Bolivia & Peru
Bolivia
Stupid US transfer system - nearly missed the plane at Newark (to date am still trying to figure out the benefit of the stupid transit system requiring the passengers to collect the luggage only to drag it 10 metres and put it BACK IN to the SAME plane again)
Witch market – dead llama foetus are sold in abundance, apparently to be buried at the four corners of a new house to fortify the building. There are also assortment of colourful wax, plant/animal(?) parts that is to be burnt as sacrifices during prayer.
Altitude Sickness – in hindsight flying directly from London to La Paz at 3800m above sea level was not such a bright idea. Over confidence in one’s fitness level not nearly, but definitely killed me during my stay in Bolivia. The first day two girls had their head over a bowl of soup during lunch, with the restaurateur looking extremely worried that we will vomit in his restaurant. We had to abandon our original itinerary in our semi-zombie like state and opt for emergency lie down at a shabby hostel next to the restaurant, trying to get some oxygen whilst listening to the weird and wonderful Bolivian music blasting from the public speaker outside. Instead of acclimatizing the headache gradually got worse as we accented to 4700m. Waking up every morning was a real nightmare, as one’s head felt like being squashed at great force between two concrete walls. I even developed regular morning sickness routine that got Yi Fei wondering what I have been doing before I came, haha. Thankfully the wonder drug, Soroche pills, from a little Uyuni pharmacy saved me.
Night bus journey - the journal from La Paz to Uyuni saw one of the most disorganized systems, whereby locals and confused tourists try to locate the correct bus to travel, as prebooked tickets and travel references bear no correlation to the bus that has just come in parked on the side street. If Bolivia is to increase their tourism intake, they will need to improve their transport and accommodation infrastructure. It was freezing -15C and there was NO heating, NO hotwater at the places we were staying.
Changing landscape – No country has yet to offer such vast, spectacular scenery that change so dramatically from one day to another. The train tracks only run through from town to town, hence the only way to get around the rugged landscape was by jeep. The natural sceneries really cannot be faulted. The lack of tourist influence meant that the volcanic landscape, the salt plane, the various lagoons and the flamingos and llamas within them are seen in their genuine and unpretentious form. As the jeep takes us through Bolivia, the scenery changes like a picture flip book. I will trade these natural unspoilt panorama views for lack of development any day.
Bolivian women dress code – don’t underestimate these fashion trend. Apparently the whole outfit can cost in excess of 1000GBP!
Honeymoon like travel – I will advise whoever doing the Peru & Bolivia combo holiday to go from Bolivia through to Peru. The lack of people taking this option meant we had our own catamaran with private cooks and bus transport to ourselves. The guide even questioned whether we were on honeymoon given the excessive luxury and private service associated. In reality we opted for group transfer, it is just that the rest of the 30 odd spaces were not filled. Highly recommend Transtourin travel company, who still operated with only two of us transferring.
Peru
Machu Pichu Hike – the Machu Pichu hike, recommended and yet feared by so many, was in fact the easiest part of the trip! The four day hike consisted the visit of various Inca ruins on the first and third day, and a day of steep climb on the second. Competitive nature came through the second day where Yew Ming and I raced ahead finishing two hours prior scheduled time. The third day JJ and I decided to go slow and explored all the Inca sites in detail, possibly the only trekker to get lost on the single-pathed hike. It is simply an exhilarating experience. After the four day hike, reaching the sun gate overlooking the city in the clouds is the liberating view that made the pain throughout all worth it.
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Kayaking and swimming in the Amazon – Kayaking leisurely through the rapids of the river, being dunked in the river by Mong Mong (should have known). Making a fertility statue featuring JJ on the bank of the Amazon stemming curious by passing tourists quizzing it significance. Having sand flies attacking us with Yew Ming and Anita being the ultimate victims.
Stupid US transfer system - nearly missed the plane at Newark (to date am still trying to figure out the benefit of the stupid transit system requiring the passengers to collect the luggage only to drag it 10 metres and put it BACK IN to the SAME plane again)
Witch market – dead llama foetus are sold in abundance, apparently to be buried at the four corners of a new house to fortify the building. There are also assortment of colourful wax, plant/animal(?) parts that is to be burnt as sacrifices during prayer.
Altitude Sickness – in hindsight flying directly from London to La Paz at 3800m above sea level was not such a bright idea. Over confidence in one’s fitness level not nearly, but definitely killed me during my stay in Bolivia. The first day two girls had their head over a bowl of soup during lunch, with the restaurateur looking extremely worried that we will vomit in his restaurant. We had to abandon our original itinerary in our semi-zombie like state and opt for emergency lie down at a shabby hostel next to the restaurant, trying to get some oxygen whilst listening to the weird and wonderful Bolivian music blasting from the public speaker outside. Instead of acclimatizing the headache gradually got worse as we accented to 4700m. Waking up every morning was a real nightmare, as one’s head felt like being squashed at great force between two concrete walls. I even developed regular morning sickness routine that got Yi Fei wondering what I have been doing before I came, haha. Thankfully the wonder drug, Soroche pills, from a little Uyuni pharmacy saved me.
Night bus journey - the journal from La Paz to Uyuni saw one of the most disorganized systems, whereby locals and confused tourists try to locate the correct bus to travel, as prebooked tickets and travel references bear no correlation to the bus that has just come in parked on the side street. If Bolivia is to increase their tourism intake, they will need to improve their transport and accommodation infrastructure. It was freezing -15C and there was NO heating, NO hotwater at the places we were staying.
Changing landscape – No country has yet to offer such vast, spectacular scenery that change so dramatically from one day to another. The train tracks only run through from town to town, hence the only way to get around the rugged landscape was by jeep. The natural sceneries really cannot be faulted. The lack of tourist influence meant that the volcanic landscape, the salt plane, the various lagoons and the flamingos and llamas within them are seen in their genuine and unpretentious form. As the jeep takes us through Bolivia, the scenery changes like a picture flip book. I will trade these natural unspoilt panorama views for lack of development any day.
Driving a jeep through Uyuni salt flat – the salt flat formed through evaporation of the prehistoric lake Minchin. The vast panes of blue and white allows one to take optical illusion photos. We passed the Fish island full of dodgy looking cacti, and attempted to spell our name with salt blocks, but due to the lack of oxygen eventually contented ourselves with spelling the first letter of our name. Much against Yi Fei’s will, I drove the jeep through the salt plane. It is such a fun and liberating experience. Cannot wait to do the same on an American roadtrip!
Bolivian women dress code – don’t underestimate these fashion trend. Apparently the whole outfit can cost in excess of 1000GBP!
Honeymoon like travel – I will advise whoever doing the Peru & Bolivia combo holiday to go from Bolivia through to Peru. The lack of people taking this option meant we had our own catamaran with private cooks and bus transport to ourselves. The guide even questioned whether we were on honeymoon given the excessive luxury and private service associated. In reality we opted for group transfer, it is just that the rest of the 30 odd spaces were not filled. Highly recommend Transtourin travel company, who still operated with only two of us transferring.
Peru
Machu Pichu Hike – the Machu Pichu hike, recommended and yet feared by so many, was in fact the easiest part of the trip! The four day hike consisted the visit of various Inca ruins on the first and third day, and a day of steep climb on the second. Competitive nature came through the second day where Yew Ming and I raced ahead finishing two hours prior scheduled time. The third day JJ and I decided to go slow and explored all the Inca sites in detail, possibly the only trekker to get lost on the single-pathed hike. It is simply an exhilarating experience. After the four day hike, reaching the sun gate overlooking the city in the clouds is the liberating view that made the pain throughout all worth it.
We started from km 88, and after half an hour climb reached Llaqtapata - 'the town on the hillside'. The view of Llactapata down below was taken as we reached the edge of the hillside on the opposite side of the Kusichaca Valley.
Runkuraqay - 'the egg hut' is probably an Inca tambo or post house which got its name from its oval shape.
Sayaqmata - 'the inaccessible town' is more extensive than Runkuraqay and is built in an impressive setting onto the crest of a ridge (once again overlooking several valleys) with a view all the way down into Amazonia. This is where we decided to build a human pyramid!
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Phuyupatamarka - 'the cloud level town'
Intipata - 'the sun place'. Most hikers by-pass it as the Trail descends steeply in what feels like many hundreds of steps to Wiñawayna which is a little bit further on and lower down. The terraces of Intipata have a convex shape whereas those of Wiñawayna are concave.
Winawayna - 'the forever young'. It has terraces down the mountainside, stone ruins up high and down low, a string of ceremonial baths connecting them and a beautiful waterfall as a backdrop behind the ruins.
Our tour guide as also name Freddy. And the funniest thing is, he wears a t-shirt with ‘Maks!’ on the front. In the beginning we really thought he was taking the piss! He taught as the game of Inca Power, though he is yet to win at his own game against competitive and efficient players like us.
Anita fainted at the top on the second day, only to be carried down by her hero porter Pancho. He’s so shy why Anita gave him a thank you kiss Awww
Amazon Rainforest – it was a shock to the system being told we had to get up once again at 4am in the morning to watch the parrots feasting on the clay bank. Surely the parrots can wait for us?! There was hundreds of parrots perched on hundreds of tree, yet the female tour guide said to Freddy, ‘Do you see the parrots?? They are on the TREE!’, at which point I can already see Freddy’s response in his head, ‘No actually, I’m blind.’
Animals and Plants - Hacking through the forest listening and identifying to various birdcalls, eating protein rich termites that left a minty woody after taste, waiting patiently for two hours for mammals to appear in the lodge, screaming at visiting frogs in cold showers, climbing the 20m tower to see the above the canopy, and visiting fruit farm trying copuasu that tasted like dui lian.
Brazil nut ice cream – Yummmmmmm. But as Freddy correctly pointed out, why do they grow Brazil nut in Peru? Haha
Anita fainted at the top on the second day, only to be carried down by her hero porter Pancho. He’s so shy why Anita gave him a thank you kiss Awww
Amazon Rainforest – it was a shock to the system being told we had to get up once again at 4am in the morning to watch the parrots feasting on the clay bank. Surely the parrots can wait for us?! There was hundreds of parrots perched on hundreds of tree, yet the female tour guide said to Freddy, ‘Do you see the parrots?? They are on the TREE!’, at which point I can already see Freddy’s response in his head, ‘No actually, I’m blind.’
Animals and Plants - Hacking through the forest listening and identifying to various birdcalls, eating protein rich termites that left a minty woody after taste, waiting patiently for two hours for mammals to appear in the lodge, screaming at visiting frogs in cold showers, climbing the 20m tower to see the above the canopy, and visiting fruit farm trying copuasu that tasted like dui lian.
Brazil nut ice cream – Yummmmmmm. But as Freddy correctly pointed out, why do they grow Brazil nut in Peru? Haha
Kayaking and swimming in the Amazon – Kayaking leisurely through the rapids of the river, being dunked in the river by Mong Mong (should have known). Making a fertility statue featuring JJ on the bank of the Amazon stemming curious by passing tourists quizzing it significance. Having sand flies attacking us with Yew Ming and Anita being the ultimate victims.
This trip is no doubt the most physically challenging trip I have been on. Not because I cannot withstand the hikes that I signed on to, but the challenge came from having to complete the hikes whilst under all sorts of severe altitude sickness, diarrhea, headaches etc. Maybe I am more spoilt and acquainted to civilisation than I originally thought.
posted by Annie @ 9:11 PM
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