy breakfast. This was great as there was nowhere else in town for breakfast and it was also on the way to my hike.

After a delicious breakfast I said goodbye to Eva and started on the hike to the top of the mountain on which Coroico sits, Chutokollo Uchumachi, which is a 4km hike up, and four back. Having walked further in the last couple of days and in the past I thought this was going to be easy and I planned on hiking to some waterfalls afterwards. However I massively underestimated my level of fitness.

The path starts at the top of the town near the church, so if you are in town add another 10-15 minutes to the hike. Again, the trail is clearly marked on Maps.me

I started the climb and some locals waved at me from their house. Very quickly I reached the first morador, which is about 1.5km up the trail and you can see the views get good very quickly.

The path turned from grassland to tall shrubs to jungle and then back again several times before I reached the top. I did worry a little in the jungle as I wasn’t sure if I’d be dumb enough to tread on a snake or get bitten by a spider but I decided to leave that to fate and carried on. Although the path is well trodden I didn’t see another soul on the path and it did occur to me that no one knew where I was. Still it was fairly easy and not along any cliff tops as most of the paths I travel. Soon I saw a sign for the top but it turned out to be a false summit and there was more to climb.

Nearer the top I saw the bushes rustling and they stopped as the animal spotted me. I was a little afraid for a time as the guide had told me there were Pumas in the hills but if it had been a puma it would have attacked already. Also by this point there was only about a kilometre to go. However I really should learn that when walking up a mountain the last kilometre is the hardest and steepest. Still I battled to the top and took a well earned rest.

On the way back down I took my time and took some more interesting photos along with spotting another bird that flew close overhead.

I also saw a grasshopper who jumped out of my way.

I arrived back in town exhausted but in desperate need of some ice cream. I walked around town and unlike everywhere else I’ve been so far in South America there was no ice cream shop. The guide book pointed me to a restaurant that was a little walk away so I decided to hike a little further and headed towards it. My route took me down the sketchiest stairs which seemed to be part of several people houses and annoyingly after all the effort the restaurant was closed. I took a different route back to town and found some ice cream in Carla’s Pub. But the detour did allow me to take some interesting photos of the town.

Afterwards I headed back to the hostel and decided to relax before heading out for some more food. I had been told that there was food fried chicken to be had near the plaza and not one to say no to fried chicken I headed over. The booths that I had seen closed earlier were open and busy. I decided to break my own rule of eating out and sat at an empty booth ordering a plate. I was soon joined by some dogs, one who put his head on my lap whist I was eating but I didn’t share. With no other entertainment and no one to speak to in the hostel I decided to have an early night and leave early in the morning.

In hindsight I’m glad I did as the journey to La Paz took longer than I thought. This time it was a three hour ride by minibus. This followed the new road back to La Paz which had replaced Death Road and I was keen to see it. Despite having opened in 2006 the road was bumpy and had a tonne of potholes. I realised how hard it must be to keep the road open with the extreme weather conditions and it must be difficult to repair as it weaves its way up to 4600 metres up the side of mountains. Still I was glad it existed. I also timed it well to see the Death Road riders starting off and had a view of the valley.

I arrived in La Paz, jumped on another mini bus to my hostel and then to Colribi Camping where I was created by Emma, Belle and David and invited to lunch which was a really nice thing to happen. I stayed for a while and chatted before heading back to the hostel, out again to the bus station to by a ticket to Cochabamba and then had an hours rest before I met up with Amanda and her cousins from the US and we had burgers at Vicios, which I was told were the best burgers in La Paz. They were really good. After I went to sleep ready to say goodbye to the city for nearly the last time.

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