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It seems like quite a while since I last wrote, so let me tell you about what?s been going on this past week or so: we finished the first part of the tour late last week in La Paz, after our stay on an island called Amantani?on Lake Titicaca,?just off Puno.?This was quite an experience. For one thing, some kind of flu-like virus, only really?now subsiding, had begun to take hold of a few of us, me included, and secondly, there was the?altitude, to whch I still appeared not to have adjusted, making a football game with the the locals quite a challenge....how we won that one, I?m not entirely sure! After we?d had dinner in our pairs with our families (who, not considering themselves?part of the Peruvian mainstream, spoke a language called Quechua?in favour of Spanish which was a communicative?challenge in itself!),?we enjoyed a night of traditional Peruvian dancing. On our way back to Puno the next day, we visited the Floating Islands, whose grounds is completely covered in what I can only describe as hay!
After this, we were off to our second country of the tour, travelling on a couple of buses and a ferry to La Paz, Bolivia, which perhaps has the most breathtaking backdrop of all the cities we?ve stayed - it?s a bussling and busy city, crowded with people and motor vehicles going this way and that, and is surrounded by mountains on every side, so the city itself is kinda like a valley. Having missed out through illness on the Cuzco market,?Jenny, Katie, Tess and I?were relieved to find that everything we?d seen there could be found and bought here, and sometimes at half the price to boot! Needless to say, my family will not be disappointed by what they receive...and they?ll never know I only spent pennies!
Sadly, however, La Paz is where we would lose Jen, Jenny, Sue and Colleen, who were all headed home, but gain Kate, who?s from Australia, but has an English accent owing to her having lived there. Of course, another big blow inevitably came when we said goodbye to Barbara, our tour leader, who, considering it was her first ever solo GAP tour, did splendidly for us, every hotel much more luxurious than expected and every transfer right on time to pick us up and take us to our next port of call. At the fairwell meal, a good time was had by all with yet more dancing - I don?t understand why everyone keeps volunteering me though! Barbara, you will be missed...
Our tour leader for La Paz to Rio de Janeiro is a Canadian man called Bryan. Having known him only for a short while, he seems?quite the opposite to his predecessor, adopting a relaxed approach to our travelling arrangements. Since beginning this half of our journeys, we?ve already spent two night amongst the Salt Flats in a river which dried up 8000 years ago, and the montains of Southern Bolivia, getting towards the Chilean border. This is where we have arrived back from just now.
However, there appears not to be much time to dwell upon the sights and sounds of our latest experiences as we?re off tomorrow morning to the highest city of its size, Potosi, which stands at 4070 metres. Tonight, having just found out Real Madrid have won the Spanish Championship - we?ve been quite remote - I?m off celebrating with Tess, whose Spanish language skills are second to none....shame she can?t play Hangman! Peace out...
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