Feliz Navidad!!!!
We are currently spending our Christmas in Lima, Peru with the family friends of Tiina. There are four of us here, Heini, Tiina, Anni and Kaarlo. We all met up in Lake Titicaca in Peru about a week ago. Before that Kaarlo and I (Heini) were in Bolivia and Tiina and Anni were in Chile.
Lets go back a bit to about a few weeks ago. On Wednesday December 13th, Kaarlo and I met in Salta in northern Argentina. From there we took a night bus to the border of Argentina and Bolivia. We got to the border in the morning on thursday and the process over to the border of Bolivia was interesting. We had to walk across town, cross a bridge, go through Argentinian immigrations and then Bolivian immigrations, where we had to photocopy our passports for some weird reason, and then we got our passports stamped and entered Bolivia.
The border town on Bolivias side is Villazon, which is at 3440m above sea level. We smartly decided to walk uphill, with boys following us with carts waiting for us to crumble. We managed about 5 blocks before collapsing and agreeing to let the boys help us (and ended up accidentally paying them more than needed since we didn't know any better). Altitude definitely affects ones body, especially if you exert yourself on the first day. After walking uphill we suffered for like 6 hours of headaches, lightheadedness and dizziness, not so much fun. Its weird how at that altitude you just can not seem to get enough air. We only stayed in Villazon for a few hours because there was nothing there. We took a 19hr train to Oruro, up north, which costs us 18 euros each. The train was not as bad as we thought it would be, and they actually showed movies on the train, they were in Spanish, but had English subtitles.
We got to Oruro on Friday December 15th in one piece, and we were the only foreigners at the train station...very amusing. We were still suffering from the altitude, as we found out later when we had to climb three flights of stairs to our hotel room and were out of breath completely. It was like we had ran a marathon. We decided to splurge and stay at a better hostel/hotel, called Hostal Hidalgo. We got a room for ourselves, with a private bathroom and a tv for 7 euros each. It was nice to relax after the 19hr train trip, just watching tv (thank god for cable). We had an interesting lunch and dinner in Oruro. Lunch costs us a total of 1 euro altogether, and it included a salad, soup, hot dish of rice and meat, dessert and soda. It was really good for that price. For dinner we went to a lamb restaurant where the owner regretfully told us that they were out of lamb heads, and only had legs. Lucky for him we were not in the mood for heads after seeing them being eaten at the next table (for example a father gave his baby girl an eyeball to chew on...yummy) But the lamb was excellent, it came with potatoes, corn and these black potatoes they have in Bolivia, that were actually good. The whole meal including soup and drinks was 3.5 euros altogether. The cuisine in Bolivia is nothing too special, but for those prices incredibly good!
We left Oruro on Saturday December 16th via bus to La Paz. We hadn't bought tickets, all we did was go to the bus station and listen to guys yelling out destinations and jumped on one of the busses to La Paz, which costs us 1.5 euros each, a 3hr trip. The bus was in suprisingly good condition, didn't have any chickens or other animals inside, and it was actually a real bus! We snacked on Salteñas on the way, which are these salty dough pastries filled with rice, corn, tomato, spicy sauce...soooo yummy!
We got to La Paz safely and the first view of the city was incredible! La Paz is situated in a valley, with tall buildings in the middle and houses built on the slopes. The valley is uneven so there is a lot of up and downs, making it tough to walk around, especially since La Paz is at 3660m. But the city is amazing, so different and exactly how one would picture a south american big city, filled with cars, people, and hustle and bustle. We explored the city and bought a lot of souvenirs (I bought a llama/alpaca poncho for 4 euros, in Finland it would be like 100 euros and Kaarlo bought a local guitar called Charrango for 45 euros, which would be a few 100 in Finland). The great thing about people in Bolivia is that they dress in traditional costumes, well only the women do. Women wear these bright colored dresses that come down to below the knee, with bright tops, have their hair in braids, and wear top hats. They usually carry things on their backs in a cloth, either food but mostly kids. Men tend to just wear normal clothes. But its really great to see it, and that they still adhere to traditions, and majority of the people in Bolivia are of indigenous descent.
In La Paz we really splurged and stayed at a 3 star hotel, we had a great room, tv, minibar and roomservice (which of course we had to use). The hotel was Columbus Palace Hotel and costs us 15 euros each, but it was worth it, especially the buffet breakfast that was included. It was nice to stay in a real hotel, luxury! We ate Bolivian food in La Paz, which included chicken, pork, potatoes, and quinoa (a special type of rice/grain that only grows at this altitude and so good). We did order pizza from roomservice cuz we just had to, and it was one of the best pizzas ever! On Sunday December 17th we decided to head toward Lake Titicaca, but before that we went to this hill in the middle of the city where you could see the city 360 degrees, amazing! In La Paz it was the same thing with the busses, went to the station, heard them yell Copacobana and got on a bus. This time the bus was smaller and our stuff was tied to the roof, but no chickens yet. The trip costs us 1.5 euros and lasted 3 hrs.
We got to Copacabana which is on Bolivias side of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is at 3800m and is half on Bolivias side and half of Perus side. We stayed at a 2 star hotel in Copacabana, called Hotel Ambassador, which was not so great and costs us 4 euros per person. The room was ok, had 2 good beds, but we constantly had flies, the water stopped working, we either had boiling hot water in the shower or freezing cold, and our tv was something from the 50's with 2 black and white channels. But at least we had our own room!
On Monday December 18th we decided to visit Isla del Sol (the birthplace of the sun and the world according to ancient inka and other religions). It was great to see the island, saw some ruins, a sacrificial table, and hiked for 2 hrs. Lets just say that even though we were sorta used to the altitude, it was still tough to walk uphill at over 3800m. We also managed to burn our faces pretty badly, since the sun is a bit stronger....not fun. The weather in Bolivia changes, one moment it will be cloudy and rainy and then it will be sunny. In La Paz we were lucky, the weather was nice but got cold at night. It rained in Copacabana since it is the rainy season, but as soon as we got on the boat to go to Isla del Sol it was sunshine all day. (Perhaps its because Isla del Sol means Sun Island, I guess it never rains or gets cloudy). But it was really cold in Copacabana at night, due to the altitude. I ate the best fish in Copacabana called Trucha, (taimen in Finnish), so yummy and a specialty here!
On Tuesday December 19th, we decided to head to Puno, Peru a city next to Lake Titicaca on Peru's side, because we had agreed to meet Anni and Tiina there. We took a bus from Copacabana to Puno, took 3-4hrs, and costs us a bit more at 3 euros each. The bus was good and filled with tourists, we hadn't seen many before that (except in La Paz). We got to Puno safely and found the girls at the hostel we had booked called Inka's Rest. The hostel was really nice, we had this apartment to ourselves with 2 bedrooms, dining table, living room with a tv, kitchen and bathroom. Tiina and Anni were feeling awful after travelling 48 hrs from Santiago de Chile, and suffering from the high altitude. So we just hung out at the hostel, watched tv, ordered pizza. The owners were so nice and helped us out with so many things and completely took care of us.
On Wednesday December 20th, we decided to visit some of the islands in Lake Titicaca. We took a tourist boat (not fun, but no other choice) and spent the whole day sightseeing. First we saw Islas Flotantes or Floating Islands, which are literally islands that float on water, made out of reeds. They were really interesting to see and the people living there were really nice. It was such a different life that they lead, and it was amazing to see a part of it. We also visited another island called Isla Taquile, which was a regular big island but had a group of people with their own culture and language. We had to walk up this huge hill to the top of the island, which was ok for Kaarlo and me since we were semi used to the altitude, but horrible for the girls who were suffering. It really does affect you. The culture on the island was really interesting, the men and women and even children all wore traditional dress. Men had straight pants with shirts, a colorful belt and a hat that looked like a Santa or Elves hat. The hats were all red if a man was married and half red/white if single. The women wore colorful skirts, and shirts, either in yellow or white for single and any other color for married, and a black shawl over their heads to protect them from the sun. The whole community was really interesting to see upclose. We also had lunch on the island, ate some quinoa soup (so good) and fish with potatoes and rice. The one funny thing about Peru is that most dishes come with meat and rice and french fries (or other potatoes). They mix them in dishes here, not too bad but just different. After a whole day exploring the islands, we were all tired, which meant another evening of watching tv and eating pizza. So worth it! We decided to head toward the famous Machu Picchu the next day, but we'll save that for another blog.
Kaarlo and I had a great time exploring Bolivia and we will definitely go back, because it truly is an undiscovered treasure. Most travelers don't go there, but they should because there is something special and different about the country. Now we are exploring Peru together, which we will tell you about later as also post pictures later, can't do that at the moment. After we might go to Ecuador, Costa Rica or something....we will let you know. But so far, it has been amazing to see so many things.
Happy holidays
-H
