Enter: Bolivia

Sunset over Lake Titicaca

After Machu Picchu we made tracks for Lake Titicaca. The highest lake in the world! Or was it the highest BIG lake in the world? No, I think its title is the highest "navigable" lake in the world. Whatever that means.

Call it what you want, Lake Titicaca is a really big lake at a really high altitude, with beautiful sunsets. The view above is from the terrace at our hostel in the Bolivian town called Copacabana.

We took a (very slow moving) motor boat to the Isle del Sol a few kilometres off the shore, to the right of the view in the picture. The Incan culture that existed in the rest of South America is said to have started on the Isle del Sol. There are some very old ruins on the island that suggest this may be true.

After two days on the island, I can see why its called the "Island of the Sun". The clouds never seem to cover the sun above the island. The views are beautiful.

Me posing on Isla del Sol with my sponsoring beverage brand.

Another gorgeous view of Lake Titicaca, with the Illampu Mountains in the back

After Lake Titicaca, we took another bus --thankfully much shorter than the previous few rides-- to the capital city of Bolivia, La Paz. La Paz is a beautiful city built inside a canyon. I would put a picture up for you, but unfortunately I haven't taken any of La Paz yet. I haven't found a view of La Paz that would do it justice.

La Paz is infinitely more enjoyable than any of the other big cities we've been to so far. The people here are genuinely nice, and aren't interested in squeezing every last penny out of travelers. In Peru and Ecuador I felt like every local I talked to was trying to swindle me, but in Bolivia I feel warmly welcomed by the locals. Interestingly, Bolivia is quite a bit poorer than both Peru and Bolivia, and is well known to be the least expensive country in South America.

James, Jordan and I spent one wonderful day just outside La Paz. We rented wheels (ATV's for James and Jordan, a dirt bike for me) and a guide took us out on dirt roads to explore the Valle de la Lune.

From left to right: Jordan, James, Adam

It was my first time riding a motorbike. Truth be told, it was pretty scary at first; the store owners, who were really nice, allowed me about 5 minutes to figure out how to work the clutch and get the thing moving, and then it was straight to the road. I really wanted to learn though, and by the end I was starting to get the hang of it.

We rode to the top of the canyon and had some breathtaking views of Bolivia. This is what Bolivia looks like (below):

Right now, James and Jordan are in the middle of an amazingly fun sounding jungle rafting/hiking trip into the Amazon. Unfortunately I've been sick for the last week, and was forced to cancel at the last minute. Fingers crossed, I'll be leaving on the same trip that they're on tomorrow morning. Two girls that were supposed to be on my trip got sick at the last minute and the trip had to be postponed a day. Alot of people seem to get sick in Bolivia.

To give you an idea of what the trip is like, we build our own rafts and camp in the jungle. That's about all I know so far, but a blog post will certainly be in order when I get back from the trip.

Also, for those of you that are curious, Friar James is in the history books, and his head is back to its dashing old self.

Caio amigos.

Machu Picchu

As I mentioned in the previous post, I split from James and Jordan for the trek to Machu Picchu. They pre-booked the classic Inca Trail, while I took a last minute “Salkantay Mountain” trek. To read about James and Jordan’s experience, check out Jordan’s blog http://beta.offexploring.com/johombre.

The Salkantay trek is a 5 day walk through the mountains, with long days consisting of 5am wake-ups (with warm coca tea to get our brains going) and around 17-22 kilometres of walking. It sounds hard, and it is, but the trek is made ALOT easier because donkeys carry everything that is needed, leaving ourselves carrying just small daypacks.

The first day we walked 20 kilometres up a dirt road to a very pretty but cold campsite nestled in between some peaks. The night made me very thankful I had warm long underwear and wool socks!

The second day was my favourite day: we left the road behind us and instead hiked up a narrow winding path. towards Salkantay Mountain.

My hiking group huddling for a picture in the cold wind and rain.

In the morning we reached Salkantay Mountain, the highest peak in the area surrounding Machu Picchu (maybe the highest in Peru?). There we reached the highest point of the trek, 4800 metres, before we descended in the fog and rain to our lunch spot.

By afternoon it warmed up, and the weather stayed nice for the remainder of the trek.  

The second night was a much more comfortable temperature, and the third day we continued to descend through valleys until we reached a tropical climate again.

Beautiful hot springs greeted our weary bones on the third night, and a bus took us part of the distance on the fourth day, leaving us at the town of Aguas Calientes on the last night for our final ascent: Machu Picchu. The hike up Machu Picchu was the most gruelling of the whole 5 days, but we did it at 5:00am so at least it was still cool out. Needless to say I was dripping with sweat by the time we made it through the gates and got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about Machu Picchu, and it was very interesting to learn why it was built and to learn about the lives of the Incans who lived there. Contrary to what I had previously believed, the reason for building the town of approximately 1000 people is not a complete mystery to us; in fact Machu Picchu is strategically located at the end of the Andean region and the beginning of the jungle region to help the Incan king negotiate with the many nearby tribal leaders.

Machu Picchu was discovered by an American archaeologist named Hiram Bingham in 1911, and he made the town famous by writing articles about it and publishing pictures in National Geographic and other magazines. However, when Hiram Bingham found Machu Picchu, he also found families living right outside the gates of Machu Picchu. In fact, a 9 year old boy gave Hiram Bingham a tour of the town when he arrived! Many other village people living in the valleys nearby Machu Picchu were also aware of the town, which is how Hiram Bingham found it in the first place.

I was able to hike up a peak right next to Machu Picchu called Huaynapichu. Huaynapichu also has paths and terraces built by the Incas, and a bird’s eye view of the town.

Before I left Machu Picchu I took a quick stroll down one of the nearby Incan trails leading away from Machu Picchu. The path I took led to the “Incan Bridge”, which is a very narrow path chiselled into the side of a massive cliff by the Incas. People are not allowed to walk on the path today, because it is no more than a couple feet wide, and one slip would surely lead to death.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog post coming in a couple days. It will be a special edition dedicated to one of the three amigos!

The Desert Oasis

Today I am bed-blogging from my bunk bed in Cusco. Unfortunately James and I are both feeling the effects of a couple hard nights of partying followed by an 18 hour bus ride, and we’ve both acquired colds. Our fingers are crossed that we get healthy fast for the upcoming trek to Machu Picchu.

Since the last post, we arrived safely in the huge city of Lima where we spent a couple days poking around. Lima I find to be much more pleasant than Ecuador’s capital city Quito. The streets are much cleaner and smell nicer, there are some very picturesque areas of town such as the Plaza de Armas (pictured below) and the people are very cheerful and friendly.

The next stop on our journey was in the middle of the desert in a small resort town called Huacachina. The town is literally built around a desert oasis – with palm trees and a small lake included and is surrounded by high sand dunes. We ended up spending 4 days in Huacachina and activities included a wine tour (hence the hard partying), sand boarding, and lounging around the pool in the hot desert sun. Believe it or not, thus far we have not encountered any hot weather in South America (the weather has been comfortable, but not hot), so the warmer air was much appreciated.

The sand boarding was fun; the best way to describe it is that its like snowboarding  on really sticky wet snow.

But by far the most fun part of sandboarding was not the activity itself, but getting to and from the dunes. 10 of us rode in a big dune buggy with huge suspension and clearance, and the driver was an absolute maniac. When he saw some terrain that he liked, he puts the pedal to the metal and charges at it like a raging bull. We cruised back and forth across the dunes using them like jumps, rollers, and even a halfpipe. For the grand finale our driver took us down a huge hill until we were at the fastest speed possible, and then we hit a huge arc-shaped dune that sent the entire dune buggy airborn for what felt like a full second. It was incredible.

One other thing I have to mention can only be described by photo. The picture says it all (Yes, that is Jordan on the left).

Now James and Jordan are getting ready for their Inca Trail trek which leaves on October 7. The trek takes 4 days and finishes off at Machu Piccu. I, on the other hand, wasn’t able to book a spot on the trek with them (the spots filled up about 3 months ago), so I am going to go shopping and see if I can do one of the alternate treks to Machu Picchu. The next blog update will fill you in on how that goes.

I have had zero access to internet for the last week or so, so I apologize if I have been slow in replying to emails. I am going to get to them asap. Also, our NFL survivor pool took an interest twist when Jame’s risky Arizona Cardinals pick took a nose dive two weeks ago. Jordan and I are still both strikeless, but if James takes one more strike he will be sporting a brand new friar cut. And you can bet the photo will be up on this blog. All were safe last week since we all took Green Bay over Denver. Til next time.