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Like I said I got out of hospital the day before the start of our G.A.P tour which was lucky. We had booked onto a 15 day tour going from La Paz to Lima involving Lake Titicaca and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, as well as various other bits and bobs. Somehow we managed to fluke having G.A.P's best voted tour guide, Manuel, who was an absolute legend and a more than competent tour leader. He knew everything about every aspect of the trip and was incredibly organized so we didn't have any confusion whatsoever. So we caught up with him and the rest of the people on the tour in our first meeting at a nice hotel in La Paz. Now we paid a fortune for this trip and a lot of the money must have gone on the hotels we stayed in, which to me is a bit unnecessary seeing as it caters mostly to young backpackers who don't mind staying in hostels and stuff which would make it cheaper. But anyway there were some older people on the tour and really, you're paying for the activities so whatever. So the group consisted of a good mix of backgrounds and generally a cool bunch of people that Manuel would later on the trip say was his best ever group in one of his drunken heart-spillings that he loved haha. There were a few girls and another lad from England, an Aussie chick, a Danish chick, a Swedish chick (I guess we could have done a lot worse ay?? haha), an older Polish lady from Wales and a lovely Irish couple who were honeymooning would you believe! Respect to them for not conforming to the stereotype of going on some beach holiday for their honeymoon. Everyone got along great which was a relief because a lot of the time, the people you are with can make or break your trip and you don't want to get stuck with douchbags. So along with Manuel at the helm, we really lucked out with a top group. So after the meet and greet and getting to know everyone over dinner the night before, the first day of the tour was actually free which was weird, so I finally managed to see some of La Paz, and of course buy more crap I didn't need at the markets. The first activity of the tour the following day was a trip to the Tiahuanaco ruins outside La Paz, a famous pre-Inca archaeological site. It consists of a lot of original and restored structures and statues as well as load of uncovered artifacts displayed in a nearby museum which gave insight into the life and traditions of the pre-Incas. It was pretty interesting and a good basis for the Inca Trail as well as all the other stuff we were going to learn about during the other little visits to other sites during the tour. But after that, the Inca stuff was put on hold for the trip to Lake Titicaca where we had a home stay on one of the islands. So after some long buses through the beautiful Bolivian landscape and a boat ride across the pristine mother of a lake, we arrived at the island to a friendly welcoming party of the local villagers. However, before we were taken off to our respective families, there was the small matter of a game of footy against the locals, as was the tradition of G.A.P tours. Now not only hadn't I exercised once during the 6 months of the trip so far apart from curling beer bottles to my face, but the altitude of the village was about 4000 metres. I mean I struggled to walk around in Potosi at that kind of height, and now I had to chase a football around. Needless to say I was a little apprehensive, and I guess also because I don't like people who I've only just met to see my vicious competitive side. Ah well. Of course the villagers were used to it so they had the energy but fortunately not the skill, but there was another tour group there with more blokes (douchbags at that) so they could use subs to keep them fresh. Whereas the girls in our group weren't so keen on playing so Manuel had to chip and we had no subs. Plus it was a one goal wins and winner stays on deal so we had to play quite a lot. To say it was knackering is a gross understatement. I mean at first we were fine, winning the first 3 games on the bounce, then after that our legs left us and we lost every game after that to the other tour group because they stayed on the whole time because they kept winning. To be honest though, however much I hate losing, that I was worried about making all too clear as I usually do, I was too monumentally shattered to give a s*** by the end I could barely walk. To top it all off, when me, Ben and Si (the other British lad) went to stay with our family, we were immediately accosted by dozens of local kids wanting to play games with us. Of course I couldn't say no to the cute little tikes, so we played a game where I launched a small ball as far as I could and they would spend ages going to fetch it and eventually bring it back to me whilst I rested. It was a fun game. Anyway the host family was really nice, I had a very long and heartwarming chat with the Dad about his life on the Island and his farm. His kids too were adorable, Laura and I can't remember the son's name. They were fascinated with us and always hung out with us trying to get us into some shenanigans it was pretty funny. That evening the Mom cooked us a fantastic and filling traditional meal where we chatted some more about how they cooked and prepared food and stuff. It seemed like a very simple yet fulfilling and comfortable life revolving mainly around providing the best opportunities for their children, a mentality I remember experiencing whilst staying with a family in Tanzania during my volunteer project. It was very humbling. Later that evening began the festivities where we had to dress up in traditional local attire involving big sombrero-like hats and colorful overalls, all covered in bright pom poms. It's funny how they look so normal in this stuff but we looked like complete idiots. So we went off to the local town hall and met up with the other people from the group and sat whilst the local adults and kids performed dances for us. Then of course we had to get up and get involved which was pretty funny, dancing about in these clothes trying not to make fools of ourselves in front of the villagers, but it was all good fun. So after a much needed good nights sleep after a long and eventful day, we packed up our stuff the morning after and said an emotional goodbye to our host families as we got back on the boat to visit the floating islands. Now I wasn't sure what that meant as the time, but they are absolutely incredible. They are these series of tiny islands no bigger than your back garden, made entirely out of straw! They are completely afloat so are anchored into the water bed as not to drift away in winds and they house a handful of straw huts that no more than about 20 locals live in per island. It was like nothing I have ever seen before it was amazing. They explained to us how they build the islands and survive off fishing and how their community functions and it was fascinating, like a completely different world. I mean these people are born and spend most of their lives on the same 500 odd square feet of straw and wouldn't dream of going on land, it's crazy, just an incomprehensible and age old mentality. Needless to say we were all a bit shell-shocked after that gem of a visit and the G.A.P tour started to become more than worth the money in being nowhere near as over-touristy as I thought. So after an incredibly insightful and humbling couple of days at Lake Titicaca, it was back on dry land and off to the eagerly anticipated travelling hotspot of Peru and the old capital of the Incan empire, Cusco!
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