BOLIVIA- La Paz- Dicing with the Death Road and Cholita wrestling

We arrived at la Paz airport after 2 flights and an extremely uncomfortable attempt at sleeping in an airport, and were suddenly transported back into chaos, noise, traffic and ladies in massive skirts and bowler hats. Hello Bolivia.
We were far away from the accommodation we had booked, and after asking at the tourist information desk, were directed to another collectivo minivan system, called 'trufis' here. This would take us to at least the city centre. They chucked our bags on the roof, and off we went, collecting anyone else on the street who looked vaguely interested in going the same direction. And when we got out at the last stop we just had to walk 10 metres and managed to get another trufi to the area of town we wanted. It turns out, the crazy traffic in la Paz is mainly a result of the sheer amount of trufis on the road. There were roads of traffic consisting of entirely trufis. An extremely cheap and convenient way of getting around (30p per person), you just wave it to stop when you want to get on and shout 'this corner' to get off. And everyone uses them, from policemen to market sellers.
Our trufi dropped us off about 3 minutes walk from the apartment, but it was enough to leave us breathless with our bags as we were back at altitude at about 4,000 metres. We were greeted by the owner of the apartment, Erica, who had left us lots of supplies and even put a bar of chocolate for us on the bed. This was definitely the place we wanted after a few weeks in dorm beds!
We had a message from Erica the next morning checking if everything was okay and did we want her to take us on a tour of the city. We had originally planned to take a walking tour anyway, so a private tour seemed like a great option to take up. She picked us up at 2.30pm, and first drove us to a viewpoint before dropping off the car and taking us on the cable car system. As la Paz is a mess of buildings built on the sides of mountains, the cable car is the quickest way to get around and is a lot quieter than the congested streets. We went all the way to the highest area, El Alto, which Erica explained was where most of the Bolivian immigrants lived but more recently people with money were building massive colourful blocks and decorated them lavishly for those who could afford it to have events.

Not the easiest city to build on

Feeeelllll the altitude

El Alto- the highest area of La Paz

Next we went to the area of the witches market, with stalls filled with bizarre remedies and lots of llama fetuses hanging up, which people believed were good luck to put under the base of a new building (apparently animal sacrifices are still occasionally used too). Finally we went to a huge temporary marketplace, which had been set up to sell minatures. From the 24th of January for one month, people bought minature versions of anything they wanted for that year- houses, cars, food, money, babies, laptops... They then placed them around a model of a crazy looking man and made him smoke a cigarette, and their minature versions would be a reality. An interesting idea, although surely spending money on buying minature money to wish for more money defeats the point...
La Paz also hosts the unique Cholita wrestling. This is where ladies in their full traditional costumes take each other on in a wrestling ring, because of course long plaits and big skirts are the perfect wrestling attire.
We were expecting weird, but this was really weird. The women, aged between 14 and 40, many who were missing teeth, paraded around the ring to get the crowd hyped up and then started flinging each other around, dragging each other by the plaits or feet, putting each other in headlocks, spitting water at each other and throwing each other into the crowd. Then the referee would join one side and start beating the other one up, and then the women would both start attacking the referee. Various men joined  in too, and everyone seemed to switch alliances many times. It was clearly played up, but they were still being fairly brutal, and we had to dodge when one of the male wrestlers shot the contents of his nose into the crowd. It was definitely a unique experience.

Elegant....

...Ladylike...

...and with only two teeth.

Our views 80% of the time

Ref is on the phone while the Cholita's are making a pretzel

Love a fair and impartial referee

Front row is a dangerous position

For some bizarre reason, I thought it would also be a great day out to cycle down the famous 'death road', the most dangerous road in the world (aka the naughtiest road for Paul and Audrey). We arranged this with a tour company, who provided full gear for us, guides, and the drive to the beginning of the road. It couldn't be that bad, could it?
It was fairly cold in La Paz anyway, so we had hoodies and coats, and had been advised that at the end it would be warmer due to the lower altitude and to pack swimming costumes as we would end up in a hotel with a pool, but we also forgot that we were starting at a higher altitude so it would be colder. As we drove uphill, snowflakes began to fall, and soon everywhere was covered in snow. I immediately started apologising to Jonno, this might not have been the cleverest idea to cycle in this. We stopped in a cabin for a breakfast of Oreos, luminous yogurt and banana bread, and the guide said we would wait a bit to see if the snow stopped.

What a lovely day for a cycle

As we were gearing up, Jonno began to have a migraine, really not ideal at all. With no way of returning to la Paz, he had no choice but to sit in the bus and try and sleep it off, not easy on the bumpy roads. The guide told the rest of us we could try and start riding but if it was too bad we could get back on the bus and drive further down to start.
I was already shivering before we started, and it didn't help being pelted with snow. Within minutes, my hands and feet were completely numb and I was breathing heavily just to try and keep warm. As soon as we stopped 10 minutes in and given the option to get back on the bus, I took it, and so did everyone else. We drove until the snow had disappeared, and then got back on the bikes. The start of the ride wasn't bad at all, but that bit wasn't actually the death road.

Once the snow disappeared it was a lot more pleasant

We reached the start of the death road, and immediately the road (if you can actually call it a road) became extremely steep and was covered in large, loose rocks. We stopped at various points for the guide to point out the most treacherous parts of the road, including skid marks down the sides of the mountain where buses had fallen, a bus poking out of the trees which had gone off the side and everyone inside had died, and various crosses on the roadside to commemorate people who have died. Some of the parts of the road have been named after the nationalities of the deceased, and it wasn't reassuring when the guide patted me on the back and said "we already have one English corner, we don't need another one", the perfect thing to say to someone already nervous.
We got back on the bikes, me feeling more and more apprehensive with each corner and feeling the skid on the wheels when I applied the brakes.

I wouldn't be smiling for too much longer..

Jonno's video from inside the van following us

After a few stops, Jonno emerged from the bus, still feeling dizzy but the worst of the migraine over, and about an hour from the bottom decided he felt okay enough to try and ride the rest of it, determined not to miss out. With my fear and Jonno a) still not feeling wonderful and b) not wanting to leave me, we were the slowest in the group, but eventually we got down, me breathing a sign of relief that it was over. And now I know extreme downhill mountain biking is not for me.

Oh how nice, a bus that has fallen to it's death with everyone on it

Reassuring gravestones along the way

Here comes Jonno!

So very safe

At least the scenery was pretty

Glad to be finished, taking comfort in a nearby pup!

Been there done that got the t shirt.. now lets go

We had one more day to enjoy our nice apartment in la Paz, in which we unfortunately smashed one of the lampshades so had to go hunting for a new one and the only place that had something similar recognised we were desperate and increased the price twice. Jonno also was in desperate need of a haircut and beard trim, luckily we found a street full of barbers where they all saw the dire situation and were practically dragging him in.
Bolivia was already an eventful place and we were less than a week in!

Cusco and Machu Picchu

We arrived in Cusco at around midday, after a 17 hour journey which, as usual, not much sleep was had, particularly due to the fact that the route wound up and down mountains, and at times the altitude made it harder to breathe. We checked in to our hostel, surprisingly run by a guy from East London, and had an hour to sleep before going to explore. Cusco is at 3,800 metres above sea level, and was definitely a lot colder and wetter than Ica- a lot more layers were needed! It is also the most tourists we have seen so far in South America as pretty much everyone who comes to see Machu Picchu stops here. 

The Incas welcome us to the city

We had booked onto a walking tour, which turned out to be a difficult affair as it was run by only one guy- some of us needed the tour in English but others could only speak Spanish. The guide spoke in English and a member of the group translated it to Spanish but sometimes louder than the guide so required a lot of concentration to focus on what he was saying.

The guide showed us a few important buildings, cathedrals and statues, and took us to a place where a woman kept 2 Alpacas and a llama for photos with tourists. The woman kept moving one Alpaca's face to look like it was kissing the person in the photo, the Alpaca was not impressed at all and was doing an Alpaca version of rolling it's eyes. The rest of the tour was basically about rocks. Interesting the first time, but somewhere after the 10th rock stop I got lost. Basically some of the walls in Cusco are originals built by the Incas, they used big rocks and chipped away at them to make them for together.

Apparently if you discard half the city and draw a vague puma shape on it, it looks like a puma...

Hairy beggars

Rocks- the main content of the tour

Before Cusco we had been debating whether we were going to go to Machu Picchu.

Reasons for:
- Wonder of the world
- ‎We are in the neighborhood
Reasons against (according to our research):
- Expensive, probably not worth the cost (Train there and back $200 each, passes $50 each)
- ‎Probably overcrowded and filled with tourist tat
- ‎Probably a disappointment
- ‎Difficult to arrange at short notice (Inca trail needs to be booked months in advance)
- ‎-Jonno said no to any 4 day hikes similar to the Inca trail to get there

We had decided that we would get to Cusco, enquire at some of the tour agencies, look at what the options were and if it was worth it.
We stopped at a tour agency with a sign stating MACHU PICCHU $88 USD. Apparently this included transport to within 11km of the town below Machu Picchu (we would have to walk the rest of the way, there is no public road to the town), a night in a hostel, the entrance fee, a guide and 2 breakfasts.
This seemed like a pretty good deal, so we booked it for a few days time.
We also booked a trip to a place called Rainbow Mountain (immediately sounds magical), and I had read good reviews on. Unfortunately it did require a 3am wake up to leave at 4am, a prospect that Jonno was not jumping for joy about. We were still tired from the lack of sleep on the bus, so gave ourselves one rest day before Rainbow Mountain and one rest day before Machu Picchu. We had a plan.

Looking out onto the main square

Doesn't really look very delicious, more like a weasel sausage

Yes you should look embarrassed, no fashion sense at all

Unfortunately, the evening before our Rainbow Mountain trip Jonno's stomach decided to kick off again (it might have been the thought of the early morning that freaked it out) and still hadn't improved by the morning. I had read it was a hard hike- 2-3 hours each way, reaching 5,100 metres above sea level- probably not a great idea for an ill person. So while Jonno went back to bed, I headed out on my own to walk to where the bus was going to pick me up. Waiting on a dark street on my own at 4am was a slightly unnerving experience, especially as the bus was 45 minutes late. Finally it arrived and I climbed on for the 3 hour drive to our breakfast stop. After a standard breakfast of bread rolls, jam and coca tea to prepare us for the altitude, we had another 35 minute drive to the starting point of the hike. The guide said he would meet us at the top and left us to it.

Views from the bus on the way

As Jonno will most certainly tell you, I don't do slow hiking, and with only a couple of stops for photos I reached the top in an hour and a half. The last part was definitely tough, the path was steep and the air was thin.
At the start of the hike it was grey and overcast, with the odd snowflake falling. At the top, the cloud cover meant initially I couldn't see much. After about 10 minutes, the clouds cleared and revealed a pretty amazing view- a whole mountain range in stripes of different colours. 

The start of the walk

Watching the fog clear

Finally I see the rainbow!

A view worth waiting for

However, the clear sky didn't last long and after another 20 minutes a snowstorm hit. This wasn't so pleasant, but I hadn't seen anyone from my group or the guide to see if I could head down. I waited at the top, getting colder and colder, until finally the guide appeared and I told him I was going back down. I started to run down to keep warm, and about half way down the storm suddenly cleared and made way for a beautiful blue sky and some stunning scenery. 

Mesmerising clouds

It took a while for everyone else to return to the bus, and after a quick lunch stop we were heading back to Cusco. The altitude hadn't affected me while I was walking, but on the bus I developed a pounding headache and had to make a run to get some coca sweets in Cusco which seemed to help. 

Another rest day followed- most of the day it rained heavily so blog writing and tea drinking were the main activities.

Apparently this is the land of crazy hats

The day after we had been instructed to meet at the main plaza at 7am- about a 15 minute walk from where we were staying. We arrived at 6.45 and it was only then that Jonno realised he had left his camera memory card in the room and had to make a dash to get it- nothing like a last minute panic.
We were met by a guy who was collecting people from various parts of the plaza and herding them into one place. We were then taken to a coach, and once we were all sat down started asking people if they wanted to get a different vehicle, they had overbooked the seats. 

The bus took 7 and a half hours to reach the point where we were dropped off, within that time the temperature had risen by about 20 degrees but they had still kept the heating on- it was a relief to be out of the bus. The guy on the bus said a few brief words in Spanish and then left, leaving the group looking bewildered. The only bit we caught was that we had to be back at the same place the following day by 3pm. It was only when we questioned someone working in the restaurant where we were dropped off that we found out that we had to go to the main plaza when we got to the town and would be met by our actual guide there.
We then had to walk the 11km along the railway tracks- the only way of reaching the town, Aguas Calientes. It took us about 2-2 and a half hours for us to walk it, every so often having to step to the side when the train passed (it was slow with a blaring horn and bright lights- impossible to miss).

Of course, the only way.. to walk along the train tracks. Generally not approved of in the UK

Views along the walk

What's that doing there?

When we arrived at the plaza, we found a chaotic mess of 10-15 guides shouting out names of people they were waiting for, and bunches of tourists without guides standing or sitting around. We approached each guide, showing them our reciept, but they all shook their heads.
We waited, and waited- every so often doing another round of the guides to check.
As we were waiting I made a friend, who had little to no eyesight and all he wanted to do was to climb on my lap to fall asleep. I wasn't going to say no to cuddles! 

Determined to be a lap dog

After 2 hours of waiting and still no guide, in desperation Jonno asked one of the other guides if we could use his phone to call the tour agency we booked with. After a few tries she answered and spoke with the guide whose phone it was. From what he explained, it seemed like she had messed up and actually not arranged a guide, and would sort something out last minute. It looked like we did have accommodation booked though, and we were taken to the hostel called 'Denny's House', although apparently there was more than one Denny's House- we were in a different one. We finally arrived at the right Denny's House- it was nicer than expected, a double room with a private bathroom- and the guy at the check in desk explained our guide would meet us at the hostel at 8pm. Just enough time to get some dinner.
The guide knocked on our door at 8.30, and said we needed to get to the plaza for 6.20am the following day. Because there wasn't time for him to get our passes we did not have the option of walking up as we had been originally told, we had to take the bus which was an extra $12 each one way. Even though I would have rather walked, it seemed like we didn't have much of an option.
Another early wake up, breakfast at 5.45am and we walked down to the plaza, half expecting to not find our guide.
He was there, and there was time for another quick cuddle with my doggy friend and to give him some breakfast snacks. We were given our tickets and shown where to buy the bus tickets.

Morning cuddles!

It had been raining heavily all night, and the rain still hadn't stopped by the time we got to Machu Picchu. We were directed to our English speaking guide, who congratulated the group on walking up 20 steps and told us the best places for selfies. Exactly as we had expected, most of the time we were in thick clouds, which gave Machu Picchu a mysterious feel but wasn't wonderful for the views. 

Perfect weather

Our first sights of Machu Picchu...somewhere...

As instructed, must take selfie here

The guide explained how Machu Picchu was discovered over 100 years ago, and originally looted until an archaeologist started its protection. He told us about how the Incas lived, making terraces to grow vegetables and accessing the spring water from the mountain. They believed in the Gods of nature- mainly the air (represented as a Condor bird), the land ( a Puma) and the underworld (a Snake). When disasters happened they would make sacrifices to the Gods- first animals then children. 

Here are some more misty pictures

If I were you, child, I would not sit on the human sacrifice table....

The tour took around 2 hours, and even though we could have spent another hour looking around Machu Picchu before walking back, we were wet and cold and decided a coffee stop in town was more preferable. And shortly after we left Machu Picchu, the rain stopped and it became a lovely sunny day.

A long walk back along the train tracks, another 7 hours in a bus and we were back in Cusco. (Even though I boarded the bus as 'Diana Fanacas'- assuming we didn't steal somebody else's seats!)

It wasn't the worst experience ever, and Machu Picchu itself was interesting, but the tour was so rushed and badly organised which meant we couldn't fully appreciate it. If we did it again, we wouldn't have booked a tour and just do it ourselves- we could have known where we were staying, taken more time in Machu Picchu and the town itself (it's actually a nice chilled town) and been able to go in better weather (apparently in this season it's pretty much always raining in the morning and sunny in the afternoon).
But we did it. We were pretty done with Cusco too, so even though we are sick of buses, onto another bus to Puno!