I made it to Bolivia. It’s Thursday night and I’m at a hostel in La Paz after having spent last night on Lake Titicaca in Copacabana. I figure I’ll probably have time on the train tomorrow (I have a 13 hour ride starting at 3:30pm from Oruro to Tupiza) to catch up on a bit more writing, but I’m not sure what my internet connection will be like when I get to Tupiza and on Sunday I begin a four day journey in the Salar de Uyuni. Therefore, I’m going to quickly highlight what’s been going on over the past three weeks.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Day out with Judy and Stuart. Say goodbye to Sarah and Michael (and Sandy). Pro-life demonstration in the Plaza de Armas by kids. Q'enqo, caves, Tambomachi and Puka Pukara with our guide Isaiah. Q’oriconcha, little time since Judy isn’t feeling great. Tea and lemonade at Jacks. Bit of shopping. Greens for dinner (run into Sarah, Michael, and meet the friends). Say goodbye to Judy and Stuart. Called parents from Bondiet and found out they were actually considering visiting Peru.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Day tour to Moray and Salinas. At breakfast met the new girl in the house (for one week), Zehra, 34 year old Pakistani woman living in London for 7 years. Drive to Moray, guide speaks horrible English. Hour at Moray. Drive to Salinas, a salt mine from pre-Inca times. Back to Cuzco at 3pm (was supposed to meet the group for soccer game) and go for lunch at Jack’s. Afternoon at Don Estaban, talked to dad a bit since plans for Cusco are starting to take shape. Skipped dinner because of my late lunch, but met Erick, a 50 year old from England living in the house for two weeks.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Back to the weekly routine. Class, all the new students in one class as there are only 5 people this week: me, Zehra, Erick and two women from northern California, Tina (who works at Kaiser) and Nancy. After class is over, they split us in two for the rest of the week. Lunch at home, new dish of chicken ceviche, pretty good. Zehra and I go to town. Afternoon at Bondiet online. Dinner is special type of potato and rice.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Breakfast, class with Jossie, lunch, nap. Don Estaban. Talk to dad for almost two hours making plans for Peru. Mom complains that the flight is a bit far for one week so I suggested she join me for Northern Chile (San Pedro de Atacama) and agreed to look into details. Home for dinner. Online research.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Breakfast, class. Lunch at Jack’s with Zehra. Run around town to book train tickets and flights and check out some other things. Dinner. Online researching since it looks like mom is coming with me to San Pedro de Atacama.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Breakfast, class. Lunch, delicious vegetable soup, tomato and onion salad, beans with rice. Taxi to town with Zehra. Stop at 3 different hotels for my parents. Agency to buy tickets from Juliaca to Lima and Lima to Antofagasta. Bondiet for cappuccino and mocha cake. Dinner.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Breakfast. Class – last day for Tina and Zehra. Pack for weekend in Ollantaytambo. Lunch. Met Tina, Nancy and Tina’s son Eric and girlfriend Tracy and her daughter Monica since they were also going to Ollantaytambo. Taxi to bus station, ended up with a nice collectivo. Arrive in Ollantaytambo by 4:30. Checked into my hotel, they don’t have my name on their main list, but all is ok. Wander into town and main square. Met a girl from Montreal on the street, Caroline, traveling on her own; chatted for a bit before she went to the train station. Dinner at Puka Rumi, ordered the burrito with chicken, make your own type deal. Talked to a guy from Vancouver, Steven, sitting at the table next to me, then to a family from San Francisco who were staying at the same hotel. Walked with the family (Mike, Kate, Julie and Matt) in town and then back to hotel. Bed.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Relaxing day in Ollantaytambo. Lunch at Heart’s. Dinner at El Albergue (my hotel) with Tina, family and Nancy, fantastic steak, excellent food.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Election day in Peru. Big day since everyone is required to vote. 11 candidates for president. Ollantaytambo is swarming with locals from the Sacred Valley who are there to vote. Beautiful day, sun is shining, warmest I’ve been in weeks. Breakfast, then showered and packed. Checked-out and made reservation for when parents are here. Walked into town. Ran into Caroline. Walked up to ruins on my own, meet a couple (Mexican/German) and then a girl from Ohio (whose parents are Argentinian and Bolivian) who is living in Ollantaytambo for a year working for an NGO. Relaxed at ruins. Heart’s café for lunch; sat with a Canadian girl who is working in Cusco for two years. Enjoyed the sun. Van back to Cusco but the arriving train only has a few passengers. Found one van. Beautiful sunlight on the drive back, huge rainbow when it starts raining. Back at 5:30 and get a taxi home. Dinner with Erick, Ally and Danny. Sad that Zehra is gone.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Breakfast. Class, walking with Erick is really quiet, turned out I had private lessons with Jossie for my last week. Lunch at home –tarwi, some local vegetarian dish made with cheese and milk, I didn’t like it very much. Sun was out, read on porch a bit (Twilight in Spanish, with the English version on my kindle). Walked to town, buy train tickets (the woman sold me the wrong train at first), went to Hotel Picoaga to book room for my parents visit, got a discount. Coffee at Bondiet to use wi-fi. Taxi back. Dinner at home.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Breakfast, class, lunch. Read outside. Taxi to Don Estaban. Wrote for a bit. Home for dinner, same as lunch. Wrote and read.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Breakfast, class. Lunch at Jack’s with Zehra since she was back from the Inca Trail. Go to a few agencies about options for Bolivia, found out I can get my Bolivia visa here. Bondiet for internet. Dinner.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Breakfast, class. Taxi to Bolivian consulate, but it was already closed, went home. Lunch. Read for a bit. Go back to Bolivian consulate. Turns out I don’t have all the papers I need, start crying, don’t even know exactly why, but the guy is telling me that I need to have hotel reservations, etc. He can process the whole thing in five minutes, so I tell him I’ll come back on Monday. First time near Avenida de la Cultura, a more modern part of town and nicer than I expected. Saw a Don Estaban on the way to the consulate, so I walked there after my terrible meeting to have a cappuccino and mocha cake. Uploaded photos, talked to mom and tried to figure out Bolivia. Taxi home. Dinner.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Last day of class! Four weeks went by so fast. Took Jossie to lunch at Heidi’s afterwards. Travel agent to book my bus ticket from La Paz to Cusco then to Tortamundos to print off my newly reserved hotels. Taxi home to pick up a few items for the visa then to the Bolivian consulate. Man was surprised to see me back again but I had all the paperwork. Bank to deposit visa fee then relaxed at Don Estaban before going back to get my visa. Man was really friendly and I ended up sitting through three short movies on Bolivia before telling him I really needed to get home. Picked up a chocolate cake for Ally, Danny and Franklin. Big dinner for my “last” night (Saturday was my last night). Pisco sour, roasted chicken and fries (from outside) and Coke. My cake for dessert. Great night.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Spent the day packing, reading and just relaxing. Lunch at the house. Popped to Don Estaban for internet. Dinner at home, made me wish the last night was my last night.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Slept in. Ally and Danny went to a memorial service and Franklin asked if I wanted to wait to have breakfast. Since it was my last meal I said sure, but I didn’t realize that Ally’s family would be coming over. There were more than 16 adults and 5 kids, and it wasn’t even her whole family. Craziness! Relaxed in my room. At 1pm went to say goodbye but they insisted I join for lunch at Ally’s daughter’s house. Turned out ok since I got to see Franklin’s house (under construction). Finally got to hostel around 4:30pm, not as great as I expected. Picked up bus tickets, stopped by Chabad to get my Seder ticket and went to Bondiet to call home and Shell (who had a funny story for me). Dinner at 7:30pm with the family from school (Kristen, Frank, Maddie and Isabel) and their friends who were visiting (Karen, with her daughter and daughter’s friend and another couple with their two kids). Fun night.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tried to sleep in. Breakfast at hostel then online but computer took forever to start. Stopped by Andean Wings to make sure we didn’t have a reservation, Picoaga to give my parents flight details and Eco Packers to make a reservation for the night I come back to Cusco. Lunch with Jon (a mutual friend of people in London) at Jack’s. Plaza to watch the beginning of the procession. Huge Christ figure, the men holding it looked in pain. Bondiet again. Back to hostel to get ready. Jon and an Israeli from his hostel picked me up for Seder. Turns out the building is one I used to walk past every day. Seder with Chabad, about 1,000 people, all in Hebrew. Didn’t sit with the English-speaking table but when I went to say hi, I ran into one of my campers from 11 years ago. Small world! Talked to family and people at my house for Seder when I got back. Shower, bed.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Up at 6:15am to get ready to leave Cusco. Transfer to bus didn’t show up, so I took a taxi to the First Class tourist bus. Finally left around 8am and began the drive to Puno. First stop at a church, second at some ruins. Horrible buffet lunch. Viewpoint and museum. Arrived in Puno around 5:30pm and got a taxi to my hostel. Man working there put me off a bit. Pizza for dinner. Shower, internet, bed.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Up at 6am to prepare for bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. Taxi to station at 7am. Boarded bus and left around 7:30. Arrived at border around 10am (Peru time, Bolivia is one hour later). No problems crossing or with my visa in Bolivia. Continued on bus to Copacabana (on Lake Titicaca), arriving around 12:45pm. I went to my hotel (had a view of the lake) and decided to spend the afternoon in town rather than rushing to Isla del Sol. Lunch at Le Bistrot, took forever. Wandered around Copacabana town and lake front. Returned to hotel to relax on the hammocks, talked to a couple from Vancouver Island. Dinner at hotel, before showering, reading and going to bed.
Today, April 21, 2011
Another early morning. Wanted to go to Isla del Sol so I was up at 6:45am. Breakfast at hotel before checking out. Boat to Isla del Sol (delayed because the motor wouldn’t start). Barely had an hour on the island but it was worth the trip. Ran into a guy from my bus yesterday (Alain from Scotland). Boat back to Copacabana, stopped at hotel for my stuff and went back to town. Waited around for the bus but didn’t have enough time to eat lunch. Bus left around 1:45pm and we arrived in La Paz at 5pm. Shared a taxi to my hostel. Alain was trying to check-in but they didn’t have beds. For some reason they had me down for two, so he’s here as well. Called home. Went to the bar upstairs for my free welcome drink but not before starting dinner (chicken quesadilla). Chilled with four girls from Melbourne, Alain and Chris (from my dorm).
And that brings me up-to-date. Wow. Tomorrow I have a loooong day of travel to Tupiza. Night night.
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