coroico, bolivia

Buses from La Paz to Coroico leave from its own bus terminal, and are not more than minibuses. They leave when the bus is full, which means you can get lucky or not. My luck wasn’t too bad and the bus filled up quickly. The bus ride itself took a little more than three hours, and ended close to the place where we ended after the Death Road (fortunately buses usually take the new road, and leave the actual Death Road alone). Coroico is a small town, in subtropical climate. It’s quite touristic and there is a bunch of day tours you can do from there. I found a nice hostel right at the main square and after arriving I just walked around for a little bit. I felt a little alone at that time, especially after being a lot by myself in La Paz, and that’s not always easy. But I still had a nice afternoon, and after dinner I went to the main square where a lot of people were hanging out. There I ran into my roommate from the hostel and we talked and watched some Argentinians dance – it was like a nice summer vacation, and Argentinians have a culture of music and dancing, so they knew what they were doing. It was great and I felt good not spending the night in my bed with a book.
On the next day I got up early and went for a walk to some waterfalls. It was impressive how much my surroundings had changed and I was fascinated my all the banana trees and other tropical plants. One of the waterfalls was really nice and I spent some time there, feet in the cold water, drawing.
After I got back, I finally bought my bus ticket to Rurrenabaque. It felt like it took me forever to do that, also because I was a little scared of that bus ride after some things I’ve heard. But when I had the ticket I felt good, and I was looking forward to the journey, that might or might not be an adventure.
I left around noon the next day, so there was not much to do before that. I went to a mirador and tried to find something to eat. Since it was early that wasn’t easy, and so I ended up eating in the street, which I actually enjoyed a lot more than eating in a restaurant.
To get to the bus, I had to take a minibus to another place first, and then wait there for the bus coming through from La Paz. I usually don’t have a problem with waiting, and I also met some other people who went the same way, but after the bus didn’t show up after some hours I got a little nervous. I had a paper with the name of the driver and the number of the license plate, but I didn’t really trust that information. The other people left after a while, because they went with another bus company and their bus had actually showed up, while I was still waiting. Finally, after 5 hours, I found the right bus and the adventure could begin.
The bus was just a normal bus, not too comfortable but it could have been worse. The bigger problem for me was the road – nothing less than the Death Road, but on a bus it’s way scarier. There were quite a few moments, when the tire was not more than half a meter from the edge where landslides had gone down not long ago, or we had to pass a truck that was going the other direction, when I thought, that that was it. Survival chances wouldn’t have been too high..
After a while I forced myself to sleep, so I would see what was going on anymore. And when I woke up a little later, we were in a city, taking a break and loading some (a lot..) more stuff on the bus, and people told me, that the road would be flat from now on. Flat – at least the landscape was flat. The road wasn’t. From time to time I felt like I was on a boat, the bus swinging from one side to another. But it was still way better than looking down a 200m-abyss and fortunately we didn’t get stuck anywhere and made it to Rurrenabaque almost in time.
I actually really enjoyed the last part of the trip, looking out the window and finding myself in a complete different landscape.
I had arrived in the Bolivian Amazon.

la paz, bolivia

I arrived in La Paz after a quite short busride from Copacabana. I was planning on couchsurfing there, but I`d booked a hostel the first night to get settled and orientated. And I also needed to do some shopping.

La Paz is a big city, and it was quite a contrast to the quiet Isla del Sol. But for being a big city, it was a nice one. Crowded, sizzling and with steep streets, but also a lot of street art, markets and food. Even though I’m usually not a fan of big cities, I kinda liked it - it just seemed to have good spirits and I really enjoyed the art.

The hostel was big, but nice, and I spent my night there, and also the next day with some interesting converstaions. And I got my shopping done – after getting lost in the endless market streets of La Paz. It was incredible. Cars were trying to squeeze through the streets, that were full of stands and people and behind every corner I found myself in a different “department”. From the toothbrush-street to the clothing-street to the fruit-street to the paint-street. I spent several hours just walking around, and after a while I had completely lost orientation. In the evening I got picked up by my host, we grabbed something to eat and I got to my new home for the next couple of days.

On the next day I still had to do some things, immigration office, post office, and stuff like that, and in the afternoon I ended up going to another couchsurfer’s house. After an amazing lunch, I decided to do some sightseeing with a German couchsurfer and visit the Valle de la Luna, an interesting landscape formation close to La Paz. It was nice to speak some German again and it also felt good to be doing and seeing something. In the evening I went back to my host’s house, and I was really glad I found my way up there with the minibus (the same thing as a colectivo in peru) at night.

Since it was time for me to be a bit touristy (just have to be that every once in a while), I went for a city walking tour the next day. I had heard from several people that it was good, and since my host had to work a lot, I was glad about being able to keep myself occupied. We were a big group and the tour took about 2 ½ hours. We started off at the San Pedro prison, went through some food market streets to the Witches Market, had some Bolivian history lessons at the Plaza Murillo and ended in a Hotel with a great view over the city. The tour was definitely interesting, and it was cool to learn some stuff about the city and the culture. For example, why they sell lama fetuses. Or, why the cholitas waer 100 layers of skirts.

After the tour I was by myself again and wandered around the streets. I also went back to a little art gallery, that I had found on my first day in La Paz, which showed art from a local Aymara artist. I walked through it and afterwards I talked a little to the guy there and he explained me some of the meanings of the paintings. That was really interesting, and I tried to take in as much as possible with my memory and Spanish skills (which are getting better and better ). Later I went to a mirador and for dinner with my host.

On that day I also finally made the decision that I would bike down the Death Road, and so I was ready to go the day after.

I got up early in the morning, and my host dropped me off at the meeting point. There was already a bunch of people and all of them seemed nice. We got on the bus, and after a flat tire and an hour of driving, we got to the starting point of the Death Road. We poured some 96% alcohol on the ground, our front wheels and took a zip, so Pachamama (the mother Earth) would give us safety on our way down. The first part of our biking was on a paved road, to get used to the bikes. It was pretty cold up there, but the view was great and I enjoyed being on a bike. The second part was the actual “Death Road” – a narrow dirt road, with a nice edge on the side. I didn’t even want to look down, and was happy that the rocks on the road needed my attention. After I got a little used to the mountainbike thing, and the fact that we were supposed to stay on the left side, it was a lot of fun. We made a few stops where our guide explained some dangerous or famous parts, went underneath waterfalls and through rivers, and the further down we got, the hotter it got. At the end everybody had taken their layers off and from the cold of the mountains we had gotten into the hot humidity of the subtropical zone. We ended our trip in a small restaurant next to a river, where we had lunch before getting on the bus back to La Paz. I was tired and my wrist hurt, but I still let myself get talked into drinking a bit. That bit turned into a little more, and by the time we got back, most of us were a little more than tipsy. So we decided to go to a bar, and…then I woke up the next day at 5pm ;).

I didn’t do much that day, just some laundry and that was pretty much it. In the evening I went with my host to dance. Well, I didn’t dance but I enjoyed watching the group of Bolivians dancing a traditional dance in a public place. Was pretty cool.

After my glorious hangover-day, it was time to do some research on how I should continue my travels. There were a lot of options and considerations, and I spent quite some time going from travel agency to travel agency to gather information. But what really helped me make up my mind was talking to a friend, who had come the way I was going, and so I decided to go to Coroico and take a bus to the Amazon town Rurrenabaque from there. But having made that decision didn’t mean it was time to go yet. For some reason La Paz had kinda caught me and I had a hard time getting away from it. I went out on Friday night with my host, and spent a lot of lazy time at the house.

On Sunday I finally managed it to go the huge black market in El Alto, kind of a part of La Paz and also kind of its own city, which transforms into nothing but market every Thursday and Sunday. I can’t think of anything you couldn’t buy there, and it was definitely good that I didn’t need anything and my backpack was full. That day I also dared to get a new haircut for the outrageous price of 15 Bolivianos (1,50€), and I was surprised that it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would. By then I had gotten quite used to La Paz, the people there and also the house I lived in. I had cooked some Austrian food for my host’s family and my backpack had become part of the inventory in the living room.

But it was more than time for me to leave, and I was planning on getting out and taking a bus to Coroico on Monday. When I woke up in the morning, things packed and ready to go, my host told me that the bus drivers were striking and he wasn’t sure if there were any buses leaving the city. That fact didn’t really make my day, but it gave me the chance to meet up with a friend that I had met in Huaraz a couple weeks earlier. Surprisingly we found each other in the crowd of protesting bus drivers in the streets, and then went out for lunch and a little bit of shopping again. It felt good to have someone to talk to ( I had gotten a little lonely during the last days), and especially being able to speak something else than Spanish again.

I feel like I’m learning a lot of Spanish now, and I’m starting to become more confident about it, but it can also be very exhausting when you always have to spend a lot of energy to express yourself. Later we met up with another friend of hers, and went to a traditional bar/restaurant for some beers. It was amazing how drunk all the men (there were only men in there) were, even though it was no later than 5 pm, but I still kinda enjoyed the place and the company. And then, the next day, I finally made it out of La Paz, and just being on a bus with my backpack again (well, the backpack was on the roof of the bus, but anyways), and to be going somewhere made me feel better.

Off to a new place, and this time also a new climate.

copacabana & isla del sol, bolivia

Getting away from Cusco was harder than it should`ve been. Apparently we were to late for the direct bus, so the guy from the tour agency tried to organize an alternative, since Jakob and I didn`t want to stay in Cusco for another night.

After discussing for a while, he found a bus - cheaper but we also had more stops.

And it turned out to be the worst bus ride I`ve had until now. We were by far the only gringos on the bus and it did exactly what should be avoided on night buses - it stopped at any random place to let people get on or off the bus. All the time I had nightmares of arriving and all my stuff being gone.

But we were lucky and arrived in Juliaca early in the morning with our backpacks still on the bus.
From there we had to take a colectivo to Puno and then another bus which would take us across the Bolivian border to Copacabana.

We didn`t have to wait long and also the border crossing went by without problems. And soon we got to the nice little town of Copacabana, which lies right at the shore of the beautiful Lago Titicaca. It`s a very touristic town, but it has lots of nice restaurants and for me being close to water is always great.

We stayed in Copa for one night, before leaving to the Isla del Sol early next morning.

There we decided to be crazy people, and walked with our backpacks all the way from the southern part of the island to the northern - right through the mountains, tipping altitudes of 4100 msnm. That was exhausting, but the trail was just amazing and it felt really good having achieved something like that.

But we decided not to camp, and luckily we found a refugio, that was just paradise for me. On an island, with a great view, supe rnice owners and a fireplace kitchen with a bunch of cuys behind it - that`s also why I decided to stay there for a couple of days. Jakob left the next day, so after that I also got my own room and just enjoyed some quiet days in nature.
I went for walks, had time to read my book, and also drank some wine with a bunch of Argentinian guys. I also met some nice Brazilians and all in all I had a great time at the island (it was also awesome that there was no internet connection ;))

Only one day wasn`t that good, because I got pretty sick. So I had to stay in bed all day, in a feverish state of half sleeping, and was really glad when the grandma from the refugio helped me out a little and gave me some tea, a massage and some herbs for my head. She didn`t really speak Spanish and knew a lot about the herbs growing around - she reminded me a little of a witch, and the herbs she gave me really hepled :)

I left the beautiful island after a couple of days, after I felt that there was nothing to do for me there anymore.

cusco & machu picchu, peru

So, my first stop after leaving Huaraz was Cusco.

I arrived there on the 31st of December after two long busrides, and that`s also why I was really tired and went to sleep for some time after arriving.

When I woke up the New Year`s Eve party in the hostel had already started and I met up with Maria and Gerhard. Unfortunately they were tired from their trip to Machu Picchu and also a little sick. So I celebrated New Year`s with a Peruvian (meeting Kato in the stuffed Plaza de Armas didn`t work out..) and went to bed not too late.

But the party in Cusco was crazy - the streets, and especially the main square, where full of people and fireworks.

On the next day I tried to organize my trip to Machu Picchu. I decided to go with a German guy, who I had met in the hostel, and together we went to the ticket office - which was closed because the first on January is a holiday.
 But we found a travel agency through which we could not only buy the bus tickets to Hidroelectrico but also the tickets for Machu Picchu.

So we could leave the next day in the morning. Of course the bus was late, but after a while we started our 6-hours ride.

The landscape was beautiful, but if I would`ve known what the road would be like I would have thought about taking the bus twice. It was a dirt road and next to it an abyss of many, many meters. I was actually really scared, but also glad that it didn`t rain.

From Hidroelectrico it was a 3-hours walk to the little town Aguas Calientes. It took us along the trainline and the vegetaion started to be a bit more jungle-like and I saw lots of cool plants. I really enjoyed the walk, but was also pretty happy when we finally arrived in Aguas Calientes.

Since it`s a small town it wasn`t too hard to find our hostel, which was a pretty awesome place with lots of art stuff around. We were tired, so we only went to eat and then to sleep.

The day we went to Machu Picchu, we got up at 4 in the morning (surprisingly the hostel served breakfast from 4:30), packed some snacks and then started to walk. It`s a short walk until you reach the stairs that take you up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. We had a little bad luck with the weather (fog and rain, yay!) and the stairs were super exhausting.

But we made it. At the entrace there were tons of tourists, and in the chaos I unfortunateky missed it to get a map of the area. So we just walked around, and sometimes you were even able to see something through the fog. But that also made the mountains around look absolutely magical and surreal. And of course, Machu Picchu itself was quite impressive too.
We also had tickets to the Machu Picchu Mountain, but because of the fog and the exhausting walk that it would have been, we didn`t go up there.

After some time we decided to go back down to Aguas Calientes and spend the rest of the day in the hostel or around town.

I had time to organize some pictures and again, we went to bed pretty early because all the hiking and sightseeing had made us really tired. And on the next day we had to go back to the bus, so we had another 3 hours of walking in front of us.

In the morning we split up, because I didn`t want to rush and I knew my travling partner would walk faster than me. So I left some time earlier than him, and enjoyed the amazing landscape and flora.

After we survived the chaos at the bus stop, we were already on our way back to Cusco - another 6 hours on that scary road, where you could now see quite a bunch of rocks that fell off the day before. And we also passed an accident, where a car just fell off the road and could be seen far below...

But we also survived that, and back in Cusco we had a little time before our bus to Copacabana, Bolivia left.