Ok ok I know I said I would update the blog in a few days, and I was genuinely intending to apart from our internet cable broke. We asked the director 3 times if it was possible to hire a man to come round and fix it but it took 3 weeks for him to finally come round…just an example of the typical ‘mañana mañana’ attitude – Peruvians are really laid back and last minute people. If you are arranging to meet up with them, you should always leave 30 mins later than planned because they are really late, and it is just excepted here so no apology is ever given!
I said I would write about our first trip away from the aldea with just the two of us! I was really proud as I organised all of it! We travelled to Puno which is a town right beside Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian border next to Bolivia. It took us 5 hours by coach, which was unbearable as I was desperate for the toilet and for some reason could not open the door. As soon as I spotted someone coming out of it an hour and a half later I was running down the coach like a mad woman only to find there was a massive window so if we drove past anybody they would see everything! Luckily we were in the desert so I only watched a herd of llamas running beside the coach-an extremely surreal experience. Unfortunately for Hannah she was not so lucky as we pulled up by a local town only to find people staring at her!!!
Puno itself is not a pretty town. Despite loads of tourism to visit the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca, it is extremely poor, with loads of half built houses where people could only afford to build one floor with bricks and thats it. Many of these have been abandoned. We were lucky enough to find a brand new hotel which had discount prices for its opening, so Hannah and I really enjoyed a good nights sleep with DUVETS(!!!) and a TV! First thing in the morning we took a tour to the Uros Islands which were absolutely amazing. They are made out of just over 50 tiny islands big enough to fit about 2 families on each, so we visited one of them where we met the families and I bought a pack of sweets for the little kids (they were thrilled!). We got a demonstration of how the Islands are made and how the local people make a living. They make amazing crafts and jewelry, a lot made from the local reed used to help the islands float. As well as this they also eat the reed as a snack, which we got to try. I have to say it is not as nice as a galaxy chocolate bar. They have local boats made out of reed too which are amazing crafted with Lions heads on either side. As a joke, the locals call them Mercedes Benz! We took one of these boats to a slightly larger island which had a school on it, but they don’t have space for classrooms so instead all the kids gather on boats and surround the school while the teacher stands on the island for everyone to see. Unfortunately it is expensive so many kids do not get an education.
After returning back from the Uros Islands, we had about an hours free time before we had to leave again on another tour to see some tombs at the top of the town (4000m above sea level at one point!) which were built by the Incas. Although fascinating, we were both absolutely exhausted and had had too much sun. We came back looking like lobsters, even though I had used factor 80 on my face. I think the water fight I had with one of the locals on the island must have rubbed it off. I forgot to mention I also got to try on typical outfits – huge long and extremely heavy skirts in the brightest colours with a waist jacket, also extremely brightly coloured!
The next morning we got up extremely early to get a bus to La Paz but unfortunately it was full so we had to wait until 2pm to get another bus in the 40 degree heat. Whats more, when we finally got on the coach and were almost in Bolivia, climbing a steep hill, it ran out of brake fluid so the coach began rolling backwards. The driver got all of us off the coach but it was yet another delay meaning we didn’t reach La Paz until 10pm instead of the intended 2pm! We also had another issue that we had no bolivian money as we were hoping to be able to withdraw money when we got there but found that part of our journey had to be done in a small speed boat crossing the lake for 10 mins which would have only cost about 10 pence but we had 0 money! Luckily some german toursits said they would pay for us! Also we were panicking because we hadn’t booked a hotel, so to have to find one at that time at night without a guide book was daunting, but luckily we met a swiss couple who helped us out and let us go with them as they hadn’t booked a hotel either but did have somewhere in mind. They really looked after us in La Paz which was great and made sure we knew what we were doing and since then we have kept in contact with them! La Paz is an extremely mixed city. It was a mix between the wealthy working in the city and the extremely poor trying to earn a living by begging or selling whatever they can in the various markets. It is also extremeley hilly and steep meaning getting to places could be quite a challenge or exhausting. There is also not that many things to do as tourists unless you have more time and money to travel slightly outside the city. Our hotel was located right next to the witches market which sells just about everythig, the most shocking being dead,dried baby llama foetuses which smelled repulsive! Apparently they are lucky to hang up in your house or crush into a powder to make tea for healing various illnesses. Anyway for the time Hannah and I were there we spent most of our time looking and buying a major amount of presents for Christmas in the witches markets and we also met up with 2 of the volunteers from Project Trust twice who have a project working with street children there. It was great to exchange stories and see what other people are experiencing!
The last leg of our journey was spent in Copacabana, the Lake Titicaca town on the Bolivian side which was absolutely beautiful. It was a fantastic beach town with access to the largest island on Lake Titicaca called the Isle of Sol. We were staying in a fantastic beach style hostel filled with hammocks which was extremeley relaxing and we took a trip to the Island but unfortunately I think that a ixture of altitude sickness and sea sickness affected Hannah who felt miserable all day and then was violently sick. I felt awful as we couldn’t return until the end of the day so I had to leave her in a restaurant while I went off taking photos for the both of us and bought her a necklace which a girl on the island had made herself to cheer her up. Although it was an amazing experience for me, by the time we got back to the hotel, I realised how relieved Hannah was to have a bed she could recover in.
The next morning we had to leave extremely early gain to catch a bus back to Arequipa. It took about 9 hours in total, and when we got back to the aldea, I had not realised how much I missed the kids. They all ran up to us to give us loads of hugs and tell us how much they missed us and never to leave again. I am going to feel heartbroken when I have to leave Arequipa for good. We were also flooded with calles from our Peruvian friends saying they missed us and when could we meet up with them. We both felt really appreciated!!!
