Bolivia to Peru - Floating Islands, Lake Titicaca and Whistling Llamas

There isn't much to say about Potosi other than it is high. If you walk to fast you run out of breath. Most people go to visit the mines. We decided not to, as they sound horrendous. The miners work in awful conditions and most die about ten years after starting working in them from the bad air quality. You have to climb through tiny tunnels and sign a waiver to say it is okay if you die. We stayed a night, took some pictures and then went onto Sucre.

Getting dinner at the market in Potosi

Sucre is a beautiful town. We planned on chilling out there, maybe putting up the blog and visit a museum or two. Then Niamh spotted a job opportunity, so manys the time was spent fretting over a CV and cover letter. We managed to take a wander around the town and splashed out on our second purchase of souvenirs of the trip, some lovely embroidered cushions and llama socks (the mate cup in Argentina was the first).

We visited a textile museum (Museo Textil Indigena), which had displays of fabric and outfits worn by the Jalq'a and Tarabuco people. Niamh loved it and has written up a post in Tales from a Teapot.

The next stop was Copacabana on the shores of lake Titicaca (feel free to giggle here!). We arrived at Copacabana early enough and started looking for a hostel. We tried a few places and settled on one called Residential Paris. Mostly because we thought it was half Irish owned and had wifi from 6 a.m until 11 p.m. It turns out the cafe downstairs was half Irish owned and was not part of the hostel and wifi was from 6 p.m and didn't work most of the time. This was a town wide problem though, one of the wifi companies crashed for the majority of the time we were there. Not a problem unless your trying to send a job application, grrr. The hostel was grand though, the staff were lovely. We were a staggering four floors up, which doesn't sound much but at this altitude it takes it out of you a bit.

The first day we arrived, we went out for a bite to eat in this nice restaurant which served an amazing trout. It was one of the nicest meals we had in South America. Good job Bolivia.

The next day, Niamh was busy on the laptop typing like a monkey writing Shakespeare. After delivering a beautiful sonnet, we went down to the Irish cafe called El Condor Y El Aguila Cafe (The Condor and The Eagle), which became our haunt. We bumped into a few Irish people, including a couple from near The Bell in Blanch. Niamh used to do Irish dancing with their daughter's friend. The coincidences never cease. We went to a hotel to watch the Ireland Scotland game, but lets not speak of that!

We decided we needed to do something touristy so we climbed Cerro Calvario. It was not a hard climb, although it is quite steep, but it was tough in the altitude. It was well worth it, with beautiful views over the town. We done as the locals do and bought some beer to drink while watching the boats on the lake down below. It was very idyllic, except for the taste of the beer. The penchant for sweet things in South America also exists in the world of beer and it is not a positive development.

Niamh buying the beer

Emmet drinking the beer

We had pretty much exhausted the list of things to do at this stage, other than get the boat out to Isla del Sol. So that is what we did. We booked the tour for the following morning. It is an island on the lake of Titicaca, which the Inca's had set up some settlement on. Originally the locals had gone there to escape the wrath of the Inca warriors. But determined and as organised as the Inca's were, they eventually prevailed and took the island and it's inhabitants as they had so many times before. This history is not factually correct,Emmet has decided this is what happened though, who's to judge!

There were a few different options to see the island but we decided to get dropped off on the north end and walk the 3 hours to the south.  It was tough enough in parts, some of the island rising to 4000 metres high. But it was completely worth it. We stopped off first at this small long abandoned settlement and had lunch looking out over the lake. You couldn't really pick a finer spot to munch into a banana cake. The tank satisfied for the time been we made tracks again, out onto the southern path. Obviously there isn't much you can say, other than it was once again another beautiful place in South America and we will let the photos do the talking instead.

Irish coloured boats!

Hippies camping by the beach

When we got to the southern village, we started to look for a restaurant called Los Velles that the Irish guy who owned the cafe had told us about. We walked through the village, which was really nice and followed the signs which sent us off through a forest. We walked up to it and it had great views over the lake with a few donkeys in the garden, which Emmet got to know while waiting for his food.

The guy who owned the place was lovely and we went with the recommended dishes by our Irish coffee man. The trout and vegetarian pizza. I know, vegetarian pizza, sound fairly rubbish but it was the nicest vegetarian food I had ever tasted. That said, we ordered our food at 2.20 and when it arrived out at 3.30 we were a bit anxious as we had a 20 minute walk to the boat which left at 4. So this only leaving us 10 minutes to eat our two dishes was a bit of a rush. We ended up leaving with half the pizza in our hands. Road pizza, it's nearly as good as road beer. Nearly. When he brought the food out, you could tell he was a little stressed as he knew we had to leave in a few minutes. But he had cooked up two amazing meals on a remote island which has no electricity. Not bad sir, not bad at all.

We paid our bill and walked/ran down the hill to the harbour. We made it with time to spare and were able to start digesting. A successful day out. We got the boat back and spent the night watching movies. Thankfully our computer was fully charged as the electricity went in the whole town early and didn't come back on that night. The next stop, Peru.

We had a fairly painless border crossing and arrived into Puno, also on the banks of Lake Titicaca. On the bus we got approached by a man called Fernando who owned a hostel called Intikilla. The pictures looked good, it was a decent price and he offered free transfer, so we decided to take him up on the offer and check out the place. It was lovely, the nicest accommodation we have stayed in. He put us in a the suite, which meant we had our own sitting room, bathroom, kitchen (disclaimer, the kitchen only had a sink and some presses, and a bit of a smell, so it was more like a glorified room with a sink and a stink) and of course a bedroom, with three beds. We don't need three beds, but we got them anyways! We had a lot of fun watching films on the laptop in our sitting room, attempting to drink Peruvian wine, which I would not recommend anyone try unless they first have their taste buds severed off. We also refrained from the local delicacy, see picture below!

Our bus getting a lift across the lake

 

We were very touristy in Puno. We first visited the ancient ruins of Sillustani where nobility were buried in massive towers.

Can you see the puma/lion face?

Whistling llama

On the way home we made an unexpected stop to a Peruvian family, which Niamh has written about in Tales from a Teapot.

The next day we went out to the floating islands called Unos. The people built islands made of reeds in the middle of the lake to escape the Incas (sound familiar! You can see where Emmet's confusion arose). There are 75 islands still in existence with several families living on each. They have to anchor the island down by driving steaks attached to ropes into the ground below the lake. This also means they can move the island by taking up the stakes and paddling! The family on the island we visited were lovely. They showed us inside their house, dressed us up in their traditional clothes and sang as we were leaving. We bought a beautiful hand embroidered wall hanging off them before getting on a boat made of reeds (called the mercedes benz!) to bring us to the next island. We were a bit peckish and they happened to have a restaurant so we ordered some trout. We received the freshest meal we have probably ever eaten. They went to the side of the island, caught a trout each and brought them in and cooked them. It was delicious. There are only a few photos here cause, em, you may see a pattern here, but Niamh plans to write up a post on Tales from a Teapot.

We bought the blue one!

Getting the reed boat across the lake

Dinner!

That evening we were stalking people on facebook when we got a message from Jerry and Aisling, who happened to be in Puno too. It was also Aisling's birthday eve. They managed to entice us from our suite lair, not much else would have! We met them for some pizza in a great place called Pizza e Pasta, or something like that, and then went for a few beers in a rock bar.

After getting to see Jerry and Aisling again we headed onto Arequipa the following day. It's a really nice place and we stayed in The Flying Dog hostel. It was a really nice place and the staff were great.

The main thing to do there is go and see Colca Canyon. It's the second biggest one in the world, impressive, right.....we didn't bother. Instead we chilled. After a hectic few weeks Arequipa was our place to eat (we had a potato dish in a place called Hatunpa, yummy, do not pass through Arequipa without stopping in here, forget the canyon!), drink coffee and recharge in preparation for Cuzco.

Cambodia - friends, beaches and booze

We crossed the border from Vietnam to Cambodia with no hassles what so ever. When we got on the bus the conductor said if we gave him the money he would sort the visas out for us. We were a little sceptical but all the other people on the bus, who were Asian, were giving him money so we decided to do as the locals do. It was a good decision and we avoided having to approach any stern looking visa people until getting our stamps and didn't get bribed which was our main concern after hearing so many stories.

We headed to our guesthouse in Phnom Penh. The staff there were the nicest we have come across but the place was filthy. Emmet had to ask to have the sheets changed on his bed. They came back with dirtier sheets, which we didn't think was possible. We moved rooms the following day. It was a bit cleaner but still not great. Needless to say, we slept in the sleeping liners.

We met Jerry and Aisling from Skerries in the guesthouse. It was great seeing some familiar faces and we had some good times exploring the surrounding bars. Poor aul J dog wasn't feeling the best, so Emmet pumped him full of some drugs and he started feeling better after a day or so. We took it easy the first night and hit an Irish bar, which is officially our first of the trip. This is quite a feat, especially considering how many we passed by, especially in Mongolia for some reason. We had a few happy hour beers and had a good chat.

The next day we went on a tour to see a prison and the Killing Fields that they kept and tortured people in. A sad and eye opening experience and an awful part of human history. It was very different from visiting the CuChi tunnels in Vietnam. While in CuChi tunnels they talked about the fighting between the American and Vietcong, there was no mention of the ordinary civilians caught up in the fighting or the fact that the North and South see themselves as different and this was the real fight. It was quite light hearted, oh here is a tunnel you can climb in and here is a giant bombed out tank you can sit on. The tour in Cambodia focused on the pain that events caused the civilians and the tragedy of the genocide.

A little history lesson first.  In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, headed by Pol Pot took control and forced millions of people from their homes. They had a vision of a communist agricultural based society and killed anyone who stood in their way or anyone they suspected of standing in their way. They slaughtered a quarter of the population and made life miserable for everyone else. They set up communal farms which were actually slave labour camps where many people were worked and starved to death.

The prison we visited was once a school but was converted into a place to hold 'traitors', which is anyone who is from the city, educated, foreign or said anything against the Khmer Rouge. It consisted of a number of buildings with tiny makeshift cells and specific rooms for torturing people. They displayed countless head shots of the prisoners and also had some implements of torture and pictures of people that had been tortured. It was a pretty depressing looking dank building surrounded by wire.

The killing fields were situated further outside the city, in what first appears to be a lovely shady tree lined spot. We done an audio tour which provided some background information. The buildings had been taken apart after the Khmer Rouge were ousted so the tour led us to the spots where they used to stand and explained what was there. The mass graves, however, still exist. There are loads of mounds in the ground, that look like little hills at first glance but are actually pits they threw hundreds of bodies of men, women and children in. The skulls have all been excavated and are displayed in a glass building in the middle of the field and demonstrates the scale of the killing. However, not all bones were excavated and some have surfaced after the rains and are visible in the graves. Bits of clothing are also scattered around the field. The most harrowing thing we saw was the killing tree where they smashed babies heads off to kill them. The audio tour provided some stories from Cambodian people who survived. They told accounts of the general conditions, the murders, the rapes and the hardship they suffered during that time.

Seeing what happened put things in perspective. Anyone over 37 would have been alive at that time. Our hotel owner told us his story just before we left. He was just a child when his family were ordered to leave the city. They lived in a forest for 7 months and sold the clothes off their back for rice. His family managed to escape to Vietnam and then onto France where he grew up. He was definitely one of the lucky ones. We were all pretty depressed after that so just went back and chilled for a few hours.

Later we headed to a great restaurant called Friends that trains street children how to work in a restaurant. They provide the training and work experience so they can get a job. The food is great as well. Then we went for a few beers.

We went to a lot more of the sights when we first started travelling but we have seen so many temples, palaces and pretty buildings that we don't really go now unless they are particularly special or different. We tend to just wander and soak it in instead. We went on a walking tour of the city. We only made it half way though, when the hunger set in and then the laziness set in so we headed back to get ready for deadly night out.

So we saved our night out for Full Friday. First, we went for dinner on plastic chairs for 2.5 dollars including a beer. We also had the entertaining  company of a rat. We didn't get bitten or die of some mad rat related disease (yet) so i'd still go back.

We went looking for a bar where Jerry and Aisling had seen a pool table and a load of hookers playing on it. Jerry did say playing on it, so I didn't ask any further questions. Best not to know I reckon. On the way we saw a different place with a pool table and went in there. Don't worry though, there were hookers included. Well one, she chatted up an aul fella up at the bar and they stepped outside for a nice chat. Romantic. The beer was cheap though. Plus they were blaring out Mr. John Fogarty, you can't ask for much more than that (the place me and Niamh had breakfast every morning by the river had "just rollin on the river" on the back of the staffs t-shirts, they love Credence here. Deadly buzz!).

After about a billions hours of playing one game of pool we headed to The Zepplin Bar where the DJ had a serious vinyl collection. We got a few requests in and drank some cheap, cheap beer. The owners little kid was in the bar. He was really cute, as all Asian babies are so we started waving to him. Most kids in this situation either wave back, give you the evils, or run crying to their mothers. This particular child gave us the finger, charming! His mother was all embarrassed and grabbed his hand and he started giving us the rock sign. Maybe that was what intended at the start or maybe that's what he wants us to think!  

Longest game of pool ever

Scanger Cans

Then we headed back to a bar that had a gig on in a tuk tuk ( or as Emmet says a chuck chuck wagon). The Memphis Bar was packed when we arrived and the band were, in the words of O' Louda, savage.  It was a great night. It was the bars 8th birthday and they had a cake and all. Members of the crowd who could play drums, base etc, got up and joined in.

Everyone was thrown out about 4ish and we headed up to another bar called Mr. Butterfly. Oh yes, a vest top short of a strip bar. A rather classy abode. We had a few there, not before Niamh did a nic nac on our guesthouse. The lady in the bar asked us where we are from. We replied 'Ireland'. All very normal until she nearly pissed herself laughing and walked off. Her loss! We fell back to our guesthouse and rang the bell about 5ish.

We had some heads on us the next day. It was a write off for Niamh who was in bed all day. In the evening we peeled ourselves out of the pyjamas and went to the night market. It was the best one we have been too. They had some sort of talent show on with skinny teenagers dancing out of time to crap pop music. It was hilarious. All the little kids were standing in front of the stage copying their dance moves. We had Cambodian barbeque. You pick whatever food you want, including mystery meat on skewers and the ladies cook it up for you. You sit on the ground on mats under a canopy. We also had some sugar cane juice, which is delicious. We all went to a real nice bar facing onto the river that night. We played cards and watched the fireworks going off up the bank of the river. Good times.

So both couples went our separate ways for now but we are hoping to all meet up in Loas in a few weeks. Jerry should be back to full strength by then. So who knows what'll happen there and how outrageous his Tom Jones goatie will be.  I'll only be Delilah if he's still got it.

The next stop was Kep. After 7 weeks of action packed traveling we decided it was time to stop and rest. Kep Lodge seemed the perfect place to do this. There is a swimming pool, a beach and crabs ( to eat, not the STD, just to clarify). We stocked up on some books and sun cream and spent a couple of days doing nothing.

Deco the Gecko, our friendly room mate

After our adventures in Dalat we wanted to get out on the skooters again. We decided to drive out to some caves. Firstly, we bought petrol from someone on the side of the road selling it out of a pepsi bottle. This is the Cambodian way! Our map was not very accurate. In fact it was a hand drawn scribble on a piece of paper. It is stretching to call it a map. We inevitably got lost but happened to drive past two American lads we met in Saigon who were getting lunch in a small shack at the side of the road. It was a very random encounter and we deduced that it was a sign that we should meet for beers in Siem Reap.  We were hungry and getting burned by the midday sun so decided to stop for lunch in said shack. We were given green stringy things mixed with white stringy things mixed with spices. It was really nice and no food poisoning so far! The family were lovely. The father had a small bit of English and chatted until the language barrier took hold. At this stage you just sit and smile! I think the were surprised to see two groups of whiteys in one day.

We headed off in search of the cave. Lucky the drive was savage, cause the cave was mediocre. We paid a dollar to the make-shift ticket sellers and then gave another guy two dollars to lead us through. The locals had set up a temple in the caves. The had loads of Buddhas and 7 headed snake statues on display. We had been told about a swimming cave which sounded like exactly what we needed. Unfortunately the reality was that you wouldn't be swimming in anything but rubbish and stale cave water. We decided to give it a miss. We have avoided enough infectious diseases so far without tempting fate.  We drove back a different way through the salt fields. We got there at the perfect time of the day when the sun wasn't too high so you could see the reflection of the sky in the water. It was pretty amazing looking. We continued on to end the day under a palm tree at the beach. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up at the Vietnam border guarded by scary looking dudes with guns. Oopsies. We have had enough border crossings so turned around and headed home.

 

Say he was 'bacon' on the back of that bike

About 10 minutes from our hotel we ran out of petrol. There was a little restaurant so we popped into to see if they would sell us some petrol from a Pepsi bottle. They didn't but one of the customers jumped on his bike and legged it up the road to another shop and came back with some. We now had more petrol than we needed so took this to mean we should not go home, but should instead eat crab. We went to a little shack in crab market and feasted ourselves. I have only had crab once before but it is delicious. It is definitely a delicacy though, there is not much meat on it. We had to order some rice to make sure we had enough fuel to drive home!

We went biking the following day as well. We went to get petrol and the kid who served us tried to short change us. Little did the little fecker know that Niamh Kirwan is as tight as a weasels arsehole and wasn't falling for that trick. This time we stayed more local and went to see the shells of villas where the rich and famous of Cambodia lived before the Khmer Rouge burned down their houses. Kep is a lovely place but it is very quiet and the empty buildings give it an eerie feeling.

We decided to make up for missing the beach the day before and headed off for a dip. We were walking barefoot in the sand looking for somewhere to put down our picnic blanket and spend a few ours reading and swimming. All very Hollywood movie, until we came across raw sewerage being pumped into the sea. We threw our shoes back on and drove promptly home to wash our feet. We decided the swimming pool at Kep Lodge was the safest bet.

The next stop was Kampot, which is the provincial capital and set on a riverside. We stayed in Bodhi Villa a little outside the town. It is a really amazing guesthouse. The common area looks out onto the river and is a great place to meet people. It is very relaxed. There was even some mad hippies meditating on the floor when we arrived. Knobends. The first day it was pissing rain all day so we sat around and read and chatted to people. We got talking to two Aussies who invited us to a gig in the town that night, so we obliged. The band was very good. They played rock covers. We stayed out till the bitter end and kept the place lively till the wee hours of the morning and were told to go home. The bar staff were sound. Niamh arm wrestled the bar tender and lost. She was ridiculously strong. The bar owners had a kitten and puppy who played all evening. Well attacked each other in a friendly way. Niamh had been petting the kitten all evening and went to pick it up at the end of the evening to be startled by a strange squeaking noise. The kitten had a mouse in its mouth. It got a fright and dropped it. The mouse went scurrying across the floor until Niamh dropped the cat in fright and it pounced in it again. There was some fierce hand washing done.

We were out of action the next day with arguably the worst hangovers of the holiday. We went for a walk down the town and then generally slobbed around, which is allowed on hangover day, no judging. Then we prepared ourselves for the Friday the 13th party. The owner played with his band. We creepily stalked people to chat to, which you have to do if you are in a couple, as you are lepers to other travelers. We got talking to some expats from the UK but they weren't much craic. We found some Cambodians who willing to talk to us, so talk we did. Niamh even learned a Khmer dance. They were sound. We were once again the last ones in the bar with two Aussies, one of whom was the spit of Johnny Depp in fear and loathing. He was a nutjob as well, but in a good way. We stayed up to watch the sunrise and then let the staff get some kip.

We have just arrived in Siem Reap which will be our cultural liver mending stop with hopefully some fantastic pictures. We enjoyed a 14 hour bus journey, which wouldn't have been as bad if we had been prepared, we underestimated the journey by a mere 6 hours. Luckily we were tired enough to sleep half of it away. It was pretty uneventful except for stopping in a supermarket to buy a packet of crisps and finding the only flavour available to be caramelised squid. Mmhh. Until next time....