Lima, Arequipa, and Bolivia – one of the most facinating countries we visited
We arrived at my cousin’s apartment in Lima, Peru more traveled out than any previous point in our trip and probably more than any point in my life. If he didn’t have such a comfortable guest bedroom with cable TV where we were able to lock ourselves up and completely vegetate for a few days we’re not sure if we would have been able to continue our trip. But it was the perfect remedy for our traveled out bodies and minds, and after a few great meals with my relatives in Lima we were back on a bus again for Arequipa, the “White City” high up in the mountains in the south of Peru. We were very well taken care of by the mother of a Peruvian friend from Iowa and enjoyed this picturesque and historically fascinating town with a distinct cuisine from anywhere else in Peru we had been before.
Next we took an overnight bus across the border to the Bolivian capital of La Paz and got wacked by altitude sickness due to being in the highest capital city in the world around 12,000 feet. After a couple easy days and some of the cheapest food we’ve had anywhere in the world (half a fried chicken with fries cost about a dollar), it was back on a bus and then a train to get to the stunning enormous salares (salt flats) of Bolivia were we did a 3 day 2 night tour in a 4 by 4 with other backpackers. We literally drove miles and miles on sheets of salt several feet thick, one of the most mind-boggling and visually unique experiences we had all trip.
Our next stop was Potosi, said to be the highest city in the world at over 13,500 feet and to have been one of the wealthiest cities in the world in the late 1600’s because of the abundant silver and other mines. We took a walking (and crawling) tour deep into one of the mines and got a chance to see some miners hard at work after offering them some coca cola and coca leaves. We politely declined when they asked if we wanted to take a turn at drilling into the rock and then placing live dynamite inside.
Our overnight bus trip back to La Paz was delayed a day because of roadblocks set up by striking laborers and when we left the next night there still were a few roadblocks where a striker would come on to the bus, ask everyone for money to get around the roadblock, and then instruct the driver how to navigate around the other demonstrators. Very interesting (and lucrative) form of political action.
From La Paz we caught a quick flight to Rurrenabaque, a steamy hot village deep in the Amazon with a grass field for a runway and a hut for an airport, to take a 3 day motorized canoe trip up the Beni River to see crocodiles, anacondas, monkeys, various birds, and fish for piranhas – Shan caught several and they were pretty tasty deep fried.
We flew back to La Paz, caught a bus back across the border and to the Peruvian town of Puno on Lake Titicaca, and then did a 2 day 1 night trip to visit some of the indigenous groups that still live in mostly traditional ways on the islands of Lake Titicaca including the Uros (also called “reed people”) as they live on small islands made of reeds, make their huts from reeds, and move around in canoes that they make from…… you guessed it. We stayed overnight on a large (non-reed) island with a local family who dressed us in traditional clothes for the traditional dance they took us to with other locals and their tourist guests and fed us some enjoyable really hearty foods. We made our way back to Lima and finalized preparations for the penultimate last big bang of our trip – hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
– Anthony
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Shan