30th Oct - La Paz to Rio

Got up late everything hurts especially my bottom - I havent' been on a bike in so long and they make the saddles out of razor blades (I'm sure). But we are totally buzzing at the fact we did it. Made it all the way down the 64 km without mishap.
Now all we have to do today is get to Rio. The taxi to the airport was interesting since we took the scenic route or rather unscenic route through the shanty towns clinging to the steep sides of the cliffs surrounding La Paz.
Some of the views of the Andies which La Paz is nestled in were amazing. Huge snow covered peaks on all sides, and the taxi driver was very happy to stop and let us take photos and even gave us a running commentary on the names and history of the places.
The take off was probably one of the most spectacular I've ever encountered, the run way is on a plateaux on the top of one of the steep sides and only seconds after take off the ground disappears at the cliffs and La Paz comes into view. The ground seems to plummet away from you in a really surreal way with the city opening up before you - quite spectacular. We only had the huge peaks to climb over now which seemed to be looking pretty damned close but the plane got over them and surprisingly soon we were out of the Andies and pristine rain forest lay miles before us in a beautiful green blanket.

We arrived in Rio pretty late but could feel the heat already. The hostel was like a prison coved in fencing and cameras. We had to prove our identity just to get in. Unfortunately we then had a battle with the receptionist over our room which we won thankfully and collapsed around 2am - not an auspiscious start to Brasil.

29th Oct - Most Dangerous Road in the World

We were picked up at 7:30 to be driven out of La Paz to 4700m up the Andies to our starting point. Our starting point for mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World' .
It's called the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World' because statistically it has more accidents and deaths on it than any other road in the world.

Question - Why are we mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World'.
Answer - I have no idea!

We are first introduced to our bike which in my case is really necessary as I've not cycled a push bike for 15 years, I've never been on a bike with gears and the last but one time I was on a bike I fell off and landed in hospital.

Question - Why am I mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World'.
Answer - I have absolutely no idea!

The first section of the ride was fairly easy, even if totally freezing. At 4700m it's snowing in places and only 5 degrees at best. Luckily the road is quite good, mostly downhill and not too busy. There is a small uphill section which I admit to pushing the bike up.

The second section is the part called the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World' - it's a single track road, unpaved and the main route for trucks from the jungle at the bottom of the mountain to reach La Paz with fruit and veg from the amazon. Did I also mention that there are up to 500m drops at one side of the road. Did I also mention that's the side of the road we have to cycle on, cos even though that's the left side and they drive on the right over here, they change that for this road so that the guys going down have a better view of the edge - sick eh!

Question - Why am I mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World'.
Answer - I have absolutely completely no idea - must have gone mad somewhere along the way!

Your concentrating so hard on staying on the bike cos the road is so rough and your arms are rigid holding on, you really don't notice the 500m drops to your left much, or the massive trucks careering towards you much - honest. Our first and thankfully only casulty was near the top where a guy got a puncture on a bend, going too fast and came off and broke his collar bone. The guides managed the situation really well and got him off to hospital ASAP. Gravity Assisted (the tour company) are very quick to tell us they've had no deaths on the road in the seven years they've been in operation - reassuring!

In a couple of places we have to cycle through water falls which is quite cool - especially as the water is freezing but since we're decending into the jungle right down to 1100m it's getting really hot and humid.

At one of the many stopping points the guide pointed out a memorial at the cliff edge. This is a memorial to half a dozen politicians who the military thought would win an election against them so threw them over the edge. We wanted to hurry past that particular spot just in case there were any re-enactments.

Question - Why am I mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World'.
Answer - Get the men with white coats ready if I survie this!

The last section takes us through two rivers, one which I nearly come off in, but manage to stop in time and spare my dignity - one of the 5 guides was taking photos and was willing me to fall in.

At the end of the 64km road (yes that's right sixty four kilometers) a frozen cold beer awaited. We were then taken to a beautiful place for hot showers a swim and dinner sitting in the jungle.

We were all totally buzzing having made it to the bottom with no misshaps.

Thankfully us tourists were driven back to La Paz by bus, however two of the local guides cycled back up the mountain as we dined and we only met them over half way up. Like cycling 64 km down the side of a really really really steep mountain wasn't tiring enough they cycled back up. It would have taken me days to walk up it never mind cycle.

The journey back up was actually scarier than the cycle down. On a bike you don't realise just how narrow the road is in places, and as you're concentrating on cycling you really don't notice the massive drops, the over turned lorries (the ones that went off road today) or the hundreds of crosses and shrines to all the people who have died along the way.

Feeling good we watched the sun setting over the Andies and made our way back to La Paz feeling good but totally knackered and my bottom starting to hurt somewhat cronic.

Question - Why am I mountain biking down the 'Most Dangerous Road in the World'.
Answer - It was a totally scary, totally mad, totally envigorating a total blast!

Question - would I do it again?
Answer - No - my bottom hurts too much!

28th Oct - La Paz

We wandered the streets even hiking up the side streets as a sort of punishment for our nice hotel. We wandered by the witches market with it's shrunken heads and dried chicken and other actually wierd and wonderful stuff which I have no idea what it was.
We did the usual church things and the main cathedral was actually very nice. No grusome statues of Christ on the Cross and no Inca Gold. It was really understated and calm and in South America!
LA Paz is a really strange city with a mix of people in western and local dress. A woman with bowler hat quite happily sitting besdie a woman in a suit. I don't think we've seen such a mad clash of cultures as in La Paz. Most other large citys have a few traditionally dressed people but they are usually there selling tat to tourists. Surrounding us on all sides are the mountains, snow capped and massive a constant reminder of the altitude, which we kept telling ourselves was the reason we were so tired and out of breath.
Early to bed for tomorrows fantastic adventure!

27th Oct - Going to La Paz

Getting onto the bus seemed to be one of the most difficult things, they sold more ticket than they had seats on the small bus and a couple of guys ended up sitting up beside the driver on make shift seats. Thankfully only his wife and their daughter was sharing the drivers cabin so no overcrowding then! Mairi and I sat outside waiting to get on the bus musing over the state of the tread on the tyres or rather complete lack of tread on the tyres. Luckily the front tyre was fairing a bit better and although would have failed every test in Scotland did have more tread than all the others put together. So when there was a loud bang, a swerve and a few screams as we careered round a corner we were sure one of the bare tyres was finally dead. Not so - the dead tyre was actually the front one with the tread. The tyre they replaced it with was so badly worn it actually had a gash in it.
The driver was quite heroic in changing the tyre and obviously used to such circumstances. He was really great at choosing rocks to hold the bus up while he changed the tyre - the jack not being up to much.
The rest of our journey was quite quiet, only the occasional mutterings of pray could be heard.
There was almost a cheer on arrival in La Paz and everybody was very thankful to be getting off the bus.
La Paz is a really wierd city right in the middle of a valley. You arrive high up in the valley and make your way down into the city. The streets of the city climbing the valley on all sides from a central street. Thankfully our hotel was on that central street and we didn't have to hike up the mad inclines which take everybodies breath away.
Somwhow I had managed to book us into a really posh hotel and we bedded down for the night all cosy and warm fighting off nightmares of buses.

24-26th Copacobana

Not not of the Barry Manilow fame but Copacabana a wee town on Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. The border crossing was uneventful and fairly normal. The town looked a bit run down but our hostal was right at the lake side and really nice and really really cheap. We wandered up to the main square and the cathedral where a bunch of locals were going inside. We joined them, the singing was bizzare, a sort of high pitched, childlike, verse that sound almost eastern. Yesterday in Amantani Normans mother had spoken to another local woman and the language sounded really easteren almost chineese but then that`s the origins of the people and therefore the language. It`s amazing that after all this time is still sounds similar.
Tomar wandered into the church and joined us asking who was singing - I told him I thought it was a tape, only then all the people started to leave the church and all the ladies were singing this high pitched chant - wierd.
We followed them outside to the blessing of the cars ceremony which takes palce each day in Copacabana. The local priest in full brown Fransiscan robes prays at each car then splashed holy water from a bucket, usings a red and white flower on the owners, the family and the car. Whats a bit worrying is the bonnets are raised and the priest splashed holy water inside the engine!
Each of the cars are covered in beautiful flowers and after the priest has finished the owners crack open a beer and have a drink and give the pachamama a drink too. All very strange.
In keeping with the religious theme we do the walk up the main hill in Copacabana of the Stations of the Cross. The hill is really steep and pretty hard going especially at this altitute (at least thats my exucse). At the top of this huge religious Icon are people selling toy cars and a couple of old drunk blokes who start to descend the hill but can't actually walk and fall over. I watch as one tried to pull the other up to no avail so finally lies down beside him on the side of the hill and they both have a wee snooze. What a way to spend the day.
That night we had dinner in a nice wee place then retired to the only bar in town (well almost) and met up with a few people who had been on our tours for the last few days, had a few drinks and put the world to right.
Next day we took the slowest boat in the world over to Isla del Sol, where the whole Inca empire began. The fact that we could have rowed the boat faster didn't actually blight the beautiful scenery of Lake Titicaca but then again it may have been the petorl fuel.
Arriving in Isla del Sol a local met the boat and took us to the museum and to the first Inca sites which he explained. He explained in Spanish and spoke no English but still expected paying for his troubles, like the rest of his explanations we said we didn't understand and badly gave him nothing. He had taken us past a couple of ruins which were very small and on no grand scale.
We then went on our main expedition of Isla del Sol to walk the 3 hours to the other side of the island. Some of the walk was pretty steep and at nearly 4000m it was pretty hard in places. But the views of the lake and main land Peru and Bolivia were amazing. The air is so clear and thin the sun is so bright everything is crystal clear. The sea is the most fantastic blue colour it's really beautiful. At the end of the walk refreshments were to be found in the small village which included a well earned beer. Back on the slow boat thankfully from the near side of the island we reached Copacabana in time for dinner and more drinks in the bar with all our new found friends.
The route from Cusco to La Paz is filled with the same faces which is quite nice after 3 months on the road giving Copacabana a kind of homely feel, you almost feel as though you know the place and everybody in it - wierd.

22nd - 23rd Oct - Lake Titicaca

Our first stop is at the Uros Islands out in the bay of Puno on Lake Titicaca. They are famous as the reed islands as the locals pick the local reeds to make their islands, boats, houses and tat for tourists. They even eat the reeds which we were offered and taste like nothing really - just very watery - can`t see it becoming a delicacy anywhere else.
The islands are really strange, with every foot step you`re worried you`ll fall through into the water. The second island we visited, by a reed boat, was really large and had numerous building on it including a phone box - made out of reeds ofcourse - but with a satelite phone inside it. Mairi took a photo of me with a local lady with her bowler hat on - I love them - how they manage to keep them on their heads I`ll never know, cos they look at least 4 sizes to small.
A few hours cruising across the lake to Amantani a real Island in the middle of the massive lake. Lake Titcaca is the highest navigable lake in the world and is massive. It`s at 3820 meters above sea level and as the air is so thin it`s actually really hot and sunny and the water is an amazing blue colour - absolutely beautiful.
We are met at the island by a bunch of local ladies in full local costume. We are going to be staying with one of them for the night - no idea what to expect but I hoped we weren`t getting the little old lady with no teeth! Luckily a nice young girl came forward - Norma - and was going to be our hostess for the night.
With little introduction we followed her back to her house up hill all the way, which at this altitude is not easy and we are quickly out of breath - not so Norma - she`s used to this. But she stops to let us catch our breath while she knits waiting. The woman carry knitting with them at all times either knitting something or spinning the wool.
At the house we shown into a lovely room with 3 beds, a table, a couple of chairs and a candle in it - no electricity. Norma leaves us to get unpacked - we only brought an overnight bag anyway so not really much to unpack. Norma disapeared and after a while, feeling a bit abandoned I thought I would go to the toilet and have a scout around. The toilet was in an orange tin box outside the cottage. A bucket of water outside for flushing. It was really clean and nicely kept - we did laugh at the thought of us going in the dark though.
Norma called us for lunch, first a really nice veggie soup with tiny maize in it then rice, chips and fried cheese washed down with mint tea - all served in the kitchen which had an open fireplace which Norma squatted infront to cook. The mint tea is supposed to be good for altitude we drank it cos it tasted fine. At lunch in our limited Spanish we were able to ascertain, Norma was 23, unmarried with a 5 year old boy called William. She lived with her parents who were off working in the fields.
After lunch we went to met up with the rest of the group to walk to the top of the island to see an Inca ruin, Norma gave us a couple of knitted hats which we weren`t sure if we were to buy so thanked her and took them. The meeting point was a football pitch and boys being boys there was an impromptu game of footie, Peru versus the world. We cheered on Peru cos it was only the guide and a few local boys who ran rings round the breathless world. I suppose they do have an excuse for being thrashed by kids the altitude and all.
The guide took us along an old path, stopping often to let us breathe and to tell us the history of the islands. The Incas ideas about respect for the earth (the Pachamama) are really nice - even I could follow a religion like that. The guides ancestors were all shamen and he too could one day follow their path and find out all the secrets. I would be dying to know and have signed up straight away. Normas hats now came in very useful as, at this altitide, in the evening, it was fairly cold. The Inka ruin at the top wasn`t very impressive but the sunset over the lake was amazing. The sky turned from blue to orange, red and yellow with purple and grey rays dancing between the clouds. A lightning storm broke out in the distance, massive silver strands illuminating the sky it was all quite magical and romantic, watching with the lovely Israli boy Tomar, unfortunately both Mairi and I thought this!
The only other people joining us for the sunset were three little girls trying to sell us tat. When they wouldn`t go away and we wouldn`t buy anything, one of them started to reapeat what can only be described as a chant. So Mairi chanted back in her best Gaelic acent, a poem about witches. It certainly did the trick and the three of them fled scared for their lives.
Back at the house Normas mother and son fed us more soup and rice and veg - which was all very tasty and really apreciated.
After dinner Norma and her mother arrived with local costume in hand and dressed us for the local dance! We started with a white shirt with embroidery, then a massive underskirt (mine dark green with light green embroidery, Mairis orange), a top skirt with load of material (both purple) and a tightly tied colourful large belt. To finsh off the ensemble we wore a black shawl over our heads and off to the dance. Thankfully most of the other tourists were dressed equally as nice and we all danced local dances for the evening. The locals really put a lot of time into it and each local lady got her guests up to dance. Some of the local children also get you up to dance and I danced with a rather sweaty dirty wee boy of nine. I know I alway say I like them young but that was a bit much.
Funnily all the locals sat at one side and the tourists at the other. A woman in the corner sold drinks all the tourists had beer and the locals would only accept a coke or other soft drink. We danced nearly every dance but a couple of the undressed tourists declined even from dancing - why bother coming to a place like this if your not going to get involved - I thought it was rude.
We both slept like logs after the dance and Norma served us a sort of deep fried bread with mint tea for breakfast which was fab.
We thanked her and her parents for their hospitality and gave her money for the hats which we wanted to keep as she had knitted them and a bar of chocolate which they shared between them and daddy eat quickly. We then went back to the boat kissing Norma, William and the parents and wishing them farewell. We got Norma to teach us a bit of Quetchuan (their local language) to say bye to her parents and they seemed delighted with it.

Back on the boat everybody totally happy with their stay we motored for another few hours to Taquile and an hours hike to the main town. The scenery was amazing, the road winding around the island overlooking beautiful bays with bright blue and green water lapping at the shore line. We had dinner in a wee restaurant over looking the sea. Mairi got stung by a bee - shes OK - but we were all a bit worried that she would have an allergic reation and we were in the middle of no where.
We descended back to the boat via Inca steps - they do love all this climbing malarky - wheres the ancient people who like the flat!
Back in Puno really happy with our wee trip.

21th Oct - Tour to Puno

Instead of just getting the bus to Puno at lake titcaca which takes hours we got a tour which stops along the way at some historic and interesting sites.
The first was a church known as the Sistine Chapel of South America cos its painted all over. Unfortunately it`s in a bit of a state and in desperate need of repair but they are trying slowly. This church is another example of the excesses of the Catholica churchs arrival in South America. More gold alters all stolen from the Incas of course.
We then stopped at Racqui a sites used before and by the Incas. It`s really impressive as all the buildings are up to 3 meters tall and a lot of it is still standing. Much of the walls are adobe so are in a less pristine state than the stone walls but you can use your imagination - I had Brad Pitt in the middle of it all - Oh my imagination.
We stopped to see some llamas, alpacas and other wierd and wonderful cameloids local to the area. They are really soft and fluffy and I could easily have taken one home but for the shortage of suitcase space.
We had a buffet lunch in a wee off road town which wasn´t as impressive as the buffet we declined the other day - but enough to keep us from starving.
We stopped to take photos of the snow capped peaks of the Andies at the highest pass on the bus journey at 4700m above sea level. Thankfully we only got on and off the bus and didn`t do any exercise otherwise we would have been knackered.
Then onto Puccara a once massive Pre Inca site on the expansive altiplano. We didn`t go into the actual site cos it really is a ruin but were taken around the museum which has some sculptures and objects from the site. Many of the statues were of decapitated bodies cos the Puccarans chopped off their enemies and sometimes own peoples heads as an offereing to the gods. Archieologists now also think they eat them as well - nice. The most interesting bojects for me were massive sculptures in relief which looked very like the Pictish stone carvings found in the north of Scotland - amazing thousands of miles away they came up with the same designs.
Before arriving in Puno, which is a horrid little town and only reason for stopping is to get to Lake Titicaca, we went threw Juliaca which made Puno look like a lovely resort - I wouldn`t want to stay there for all the the in China.
We had dinner in a wee cafe desperate to get out of the hostel for a few hours as we think we are the only people staying in it, the way the guy offered us nearly every room in the place before we decided on one.

18th & 19th Oct - Sacred Valley

The hostal organised a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas for us and we picked the bus up at the square. Our first stop was Pisac and the market which sold lots of silver and alpaca. Most of the jewelry was Inca inspired and very nice so mairi and I had to buy some - just to help the economy ofcourse. The best bit of the market was the local food on offer. At the back a massive stone oven churned out fantastic little breads stuffed with tomato and cheese - called peruvian pizza but much nicer - we both had two which wasn`t a great idea as next we were taken down the valley along the Rio Urumbamba to lunch in Urumbamba. We were too full to take part in the buffet on offer which actually looked really great full of peruvian food.

After lunch we headed further down the valley to Ollyantaytambo a massive Inka fortress built on the side of a mountain which surprisingly is still fairly intact. The reason it`s fairly intact is since it was a fort it didn`t have much gold or jeweled ornamentation so the Spanish ignored it - nice.

Lots more stairs and climbing up hills - if things don`t get any flatter I may come back to Scotland fit - never.

The guide took us into a building built by the Inkas and still used by locals as housing. It was really interesting and a bit shocking to see how they lived. Interesting was the guinea pigs (some ready for Sundays dinner) sharing the rooms with the family, shocking cos also sharing the space was the skulls of their ancesters - can`t see that going down too well in Scotland.

The main room we were shown into had hollows cut out of the walls where they had the skulls and offering to the gods including a fat man with lots of trinkits on him. Basically you put a miniture of whatever you want onto the fat man and hopefully it will come true. Toy cars and money adorned him - very strange.

Last we visited Chinchero one of my favourite sites both for the Inka buildings but also the Spanish history and deception. Only recently have they begun to understand the extent of this site. Like most Inka sites the Spanish had torn some of it down to build a church using the inka stones but unlike most of other sites the Spanish buried most of it and recently excavations have unearthed whole chambers perfectly preserved. It`s funny the Spanish covered it over to hide it from the locals part of indoctrinating them and hundreds of years later it actually turns out they helped preserve it - karma man.

Talking of Karma everywhere we go, when we say we`re from Scotland, people exclaim William Wallace. It turns out Braveheart was a massive film in South America cos they could empathise with the Scottish cause associating it with theirs against the Spanish. We were very well received in South America and all beacuse of an Ozzie painting his face blue and shouting freedom!

Although the Inkas didn`t have any writing people speculate that the stone shapes tell a story as there are strange patterns and many repeating patterns in the rock. We picked our favourites and tried to work out what they meant - don`t think either of us will win any prises for it.

Mairi was particularly impressed with the rocks which are cut around corners as well as the massive ones. I like the perfectly triangular ones where all the other rocks have to be cut just so to work with them - maybe that sums me up though!

Back in Cusco we have a day off and just wander the streets soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the sunshine and beautiful scenery.