The Final Countdown

doodoodoo doo...

Less than 2 weeks remaining on my trip (12 days in fact) and I´m really starting to look forward to some home comforts: friends, family and familiar foods. I certainly wouldn´t want to cut short the remainder of my time here though!

Currently I´m in La Paz, capital of Bolivia. Also apparently the 3rd largest city in Bolivia, which I find hard to believe when I look out of a window and see this sprawling mass of civilisation. It is a nightmare maze of streets - the first city I´ve got lost in on foot - and the rainy season finally caught up with me. I arrived by bus into the centre(ish) of the city, to be greeted by a thunderstorm. I´m glad that I had a second dry bag to put my stuff in! I do love a good thunderstorm and the accompanying torrential rain, but it´s far more enjoyable when you don´t need to worry about your phone/wallet/camera getting soaked. Shorts probably weren´t a good idea though.

I have only one serious complaint about this city. Nowhere sells any towels! Literally nowhere. I tried sports shops (of which there are hundreds), camping/outdoors shops, street stalls, nowhere has any and nobody knows where there are any. If only john lewis or someone had set up a branch here I would know where to go! And so my search for a towel to replace the one I left in Cusco continues...

Speaking of Cusco, that was a fun city! This is where I discovered "The Point" hostels, with their hostel bars, free pool table, wifi, cheap laundry, and nightly games. A true backpackers delight! Not so delightful was the result of deciding to open the bottle of 18-year-old scotch I bought in Venezuela´s duty free (sorry dad, but I didn´t think it would survive the rest of my journey). I awoke the next day to a new discovery - hangovers are worse at high altitude! Needless to say, that day became a write-off. The day after, I had an amusing time walking around the city centre, remembering some of the places I visited when I was there over 6 years ago with World Challenge. One thing that has changed though - the main business (apart from the obligatory hat, poncho and pan pipe sales) now seems to be massages! In the space of an hour, I must have been given at least 40 different business cards for massage parlours. And only one person offered me drugs (after I turned down the offer to eat at his restaurant)!

After Cusco, I took a tourist bus to Puno on Lake Titicaca. While I was there I went on a tour to Sillustani, a strange place with extremely old "burial towers". Mostly I just enjoyed seeing all the alpacas and dogs that lived there, and the periods where we were standing still so I could recover my breath (what with it being 4000m up). The other main highlight of Puno was staying at another The Point hostel, this time with outdoor bar, bonfire, and the evening ending with some pretty embarassing attempts at salsa dancing.

And then across the border, and into Bolivia! The border control is a bit of a joke: you get off the bus on one side of the border, go to 1 building to get your Peru exit card stamped, go to another to get your Bolivian entry stamp, and a third for customs, then stroll across the border to reboard the bus which has driven along beside you. Anyway, first stop: Copacabana! This town is pretty much defined by its awesome views of the lake. There are tours from here out to Isla del Sol, the most sacred place for the Incas (i think), but I couldn´t make myself get up early enough in the morning to visit it. The trouble with staying in hostels with bars, and taking buses during the days, is that your sleep pattern gets a bit messed up!

Leaving Copacabana (and some really nice sunny weather) behind, I get to La Paz. First impressions were slightly marred by my evening shower being made incredibly difficult by a power cut midway through. Getting dressed in the dark, in a strange place, and trying to avoid getting your clothes wet is quite the challenge.

In conclusion, I´ve pretty much been coasting along from one city to the next. One or two major sights left to see, and not a lot of time to do them!

Next stop: Uyuni and it´s neighbouring salt flats!