11.5. - 27.5. - Finally - Bolivia and and also some Peru

11.5. - Tupiza – Quatena Chico
In the morning we packed our stuff and bought some bread on the street as there was still no breakfast available. At 8h we were ready to leave as told but of course nothing happened. We said good bye to the Swiss and finally left at 9h on a pick up truck. Luckily we did not have to walk out of town. There was no road block but the 4WD cars waited out of town for us where we boarded our Nissan Patrol. On the pick up truck I met a French who told me that they actually tried to leave for the tour the day before but couldn't and had to return. So no one knows what really worked the day before or not. Our driver Carlos was a nice guy, and our cook Antonia was very quiet. Our first stop was the Valle de la Luna, very nice! We crossed amazing landscapes and climbed up a pass to an altitude of almost 4900m. We had a headache and our travel mates felt even worse. All of us were constantly chewing coca, as this is said to help, but it did not help much. When we arrived in the evening we were very exhausted and got some tea meanwhile we had to wait for the dinner. We did not get the announced coca tea but instead a nix of different teabags. I tried 3 sorts, as we had to wait a long time. When Antonia saw that she said to me “Uno amigo!”. The dinner was not very special. Two of the local boys played music to us. A strange event, with both of them singing or one of them playing pan flute, both completely out of tune. In our hostel were also the two other groups of our tour company. A group of French and a group of Belgians. We had a lot fun with the French but went to bed early as we all had a terrible headache. Our very basic accommodation was at an altitude of around 4200m. Felix and Fabian were very exhausted and almost regretted going on the trip. Radka also felt sick and we all had a quite bad night.

12.5. - Quetana Chico - Huayllajara
In the norning we were still quite exhausted and had still our headaches. The breakfast was very basic with too little bread and we found out that Antonia did not buy coffee. Luckily we still had some of our own. We started at 8h and again crossed amazing landscapes which names I don't remember. In the afternoon we checked in our hostel quite early at around 15:30, this time at 4300m, and then went a short distance to the laguna colorada. This was so unreal. The water has a very intense red color from algae and there is white sand and also a lot of other colors around the coast of the laguna. Very amazing! Back in our hostel Radka took a freezing shower but felt better after that. I still had a headache. Our driver was meanwhile changing the break pads. It was freezing cold outside and inside while we had to wait a long time for our tea and dinner. I went for a walk with Radka, and we found out that the other groups stayed in different hostels. We did not know why. Back in the hostel we asked if we could light the oven and luckily we were allowed. So Carlos helped us to get the wood and light the fire and soon it was much better in the dining room. The child of the family was very active and ran around all the time with a tiger hat and kept us quite busy. Dinner was again not great, fries and loads of onion mixed with one sausage cut in small pieces. The best was the wine we brought ourselves. Later an organized tour group of 9 arrived and also had dinner. We talked a bit to them and it was fun to hear about what issues they complained. Later the mother of our host family complained about the mess around the oven, which actually was mostly caused by the tiger-child, and Carlos had to rid it up. Soon we went to bed and again had a terrible night with a lot of headache in a very cold room.

13.5. - Huayllajara - Chuvic
I woke up with an bad headache and also the others complained. This time I had to take a tablet which helped a little. After our breakfast, this time quite good pancakes though too little,  we again crossed amazing landscapes. Many lagoons with Flamingos and also very cool stone formations smoothed by the wind. Later we crossed a salar with only 50% or so of salt. It was a mystic atmosphere as there was a lot of wind and dust and thus we could not really see where we were driving. It was as if driving in the void. In the middle of this salt flat we crossed the rail tracks to Chile. We had a stop in San Juan at a shop which did not look like one at all, there in the middle of nowhere, and bought a bottle of wine. Carlos told us that we had a change in our plan and so we did not drive to Uyuni but to Chuvic where we stayed in a special hostel which was built completely out of salt bricks. We already felt much better as the place was just at around 3600m altitude. There was more life in this hostel but the other groups we knew, again, were not staying with us. As we were the first group to arrive we were really lucky and got two rooms. Our room was really nice and the hostel even had a warm shower. Though we had to pay for it and register for a time slot. Later when we had our tea time, Radka and I had coca tea and mate. Catherine and Scott from Florida as well as two Germans joined our tea party. Dinner was not great at all. Overcooked pasta with a 90% onion 10% mushroom sauce. At least this time all of the groups had the same dinner and we did not have to look enviously over to the other tables. The best was again the soup, which was actually really good. Radka and I had our bottle of wine, while the other groups were eating and Felix and Florian were in their sleeping bags because it was again very cold. Later others joined us and we were the last to go to bed at 21:30.

14.5. Chuvic – Uyuni
We got up at 5h and left at 5:30 in the darkness driving onto the salar. In this area the salar was still flooded with water from the rainy season and was not dry yet. So we drove in a convoy of many cars through the water in the dawn. It was amazing. When we drove onto a dry part we stopped to wait for the sunrise. Unfortunately, there were quite some clouds, but still it was great! We were playing around a bit with the famous salar perspective photos and then continued to the Isla de Pescados. This is an island in the middle of the salar full of Cardones cacti, the biggest of which, 12m high and thus around 1200 years old. After walking around on the island we had breakfast, this time with cake. We continued driving on the salar and had a quite long stop to take photos. Unfortunately, I had to find out that my camera was not very useful for this kind of photos because of the limited aperture. We went on to the hotel and museo de sal, but it was closed. So we continued to a small town, where all the tour groups stop for lunch and shopping of souvenirs. Then we went on to Uyuni. Just when we arrived we got a flat tire. Carlos replaced it very quickly and then dropped us at a hostel. Felix and Fabian decided to go back with Carlos and Antonia to Tupiza to go to Argentina from there and we said good bye to all of them. After we checked in I adjusted the plug of my charger from Argentinian to US standard with pliers. Then we bought a ticket to Sucre for the next day. After that we walked quite far actually to the cemetery of trains. This was also a very nice place and we took a lot of pictures of the old rusty wrecks. Some of them were even adjusted to form kind of a children play ground with swings and seesaw. We walked back to the center into an internet cafe. After that we wanted to try the Rough Guide suggestion for eating pizza. The place was very expensive and actually located in a hotel, so we decided to try another place. There were pizza placed everywhere and little different from that. So we gave it a try and had a pizza. It was a lot of dough so we had to take part of the pizza home. We met a Czech tourist group and talked to them for a while before we went home.

15.5. Uyuni – Potosi
After packing we went into the center to have a quick breakfast before taking the bus at 9. It was a 5h ride with a break half way. Rather punctual we arrived in Potosi at around 14h. Two Japanese girls also looked for a place to stay and joined us in our search. We took a micro (i.e. a minibus) downtown and then walked the rest to the Koala Den, a recommended place. In fact it was really great! We got a nice room and a great breakfast was included. We went to the laundry and then booked the tour to the mines for the next day. Later we went to eat in a Rough Guide recommended place which was in fact awful. The food was rather cold, not very good and quite expensive. Later I got the laundry back and Radka wrote blog. Suddenly, I started coughing and my nose started to be runny. I had a tea and went to bed. We spent some more time in bed selecting photos and went to bed.

16.5. Potosi
In the morning we had a great breakfast indeed! Tasty fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and as a miners special also pancakes, for everyone who books the tour in the hostel. Then the tour started. The bus took u to a place where we got rubber boots, pants, a jacket and a helmet plus lamp. Then the tour continued to the famous miners market which is said to be the only place where everyone can legally buy dynamite. One can also get almost pure alcohol there, which the miners drink, sometimes mixed, sometimes not. We bought presents for the miners there, a mix of dynamite, soft drinks and coca leaves. We continued to a refining plant, where the miners sell their rocks and the where the silver and other elements are extracted. After that we continued to one of the mines in Cerro Rico. The adventure started. In our group, the so called sexy dynamites, (the guides give the groups always funny names) we were 7 and had a nice guide. First we had to walk in 500m with a short stop in a cavity because two wagons full of rocks were just pushed out and there are few places where there is enough space so that the wagons can pass you. The air inside was really bad. At 4100m the air is already quite thin, but if you mix this which huge amount of dust it is really tough. Our first stop was in a small cave, where the mine workers kept their kind of “saint”. They give presents to him so that they will be safe and that the mountain will give them minerals for a long time. After this stop Radka, and another girl, left the tour as  everything was too narrow for her. We continued to one level deeper, which meant climbing down a narrow cave. There are no lifts or trains for the workers. We reached a place where they were loading the stones from wagons to baskets which were lifted up with a rope to the upper level. Then we went on even further down. This time we did not only have to climb down but also to crawl through a very narrow section on hands and feet. Down there we reached one miner who works just for himself and thus has to do every step himself. At that time he was hammering a hole for dynamite. The guide suggested that we should try, pretty hard work indeed! Especially in such thin and bad air. We climbed and crawled back up one level and went quite far further in. It was another place where they loaded material from kind of  vertical to horizontal wagons. Back there it was very very hot. We had to take off jackets and t-shirts. It was also very humid and again so much dust, it was really hard to breathe. Again we could try working there. I did not try for a long time. Back out we had to almost run some stretches because of less possibilities to escape from the 2 ton wagons being pushed out really fast. Once we suddenly had to turn around and run back to a safe place. Out in the light we suddenly realized how much oxygen there is infact even at 4100m altitude! :) We had a brief stop to change back to our cloth and then went back to the hostel. There we took a shower and then went to the mercado for some food. We met two Danish girls who joined us there. Then we continued to the tourist info and went up the mirador there. After that we visited the royal mint museum, Casa de Moneda, which was nice and felt like being back in Kutna Hora in Czech Republic. Then we went to the cathedral where we went up the tower and had a great guided tour together with Heslo from Hungary and our enthusiastic guide Dulfredo. He explained us very detailed and so that we could understand even though he told us in Spanish. The tour lasted 45min longer than the church was actually open. Back in the hostel we met again the British girls Natasha and Amie and the danish girl traveling with them, who we keep meeting everywhere in Bolivia. They also did the Koala mining tour with us. We went out to eat together in the Koala Cafe, to make the Koala experience complete. The food there was great and a lot. We enjoyed! It was a fun evening!

17.5. - Potosi – Sucre
Again a great breakfast after which we packed and went out for a short walk through the city. We had a nice fresh orange juice and enjoyed the nice streets before we took a taxi from the hostel to the bus terminal. We took a bus at 12:30. I tried to get some empanadas for the journey, but only found some strange filled rice balls which at least filled us. Three hours later we arrived at Sucre. At, not in, because there was a road block at the entrance to the city. So we had to walk across it. Luckily there was public transport on the other side, so we took a micro downtown. We found a nice hostel and then went out to find a place where they would repair our pants. Radkas zipper was broken and I had a pocket ripped open. We found  place and then went through the mercado. We met Roger, a Dutch, again who was also on the mining tour with us. He recommended us a place to eat, La vieja bodega, where we later went. I had a burger and Radka an indeed very spicy pollo picante. After dinner we had some beer and Caipirinhas.

18.5. - Sucre
The breakfast was quite small and nothing compared to the last two days. We took a micro to the bus terminal, but it took a long time. There were many road blocks in the city by school students and so the bus had to go back and forth to find its way. After 45 min we arrived and bought a ticket for the night bus. We took another micro on from there to a place where they found thousands of dinosaur foot prints. The guide there explained very well and it was really nice to see the wall of foot prints. We had a saussage burger as a snack there and then took a micro back downtown. On the way we passed a pollo Kentuky and a Mc Donas. :) Back there we went up to a Mirador by a church or convent. There we met again two Germans we met at the salar. Then we went to the textile museum, which was very nice. Very detailed and creative weavings. We went back to the main plaza to have a juice and some break. I then went to the museum in la casa de la libertad and learned about the history of Bolivia, Sucre and Bolivar, and finally also that the second official flag is the flag of the indigenous people. Radka meanwhile helped some girls with their English homework. After another juice we went to the hostel to pick up our luggage and go to the bus terminal. There we had to check in our luggage, like at an airport. We went to eat some fried chicken in a place nearby and had some strange papaya soft drink with it. At 7 we left and had to find out that we got the worst places, next to a toilet not functional but used and behind our seats a lot of trash, which they were probably driving around for a long time already. It was stinking awfully. When I asked the bus helper if the trash could be removed he said that he could only do that later. Hours later I put the trash to the entrance door of the bus to remind him. We could hardly sleep although it was a cama bus because it was stinking so much and the driver as driving like crazy. Everything, one would not hold on to, would slide left and right in the curves and we were on the lower level of the bus. Later, we had a long stop from around 2 til 3 am with the doors open. It was freezing cold outside and soon also inside. I took out the sleeping bag from my checked in luggage and still was shaking because of the cold. We also felt sick in the stomach. A while after that I finally fell asleep.

19.5. - La Paz
We arrived early after what was our worst bus ride on the journey. We took a taxi to a recommended hotel, Fuentes, and took a room. It was not so cheap but we were happy to get the room at once as it was just a bit past 7 am. We went to sleep as we felt both very sick. In the afternoon we went out to buy bananas, coke, cookies and other stuff we thought could help. Back in the hotel we slept for some more but still felt sick and had diarrhea. On TV ther was nothing good so we just continued sleeping.  

20.5. - La Paz
In the morning we did not feel much better but tried the breakfast. We had fried eggs. We went back to bed and stayed there. In the afternoon there was the Champions League final on TV and we watched it. After that we felt ready to go out of the room again. It was then that we found out that our hotel was actually located I the middle of the witch market, where old women sell lama fetuses and all kind of other weird stuff along with many herbs. We walked to the principal plazas and on one of the last we met an English guy. He asked us if we knew about the prison tours. In fact at one side of the plaza there is a prison which is famous for being self organized. The prisoners have to buy an apartment inside this prison and have to work to pay for it. Their families live with them in the prison and go out and in freely. It sounds very crazy. Well, and you can go on (illegal) tours inside. You just have to wait on the plaza to be asked. The English guy was not lucky so no one asked him. We went home and had some dinner across the street. Chicken soup and a fish. Soon after we went to bed.

21.5. - La Paz
This time we got a toast for breakfast. Right after we went to the Coca museum near our hotel. There was a lot to read and not so much to see, but it was very interesting. We went on to the cathedral, which was nice and on to plaza de estudiantes. The tourist info there was unfortunately closed so we went to a restaurant called Vienna. It was in fact a very authentic Austrian restaurant owed by a guy from Weiz. Unfortunately he was not there. We had Wienerschnitzel and Apfelstrudel. It was good! After that we went to the tourist information. The woman was very helpful and recommended us to go to a mirador. We took the suggested micro up the hill and had a very nice view of the city. Then we went to the museo de arte contemprano. Most of the things there were very dark and kind of negative, but still there were a couple of really nice pieces. We especially liked the drawings of Hoffmann and Froilan Cosme. After the museo we went back to the hotel and watched some Tarantino movies on TV.

22.5. - La Paz
I had a very bad night, spent mostly awake on the toilet. After breakfast we slowly started the day and took a micro to the cemetery. There we caught a colectivo to the border which also passes by Tiwanacu, an important ancient site. We had to wait until the colectivo was full and then spent 2h driving there. They dropped us off at the crossroads and we had to walk the last 20 min. We first went to the pottery museum and then on to the ruinas. The ruins were very nice. Very nice walls with perfectly fitting stones, and also some stelae and portals, like the door of the sun. Then we visited another museum where almost everything was closed except for a big room displaying a huge estela. After that we visited another part of the ruinas and took a colectivo back to La Paz. The mini bus was not much bigger than a VW bus and had 15 seats which were all occupied and a box on which another three plus one child were sitting. Amazing how many people fit inside such a small bus. We went back to the hostel and soon after out to eat. We had fish in tomato sauce and a good soup. In the evening we watched TV again. Inside man, was quite a cool idea for a movie.

23.5. - La Paz – Copacabana
After breakfast we went out to find a place to change our last Argentinean Pesos. Unfortunately, The best I could find was a rate of 1:1 instead od 1:1,59. So we decided to stay with the Argentinos and rather pin them to the all than exchange them for such a rate. Well we still hope to find someone traveling the opposite direction. Then we checked out and again took a micro to the cementerio. There we got on a bus to Copacabana, which left almost immediately. In front of us sat two young guys who were stinking so awfully that people turned around to see what was that smell and opened a window right afterward. As soon as we reached lake titicaca, the landscapes became really nice. We also had to take a short ferry. It was funny that we had to go off the bus and take a seperate ferry while bus was on a small wooden ferry jut with the driver. After 4h we arrived in Copacabana. We went to a recommended hostel which turned out to be not such a good deal. It was a bit expensive and very run down. Still we took it and were not so happy out or decision. After that we went to see the cathedral and bought some boat tickets for the next day. We went to a restaurant and had a coca tea while writing postcards. We took a fish menu which was ok. Back in the hostel it was very cold, so we could not really enjoy our lake side view and went to bed soon.

24.5. - Isla de la Luna – Isla del Sol
After leaving part of our luggage in the hostel, we had a breakfast across the street. We took the boat at 8:30 and by chance were sitting next to a Swiss/Lichtenstein couple. It was nice talking to them. We also meet some guys from close to Vienna on the boat. After around 2h we reached the Isla de la Luna. There is a nice Inca site on it and we also climbed the small islands hill. It was a nice view. We were back at the boat after 1h which was kind of a ok time, although the guy selling us the ticked assured us that we would have 2h on the island. We continued to Isla del Sol, which was the most important island and ceremonial center of the lake at times of the Inka. First we went to a palace at the southern end of the island and then did a 4h trek crossing the island south to north. It was an amazing scenery. The lake looks sometimes more like the sea and there are many really nice mirages to see all the time. Along the trek we met some fun French all the time. At the northern end there were again some nice ruins. In Challapampa we looked for a hostal and a in fact really nice guy showed us his hostal. We got a nice room there with lake side view for just 50 Bolivianos. Though, all the hostels including ours are more like construction sites still. On the beach there were many tents and it as a fun scenery watching pigs and cows passing tents on a really nice beach. We went to eat in a simple place where we had trucha (trout) which was actually the only dish except for soup or omelet. We could see the stars very nicely from there as there is not much disturbing light. It was amazing.

25.5. - Isla del Sol – Copacabana - Puno
In the morning we wanted to take the 8:30 boat back and thus wanted to have breakfast before. However, we had to wait quite a bit until it was possible to get something to eat. After finishing our breakfast we were already leaving. It was a 2h boat ride back to Copacabana. Back there we met the two Australians from Punta del Diablo again. Really funny coincidence. We also met two Tirolians and two others from Vienna. We bought a bus ticket to Puno and fethced our luggage. Then we went to a close by cafe to write postcards and had, actually for the first time in a long time, a good coffee there. We asked if the post office had a break. They said, no, but were unfortunately wrong. So in the ned we were not able to send our postcards and have to do it in Peru. The bus soon reached the border and it was no problem crossing into Peru. On the bus we met Edgar, a tout who organized a hotel and a boat trip for us for the next day. He seemed to be a nice guy, although I don't like these guys. When we arrived in Puno we had a look at the suggested hotel and actually, it looked pretty ok for the price. He also suggested us to take the Inca Express on to Cusco, a bus which stops on the way for some sites. We gave some laundry to the hotel and went out to eat. We tried the suggested Machu Pizza, which would probably be good if they would use less than half the cheese. We were very full afterwards.

26.5. - Boat Tour
After a basic breakfast we were picked up for the boat tour at 7. Edgar was also there and we agreed on a price for the Inca Tour bus to Cusco. We were around 30 on the boat and had a guide telling everything in Spanish and English while making terrible jokes all the time. Soon we arrived on the famous Uros, the floating islands, which are man made. Amara people live on the islands and obviously they are very used to the tourists, if not dependent on them. It was really crazy. We had to go on a short boat trip on one of their reed boats which they called the Mercedes Benz, as it was a rather big boat and pay for it 10Sol which is quite a lot there. Then the women were singing local songs along with “vamos a la playa” and other stupid things. The interesting part was the explanation how they build the islands out of reed. Then they wanted to sell us a lot of souvenirs, small children even tried to sell some primitive drawings they did at school. Our guide told us that they receive tourists only 1-2 times a month as the boats always go to different islands. Given the number of boats around us and only 70 floating islands this figure could not be true. We asked the islanders and they said, that they have tourists 2-3 times a week. Quite strange of our guide to tell us such stupid things, among others. Then we went on to Taquile island. It took us 2,5h to get there. On that island there live Qetchua people who wear different kinds of hats of belts to signal if they are married or not. Furthermore Edgar told us that there is a famous market on the island on Saturday. In fact the whole island was full of tourists and a few dressed up locals who were selling souvenirs. There was no market anywhere. It was such a disaster. We also went to a local family to have lunch there, which was of course not included and quite expensive. At least the soup and trout menu was good. While eating we talked to a German girl and some others and found out that we paid 60S while all the others only paid 40S. Great! After this splendid island excursion we had to go back another 2,5h. At least our guide was quiet and we did not have to listen to his stupid jokes. The scenery was nice, though, and I talked to Jim from the US. We had a nice conversation about traveling and all kind of other stuff. He and his wife are into kite surfing and live half year in Mexico, half year in Oregon for that purpose. Back in Puno we searched for a place to eat which is not easy if you want to have something inexpensive. Finally, we found a quite ok place where later also a wedding party came in. Back in the hotel we got back our laundry and went to bed early.

27.5. - Puno – Cusco
After a brief breakfast we took a taxi to the Inca bus terminal. There Edgar was waiting for us. We asked him about the price difference, bu of course it was not his fault but the companies and well, the missing market, he did not even comment on that. At least he did not ran away with our money but really got us tickets for the Inca Tour bus. We left at 7 and again had a guide telling everything in Spanish and English. I don't get why they don't offer either Spanish or English tours. Our first stop was Pucara. We only visited the museum for 15 min where our guide spent all this time talking. When I asked our guide why we don't go to the temple, he said that there was no time and that it was too far anyways. Well in our 10 min. of free time I ran up towards the temple to at least see it from the distance. Our next stop we could have skipped and added these 10 min. to the stop before. The stop was a pass and the highest point of this journey. In fact only a place where all buses stop and legions of souvenir and artisan sellers are approaching you. After that we had a stop for the included lunch buffet, which was quite good. We shard the table with two Swiss. It was fun. We also found out that there were four other Austrians on the bus. The next stop was the Raqchi temple. A huge Inca construction, of which only parts survived. However, still impressive! There we had a bit more time (20 min talking guide + 25min free) which was ok. The last stop was at the Andahuylillas church with impressive gold decoration and paintings inside, which is unfortunately under renovation, so some parts were not visible. Besides was a museum about mumies they found there. Very nice! In total quite ok tour, though the guide could maybe tell the stories beforehand and not lock us to a point when there is not much time at the sites anyways. Well, and we really had to fight to get our included drinks when it was not time for them. Another really awkward thing was a woman getting on the bus presenting two DVDs about Peru and trying to sell them. In Cusco a guy wanted to show us to a hotel, but we did not want to. Then he claimed to have a taxi and that he could bring us to the hostel we wanted to go to. In fact he just organized a taxi and then told the driver to go to his hotel. We insisted to go on to our desired hostel. We succeeded and arrived at the Andrea hostel, still with the guy following us. We also had a look at another hotel nearby but had to find out that the Rough Guide mixed up US Dollars with Soles, so we decided to stay in Andrea hostal. It is a bit basic but the owners are very nice and finally also the tout fortunately disappeared. Our host explained us everything about how to get to Machu Picchu the cheapest way without any need of any agency. Unfortunately, we checked on the internet that tickets for the Huayna Picchu are sold out for a week now. In the hostel we also met the British girls again. Really funny coincidence! :) We went to eat in El Mordisc'o as suggested by our host and it was in fact good and cheap. Later we watched some TV and finally I had some time to catch up with the blog.