Adios Peru, Hola Bolivia!

We ended up having bit of a mission getting back to Cusco on Thursday. Our train which was already 4 hours later than it should have been, was then delayed for another couple of hours. We finally made it back to our hostel just before 3am, after surviving a fairly hairy ride involving our driver taking a high mountain pass at break-neck speed in almost zero visibility due to fog! Luckily our tour company had made contact with the hostel so they were on hand to let us in. Our baggage that we had left in the hostel had been put into our room which was kind of them. We managed a few hours sleep before getting our 7:30am bus to Puno.

Despite being shattered after two nights of minimal sleep, we actually had a really good trip to Puno. We had splashed out the extra few dollars for a comfy tourist bus which stopped at a few sites of interest along the way. I must admit that Will & I usually didn't bother getting out, choosing to sleep on the bus instead. After Machu Picchu, all the other Inca ruins seem quite ordinary! There was a buffet lunch included in the trip, & plenty of opportunity for photogenic llama, alpaca & guinea pig...

We arrived in Puno & set about trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Instead of taking us to the hostel we asked for, our rickshaw driver dumped us outside a flash looking hotel. I was a wreck by now & barely capable of stringing a coherent sentence together, so I was quite happy to let Will take charge. We decided we didn't have the energy to find another place, & Will managed to barter the hotel down to 30USD for the night, when the going rate for a double room was 70! With bargaining skills like that he'll fit right into the Baumberg family!!! It ended up being a brilliant move, we went out for a nice dinner, then I got to unwind with a glass of wine & a hot bath while Will found a decent movie on cable TV. By the way, as cute as that guinea pig below was, one of his brothers or sisters ended up being Will's dinner. He decided that he really should give it a go on his last night in Peru... The verdict was positive, apparently it tastes a bit like sweet bacon... I'll take his word on it, I definitely wasn't up for sampling it. After a lovely nights sleep in a good bed, we were on another 7:30am bus to La Paz, Bolivia. This ended up being quite a strange journey at times! We crossed the border without incident, then had an hours break for lunch in Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. While there we came across the famous blessing of the automobiles ceremony. It was very strange... Loads of vehicles decorated in colourful tinsel were driven up to the cathedral. They were then doused in holy water, given a blessing by a member of clergy, then covered in confetti. Some were having bottles of bubbly sprayed over them, & fire-works & crackers were going off all over the place!

From Copacabana we then boarded a Bolivian bus for the remainder of our journey to La Paz. This also had its moments... At one stage we were ordered off the bus, it was floated over part of lake Titicaca on a barge, & we followed behind on a small passenger boat.

Driving into La Paz was amazing. It is the world's highest capital city at 3660m, & it is set in a 5km wide canyon like a semi sphere. You approach it from the lip of the canyon & it's a really impressive sight with buildings filling the bowl & climbing the canyon walls. When we arrived it was chaos! We had inadvertently hit a fiesta... The bus had to stop a few km from the bus station as the streets were packed with people & no vehicles could get through. We managed to get a bit closer in a taxi, sharing with a British couple from our bus, but then we had to fight our way through the crowds with our big backpacks until we reached our hostel. Luckily the hostel was on the main street where the fiesta was happening, so it wasn't too far. We had great views of it all from our hostel balcony. Apparently it was celebrating graduation from all the La Paz universities, as well as other invited ones. Each faculty would parade in elaborate costumes, dancing to the music of the bands which would follow along behind them. Bolivians are supposed to love a good party & it seemed like most of the city had turned out. The sights, sounds & smells were something else. I think Will quite enjoyed all the short skirts on offer! First impressions of Bolivia is that it is cheap, unbelievably so. We found a great bar/cafe for dinner last night & I had a sensational steak with baked potato & veg for just over 2 pounds. The cocktails were also too good (& cheap!) to miss, so we also indulged in a couple each.

Today was very relaxed. We have 3 nights here, so after being on the go for a few days it's great to chill out for a bit. The hostel we are staying at is Arthy's guesthouse http://arthyshouse.tripod.com , & it really is lovely. The staff are incredibly obliging & can't do enough to make you feel welcome. They have an extensive DVD collection & tonight we watched Shrek 3, which is only just out at the cinema! While watching the movie in the lounge, Reuben the owner came & lit the fire for us, & bought us a couple of blankets to snuggle under. Hostelworld ranked it the second or third best hostel in Latin America a couple of years ago.

We stuck to the main tourist area today, & managed to book our 4 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni for Tuesday. We did stumble across the witch's market which was a bit freaky... Lots of llama fetuses, hallucinogenic cacti, herbs & potions, & who knows what else... Luckily we had read in the Lonely Planet that taking photos was frowned upon, otherwise we might have been struck down with a nasty curse!

That's about it, this post is quite long enough! The next couple of days will involve lots of chilling out, wandering the streets & shopping in the cheap as chips markets, before heading out onto the salt flats on Tuesday.