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So after the Inca trail we spent a few days in Cuzco chilling out before heading to Puno, on the side of Lake Titicaca for some carnival whereby the streets are filled with locals in colourful dress and play the same repetative tune on screetchy recorders right into the night. Wonderful for a bout half an hour but not so great when you can still hear the dam tune playing from outside your hotel window into the wee hours! We also visited a floating island made of reeds, where the locals build with, feed on and generally worship reeds. Beautiful place, if not a little bizzare!
We then moved onto Capacabana, stil lon the side of Lake Titicaca, but in Bolivia. Hear we met 2 other couples our age who we have been travelling with ever since. We stayed here for a few days, making the most of the 66p 1 litre bottles of vodka a chilled out by the lake, an area which has been nominated for one of the next 7 natural wonders of the world.
Then onto La Paz where we spent a few days before heading down to Southern Bolivia to see the salt flats. Here we hired a jeep and driver/guide/cook who did none of the above. The 4x4 was unraodworthy to any standards (ie. serious lack of tread which posed a few problems on crossing the Andean Plateau, involving sand dunes and seriously rocky terrain. Therefore, we travelled twice as slow as everyone else and had to get up twice as early as everyone else and were back twice as late as everyone else, which wasn´t aided by the fact we had to get out a push on numerous accassions and managed to aquire 2 burst tires, the spare having exactly zero tread, and eventually having to borrow a tyre, rather larger than the other three on the vehicle and completing the tour lopsided! The scenery was absolutely breathtaking but unfortunately the guide could not only not speak Engliish, but seemed to seriously lack any Spanish too. The most we got out of him was "there are lots of rocks" (pretty apparent) and that "a Salar is a salt plane but that this Salar is made of Borak". Anyway, the trip was great fun as we were travelling with another English couple our age and one other guy a year or 2 older than us and 2 very grumpy Germans. Despite the VERY basic living the conditions the scenery, which involved the salt flats, geezers, a blood red and deep green lake, thousands of flamingos and a bath in natural hot springs at 7am after being unable to wash for 3 days, watching the sun rise over a beautiful lake and flamingos paddling in the foreground. Absolutely the most heavenly experience ever. The only thing that dampered the last day was having Matt´s bag stolen by 2 guys who used a diversionary tactic at the bus station before our 12hour bus journey back to La Paz and losing all the photos. Gutting but nonetheless they didn´t get his passport or money so we are greatful for that.
So back in La Paz now and going to try to get on the jungle tour again tomorrow providing the weather holds out.
Lots of love xxxxx
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