Lake Titicaca and Rainbow Mountain

Hey Guys!
Next stop was to Lago Titicaca, and from there we boarded a boat for Isla Del Sol, a really cool island on Lake Titicaca (which happens to be the biggest lake in South America and the highest navigable body of water in the world at 3812 m). The name comes from Quechua, the language of the indigenous people in the area (and the language the ancient Incans spoke). It means 'the Mount of the Puma.' Pottery has been found on the shores dating back to the mid-2nd millennium BCE, so people have called this place home for a very long time.


The stairs you are greeted with when you arrive at Isla Del Sol.


Jared making donkey friends


And I alpaca friends. In the shade, it was actually a little nipply. At this high altitude, we soon became accustomed to the Altiplano's extremes- really hot in the sunshine and freezing in the shade, worse at night!


Some fantastic views from the top of the island


And did I mention donkeys?! There were maybe more donkeys on this island than people. They were walking all over the island carrying cargo, braying, and carrying on.





A great spot for supper. There are freshwater trout here that have been introduced from Canada (sooorrrry). They kind of wreaked havoc on the endemic species, so you could feel good about eating them. Plus they were delicious.


Sunset on the lake





Great view from the window. Being cheapos, there are lots of nights we don't have the best view, but not tonight!


We were also lucky to catch some live music, this was a band from Argentina/Uruguay that played salsa/Cumbria/etc. Thanks for a great night Cucha Cucha!


Some pictures Jared took of the sunrise. I opted to stay in bed because I am naughty.


I was instead woken up by braying donkeys!





The view of the Cordillera mountains


Walking back down to the boats the next afternoon





Once back on the mainland, we took Gringa for a special treat- to be blessed by a priest! Here in Bolivia; rather than drive courteously and obey traffic laws, they just get their vehicles decked out in flowers and blessed by a priest. Then they are certain to have safe travels on the road. So we figured, if you can't beat them join them.


Here is Gringa decked out in her finery. Isn't she a beaut?!





And here we are with the Father. Notice the bucket of holy water, and camo hat. We're pretty sure he was a real priest.......



With Gringa safely blessed for Bolivian roads, we drove north. Our next adventure was the Rainbow Mountain, something we had seen on Instagram, oh, 340 times.


The drive out was awesome, very much the back-country.


Ausangate mountain in the distance


We wild-camped here for the night before starting the trek.


We started the next day, mid-morning. We tried to time it so as while we were climbing up the tourist hordes were climbing down, and it worked out perfect.








This was the zoo as we were walking up.....


But this was what we had at the top! Not a soul, magic!














We were so lucky to have this whole incredible place to ourselves. It was super challenging, climbing at 5000m is really no picnic, but luckily it was only a 3 hr hike.








The horse camp back at the base. Here they keep all the ponies that ferry the people up. Of course, Jared and I were waaaay too cheap and just walked up.


Mega alpaca party on the drive back down. There are SO many alpacas and llamas here. There are actually two types of alpacas here- Huacaya and Suri. The Huacaya are more teddy-bear looking and the Suri ones look like they have dreads.

My mom was coming to Cuzco in a few days, and we were getting very excited to see her. We still had a few days, though, so we headed to Paucartembo. This was a small town out in the country we had heard had a really crazy festival to honour the Virgen del Carmen.

Until Next Time!

La Paz and the Death Road

After getting our vehicle all fixed up in Cochabamba, it was time to head to La Paz. We weren't sure whether we would make it all the way considering the roads that we had come across in Bolivia.

It was a cool drive gaining more elevation once again. We passed many small towns that were made completely of red brick, like they always are around here, with many unfinished buildings as well. There was a lot of people out in the fields tending to their sheep, goats, alpacas, or cattle. I have noticed that it is usually the women working and you don't really see many men out and about. There was some road construction, but not near as bad as before so we made it to El Alto that night.




We parked the vehicle in the secured airport parking(only $6 Canadian a day) and stayed the night there. Many people before us had done the same thing as the security guard asked if we were staying in our vehicle. It was a chilly night (probably -7)and the inside of the windows was covered in thick frost when we awoke. Once the sun came up, it heated up quickly. It seems that the Bolivian winters in the high planes consist of cooler nights and warm days.

We left the vehicle at the airport and continued into the city. There was no way that I was going to drive in another crazy Bolivian city. They are definitely the worst drivers that we have come across so far.

We walked through the streets and found some coco leaves to chew on as we were both feeling the affects of the altitude. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world with one suburb around 4100 meters. Roberta later realized that the tingling in her face and limbs was a side affect of our altitude meds, so she stopped taking them and the tingling went away.

We decided to just ride the teleferico (cable car) to check out the city. It was one of the main ways for locals to get around the city, so it was cheap and offered some spectacular views of the city.




The city itself is mostly made of red brick so not stunning, but it had its own charm. The large mountain peaks surrounding the city also give a nice back drop.













After seeing the city and having a three course lunch for $1 each, we headed to the hostel we were staying at. We booked our bike tour for the Death Road to start the next morning. That night we took a separate teleferico to watch the sun set.










We got picked up the next morning in a van and headed towards the start of the Death Road. Its real name is the North Yungas Road and it connects La Paz with Coroico. Its nickname became the Death Road because anywhere from 200-300 people would die each year on it, mostly from going over the edge. Also, the road was built by Paraguayan war prisoners, many of whom died during construction.




The first couple hours were down a nice paved road. The biking itself was quite easy as it was all downhill. At almost 4700 meters in elevation, it was quite chilly at the top.





































We were able to feel our our bikes and make sure everything was working properly, especially the brakes!

After a couple hours, we made it to the actual start of the Death Road. In 2006, they completed a paved road going to the same place so the Death Road is mainly used by tourists now.



















It was a really cool ride with a lot of great scenery. At points it was quite narrow with very large drop offs, but overall it wasn't as crazy as I had thought it might be. I think the driving capabilities of the Bolivians inflated the death numbers.



















As we made our decent the temperature changed drastically, and by the bottom it was down right hot.







Made it!

The trip wasn't without its dramas though. Around 10 mins into the actual Death Road part, one of the Aussie's fell off his bike on the road and broke his collarbone! He spend the rest of the ride down in the van. Once at the bottom, he headed straight back with his buddies to La Paz to go to the hospital.



Here he is in good spirits after he was finished being mad at himself.

Once at the bottom the rest of us headed for a shower and some food at the nearby town. We came across a guy that had driven his car off a small drop off and was bleeding from his head. He also grabbed a ride with the Aussies to the hospital...We made our way back to La Paz that night through some fog where the Bolivians were showing off their suicidal driving by passing in the fog on blind corners....

The next morning, Roberta figured out that she had forgotten her sunglasses at the shower spot. She called there and was able communicate with them in Spanish, so that they found them and were going to send them that night with the guides back to La Paz.

We decided to spend the day walking through the many souvenir shops and instrument stores.







Some of the shops had dried alpaca fetuses as apparently they put them in the ground where they build their houses for good luck....









Roberta walking with some cholitas. We don't have many pictures of the people as they do not like photos.

As it happens in South America, the people at the little resort forgot to give the sunglasses to the guides and they never made it. Sometimes in South America you think you have everything figured out, but it just doesn't work out.

We decided to continue on the next day to Lake Titicaca as we had to meet Roberta's mom in Cusco in a few days. They ended up getting them back to La Paz the next day and we will grab them on our way back through there in a couple weeks.







Next up Lake Titicaca

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Location:La Paz, Bolivia