La Paz

La Paz

A terrible, terrible place

Travel to: Bus (Trans 2 de Febrero)

Hostel: Wild Rover

Activities: Getting sick, Death Road, shopping

Travel from: Bus (Trans Copacabana Mem 1)

Total Time: 5 nights

Before I get started on La Paz, I have to mention to anyone that will ever travel from Copacabana to La Paz... Don't be scared when you are removed from the bus to float across a river. They won't take your luggage off the bus but all the passengers will be put on a boat because "sometimes the bus sinks"

!!!!!!!

Reliable transportation

Can you see The Scorpion King painted on the side...? what?

Nuestra Señora de La Paz

A capital city of Bolivia. 

Elevation: 12,000 ft

Population (metro area, census 2001): 2,300,000

We traveled here by bus from Copacabana and took a taxi to our hostel.  

Plaza Murillo, La Paz, Bolivia

Random things about the city I will never return to…

Air quality was awful. Compared to breathing in Arkansas (The Natural State) La Paz was like a crowded, smoke-friendly bar. Try not to inhale deeply on the streets. The sidewalks were itsy-bitsy-teeny-tiny narrow in most places. Getting around the person in front of you meant a quick step onto the streets. This is a dangerous step because of how lax the traffic laws are or perhaps of how aggressive the drivers are. 

It's a major city in South America, I wouldn't expect anything different.

I just prefer the smaller towns, I guess.

We met multiple travelers that were involved in car accidents in this city. 

People getting T-boned in taxis. Yikes...

The retail environment here is majorly informal. We bought shoes, sunglasses, jackets, flashlights, and soap all on the street. Thousands of one-man tiendas litter the sidewalks making it even more difficult to pass. They sell everything from dice to televisions out of makeshift stands for the lowest prices possible. If you’re shopping in South America, do it in La Paz.

On the other hand, if you’re eating in South America, stay away from the street food here. 

Unsanitary. Lots of illnesses.

Bolivia is the poorest and most underdeveloped nation in South America.
I definitely noticed more poverty Bolivia than any other place I've been. In La Paz, if this guy wasn’t asking to shine your shoes a homeless woman or child was asking for handouts on every corner. 

....BUT! 

Kids in Bolivia were so happy!!!!! I never saw a Bolivian child cry. Their mothers would carry them on their backs like this lady below is carrying her groceries, all wrapped up in a blanket. They would just bounce around and smile all day. It was precious. 

Bolivian woman and (maybe) a baby

Bolivia has the most indigenous population in South America. The way women dress in this country is very distinct; long skirts, high socks, ponchos, blankets, bowler hats and two long pigtail braids. Bolivian women are very easy to identify. Health care problems, slow progress in development of women's rights, combined with an historically misogynistic culture makes the females of Bolivia have some of the highest maternal mortality and illiteracy rates in the world! There has been progress on these fronts under President Morales but there is still a lot of work to be done. 

We picked a popular week to stay in La Paz. Coincidentally, it was during the same period President Evo Morales was spending time in this capital city. (Bolivia has two capitals: La Paz and Sucre). 

I’m not going to get too political here but based on my experience, the public has very strong views related to President Morales. The groups of people opposing Morales were also in town that week, armed with dynamite, in the mood to entice a riot.

We really didn't do that much in La Paz. Charishma got sick for a few days, maybe from the altitude but we're not really sure, so I just hung out in the hostel and took care of her. 

The sounds of dynamite exploding in the streets kind of scared me too, and I was entertained enough within the hostel walls that I didn't feel like a shut-in/wallflower/loser. 

I did do a little exploring while she recovered...

The Witch's Market downtown sells mummified Alpaca fetuses for good luck charms

(CD I borrowed your picture. Kudos, you're an awesome photographer. 

Is there anywhere besides FB you post your photos I could put a link to?)

::BEST PART ABOUT BOLIVIA::

Fresh juice stands on every corner 

This is a "to-go cup" (bag with a straw) 

Random. 

Hillary Duff does advertising for Bolivian foundation?

The hostel we chose in this city was one of the legendary party hostels (similar to where we stayed in Cusco). Wild Rover is a popular youth hostel with three locations in South America. So many people we met at this hostel we saw again somewhere along the backpacking circuit, most notable of which being our favorite Dutch travel companions. 

I'll also probably never forget the two Kiwi guys we were bunked with in a 10 person room. 

What grown adult poops their pants? 

 Stefan and Yoshi 

We traveled with these two for the next three weeks until we left Bolivia. 

-That's like three years in backpacker time-

They are from Amsterdam and taught us all about Holland. 

I will share our list of Dutch phrases later.

I’d absolutely recommend staying at Wild Rover if you have the chance. It’s one of those places I will never forget. It is in a great location, has comfortable beds, yummy food (for a hostel), and awesome staff. 

Some of our roommates in Wild Rover

Beware, beware of the dice game!!

Rules: whoever rolls the lowest number buys shots for everyone who played

Result: FML :-/

However, if you’re looking for a place to get a good night’s sleep… you may want to try somewhere else.

I attempted to take a nap one evening in a 10 person dorm… fat chance. If the crazy Kiwi roommates didn’t wake me then the bored bartenders will. They’ll randomly parade in with free shots in efforts to keep the party going 24/7. This isn’t hard to do in a city that has cocaine bars.

Yes. Bars… that serve Cocaine. Just like I can order a gin&tonic at Z330, I could order a gram of blow at Route 36. According to The Guardian it is the world’s first cocaine bar. It never operates in the same location for long periods of time, so to find the spot you have to ask around. Charishma and I had no interest in going to said bar, but I was curious enough to ask some of our hostel friends about it. A British mate told me a gram runs BOB$100 (about $14.00 US) and there is no limit to be over-served. 

Some people will get on very dangerous week-long binges and emerge from the Route a new, presumably destroyed,
person. 

I know this fact is super interesting to some people but I don't have a story about it so Click Here to read one person’s tale of  “How I ended up in a cocaine bar in Bolivia”.

He's a much better writer than I am anyway.

Story time...

People always want to hear the crazy stories from South America. The most insane things that happened, I wasn’t there for. But I’ll tell you what I heard…

If you were surprised at the mention of cocaine bars... this next part will shock you. 

Perscription drugs such as (Bolivian grade generic) xanex, ambien, pain killers [you name it] were all easily accessible at any of the farmacias on the street. I know this because I had gone to get Charishma medicine while she was sick and later needed pain killers after the bike wreck. Good system, it was helpful to us, as I'm sure it's helpful to the locals with no health care.

That's all the drugs I had experience with.

But like I said, there were some really out of control people at Wild Rover.

And what's the point of a great story if it isn't shared?

One day while Charishma was resting from being sick, I met an especially eccentric American fellow from Idaho who shared his stories with the Kiwis and me in one of the common areas at Wild Rover. He was one of those people who is a truly great story teller. He was also one of those people who had some truly great stories to tell. He was a fan of the coca leaf, always chewing as he spoke. He had little black bits of leaves in his teeth all the time which took him from an 8 to a 2, quick. 

We talked about coca leaves for a while. I wasn't familiar with them before this trip (but that's apparently what cocaine is made out of). It's one of Bolivia's -completely legal- largest cash crops and a huge source of revenue for the government. The local people chew them for energy, to alleviate hunger, and stay warm. They're also good if you are having problems with the altitude. I had some coca leaf tea on the train to Machu Picchu when I was feeling light headed and it helped a lot. 

There are different ways to chew these leaves and I learned adding baking soda to the mixture helps increase the buzz. We moved on to another topic when Mr. Idaho told us about the trip he took on ayahuasca, a psychoactive tea created by mixing banisteriopsis caapi vine and DMT leaves.

(No, I did not remember all of that. Yes, the details are from Wikipedia)

I can't do his stories justice here, like I said he was an artist with his words. But for entertainment's sake I'll try to paraphrase what he described...

Long story short: his ayahuasca ceremony, like many before him, was lead by a Bolivian Shaman as a sort of ritual. When he arrived to this place (I picture a big field, but who knows) he confessed to the Shaman what he was seeking in life and a question he hoped to which he hoped to find an answer. Around 30 other individuals confessed their desires and took a single sip of the ayahuasca tea. Everyone supposedly has unique reactions to this drug, some require 3-5 drinks while others will respond after a single sip. “It’s a spiritual trip”, he said. A sober Bolivian local will assist each person through the violent vomiting that occurs before hallucinations kick-in and an all night long, drug-induced rage commences. The guide stayed with him while he went through this experience was provided with food and water the next morning. The whole group of strangers came down together. He said it was a life altering night. 

This is coming from the same guy who was out 

following the sounds of dynamite during the day because 

being involved in a riot was on his bucket list. 

The same guy who snuck into Brazil and Bolivia 

...just to say he could.

The last mind-blowing drug he told us about was something he could only find in the jungle with a tribe of locals willing to take him in. After hearing about this, I have decided it’s one of the worst ideas in history. Mr. Idaho, however, was ecstatic to share his experience.

That’s all backpacking is really, creating and sharing experiences with complete strangers.

Somewhere deep in the jungle along the Bolivia/Brazil border, this man sought out a tribe that participated in a ritualistic piercing and poisoning of its members to elicit a psychedelic response.

Basically this guy let some tribal man stab him in the arm with a sharpened stick 9 times and cover the wounds with frog venom. He wanted the full affect; it was his prerogative to be pierced that many times. The poison goes straight through the wounds into your blood system, causing a very intense reaction.

I’m out of synonyms to describe a drug trip. 

Anyway… he said it stayed in his system for weeks, diminishing as time passed. Five is the magic number to have the euphoric feeling elicited by this “ritual” become permanent.

I met this guy one day at Wild Rover. Talked over a few beers, and never saw him again. I don’t even remember his name.

To this man, I hope you’re still out there 

living an adventurer's life 

and will die an adventurer's death. 

Anything else would be a travesty.

moving on...

Honestly the only thing of real note that we did in La Paz was 

Death Road

The North Yungas Road, at the border of the Amazon basin, is infamously referred to as Death Road around the world. It got its name because it is quite literally the most dangerous road on the planet. The History Channel did an episode about this 43 mile downhill route that connects La Paz to the town of Coroico and said it claims 300 lives every year. Photos will do this road more justice than my words can.

There are plenty of agencies that offer bike tours of Death Road. We used Barrio Biking and rode with a guide named Americo, who bikes the path 6 days a week. 

We were picked up from our hostel in a van and drove to this lake to try out our bikes and gear-up. The first section is a paved road that didn’t give anyone trouble. 

Once we took a turn onto the rocky part, the trail got narrower and the stakes got higher.

Charishma and me

This is not the kind of tourist attraction you want to take lightly.
It’s called death road for a reason!!

Our group was awesome! Everyone was backpacking from places all over the world: Holland, South Africa, UK, Ireland, USA, and Germany. Halfway down the mountain we realized that somewhere behind the helmets our favorite Colorado two-some were riding down with us.

Meet Chalex

Fellow travelers out of Boulder, CO.

We will see them a few more times in this blog.

They make me look like an amateur traveler. 

Check out Al's blog www.ILikeGoingPlaces.com 

and/or watch this video to see what I mean. 

I was doing so well to begin with! Although I had never been mountain biking, I felt comfortable on my bike and stayed near the front of the group. About 2/3 of the way down I took a turn too fast and my bike skidded out from under me. My body slid about five feet over the rocky terrain towards the end of the cliff but came to a stop before I flew off. Luckily… VERY luckily… I crashed on a wide turn and came out of it with only a few scratches and bruises.
Scared the crap out Charishma though because I didn't move for a minute after the crash.
Sorry, girl.
I went a little slower after that but still finished the ride.

And now I have a cool scar on my arm.

The whole group at the bottom

So there's one more story about the bike ride I have to tell, because it would be a sham if I didn’t.

The Girl Who Totally Stole My Thunder 

‘best bike wreck of the day’

Our group was stopped on the side of the trail, off our bikes, just chatting and waiting for everyone to catch up, when a girl comes around the corner with a look of terror in her eyes.

She obviously had no idea how to work hand breaks. 

She was already yelling apologies at us as she sped directly at me, so far out of control that I had to dive out of her way, before she ramped OFF! THE! CLIFF! 

It was incredible. 

She survived by grabbing onto the shrubbery and even caught the bike with her feet. 

I peered over the edge to see if she was alive and she threw her glasses to me, 

“HOLD MY SUNNIES!”

(English people lol, right?)

Anyway, the guys in our group helped her climb back up to safety. She said something like, "wow that was embarrassing, I'm going to pretend that didn't happen..."

Nobody said a word until she was gone.
I think we were in shock.

Our group helping the girl back to safety. 

(She's laying on the other side of the bike)

So that's all I have to say about La Paz. I met a lot of interesting people, learned some new things, fell down, got back up, and bought the bar 21 shots.

We left La Paz after the bike day and headed to the other capital, Sucre. Our intentions were to meet a friend of mine who was living in Santa Cruz but she couldn't make it.

Sucre, in my opinion, is the best and most beautiful city in Bolivia. 

I'll tell you all about that and our 3 day tour of the desert next time.

-CJ

Thanks for reading! 

Bolivia

Charishma and I spent three weeks traveling the western and southern regions, seeing the beautiful landscape and experiencing the unique culture of Bolivia.

Instead of going to the bus station to book a ride that we could be sure would go directly to Copacabana, we stayed true to our Cusco-hermit-selves and stayed in our hostel, Loki, using their travel agency to arrange our transport. On top of the cost being higher than the bus terminal would charge, we had an incredible experience getting across the Peruvian border into Bolivia:

The bus was overnight cama, meaning it left at 9:00pm from Cusco, had fully reclining seats, and was set to arrive in Copacabana at 9:00am. It was a rather comfortable bus and blankets were provided. We always slept with our purses in our laps on these long bus trips, but weren’t bothered by anyone until 6:00am when the driver woke us up to exit the bus and get our bags. It looked like the last scene of Se7en when Brad Pitt gets his wife’s head delivered to him in the desert, vacant and dusty.

We were in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe this is the border crossing?

No. No, it was not.

The driver pointed down the road, “Copacabana, alli.” 

There was a van sitting idle at an intersection with a Bolivian man waving us over. As our warm cama bus drove off towards La Paz, two Irish girls (the only other passengers traveling to Copacabana) marched with us in the cold to the van, lugging our backpacks and duffle bags along too. It only took about 45 minutes for the van to fill up with Peruvian travelers for us to head towards the boarder. Charishma dropped her ipod between her seat and the door and although we looked for it when the van stopped, it was gone forever.

Our driver dropped us off when the road was blocked by a single chain and instructed us to walk to Bolivia.

Ok thanks, see ya never… enjoy the iPod.

Charishma straddling the Peru-Bolivia border

The office didn't open for another 30 minutes so we waited outside with the Irish girls until the officers would let us inside. They didn't speak any Spanish and were relying on us to help them get to CBBA but they would have to wait... Americans have special requirements for entering some countries. Bolivia is one of these places. Charishma and I were aware of the tourist tax (reciprocation fee) of $135US and came prepared with a copy of our passports and two small visa photos of our selves for the border agents. 

Be warned; when paying this fee in Bolivia, have enough bills to have a few not be accepted. 

They only want THE crispest, THE cleanest, THE newest and most virgin bills available. 

Anything less will be rejected. 

We were not aware that the man at immigration would be half an hour late to work that day and give us annoyingly specific interviews. The Irish girls got stamped, no problem. 

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am, enjoy Bolivia.

Not Americans though...

After we were finally approved to enter the country, the four of us took a taxi towards Copacabana. We put all our bags in the trunk and shared a great sigh of relief that the exhausting South American travel was finally over... then the driver threw my duffle bag onto one of the Irish girls to make room for a little Bolivian man to hop in and ride in the trunk. 

Typical. 

Copacabana

Travel to: Over night bus (recommended by Loki) à Van à Walking à Taxi

Hostel: Perla del Lago

Activities: Paddle boat, Isla del Sol

Travel from: Cusco

Total Time: 1 night

When we arrived, exhausted, at 9:30am it was too early for check-in to our hostel so we connected to wifi to update friends and family on our safe arrival to Bolivia. The power for the entire town cut out 5 minutes later and remained off until 6:00pm. Lonely Planet (aka the Bible) had already told us there are no ATMs in the whole town, and we were prepared with cash to exchange.

$1 USD = $6.85 Bolivian Boliviano

*Every other little store will offer currency exchanges with their own floating rates. Shop around for the highest price for your money.

The purchasing power of the American dollar in Bolivia is confidence boosting, but also can be tricky. I downloaded an app to calculate how much money we were spending – almost nothing over $5.00.

CBBA is a small town on the shores of Lake Titicaca filled with restaurants, travel agencies, and tiendas. It serves as a launch pad for travelers visiting Isla del Sol or a rest stop for those headed to La Paz from Cusco. We shopped around during the black out day and bought some more warm clothes: scarves, gloves, and some ear warmers. Alpaca is warm and cheap in these areas; we were loading up on gear before the freezing nights we’ll spend in Uyuini.

The tienda owners got on my nerves at first because they wouldn’t barter, wouldn’t smile, and would charge gringos higher prices than the locals.

I mean…. I get it, makes since for them, it was just frustrating.

Lake Titicaca at sunset

The main attraction of Copacabana, Lake Titicaca is beautiful and clean. Paddleboat rides were only $15 BOB, which is a steal since they are shaped like Swans.

Worth it!!

There wasn’t much else to do, esp with no electricity so we went to an LP suggested café called Coffee Shop Copacabana that had a fireplace and something to eat. They let us stay there for a while reading and writing until it was time to check-in to our hostel.

Charishma warming in the restaurant 

What else there is to do in Copacabana when there is no electricity

play cards... read... take a nap :)

Four person rooms are usually pretty easy-going, but there was a sickly German girl who used all the TP and hot water in the shower that irritated Charishma, my pocket-sized travel companion that gets cold in 70-degree weather. The hostel wasn’t bad but had no central heating, so it was chilly at night. We booked our Isla del Sol transport with a company that would drop us off on the north side of the island and leave 5 hours later from the southern port.

Isla del Sol

Travel to: 1.5 hour boat to the north side of the island

Hostel: N/A

Activities: Inca ruins, N to S hike

Travel From: Scorpion King bus

Total Time: 5 hours

All that traveling to get us here:

Again, worth it. 

Isla del Sol is positioned about 90 minutes by boat away from the shores of Copacabana. We traveled here for the day to see the ruins and hike the island. Most of the habitants on the island are farmers, producing for their own sustainability. The view was 360 degrees of breathtaking; clean blue waters and fair weather. During this easy hike, we visited a few small (in comparison to Machu Picchu) ruins, ran into the Irish girls again, and met an interesting couple of heterosexual life partners from Colorado that would entertain us for months.

Charishma sized doorways at the ruins

After the 5 hour hike on empty stomachs, we were starving. We stopped at a "restaurant" that sold pizza (Charishma is a vegetarian. We ate MUCH pizza during this trip which is 100% fine with me!!!! :) 

But after using the restrooms at this fine establishment and watching our chef feed his donkey while cooking our pizza... we kindly declined our meal, paid for it anyway and made way for the boat back to Copacabana. 

The Ladies Room

We found a little tienda that sold Pringles and each devoured a can to hold us over. Gross, I know.

Charishma keeping warm with the Pringles cans 

In efforts to limit the length of my posts, that will be all on Bolivia... for now!

Still to come in Bolivia: 

La Paz: a terrible, terrible place - including the Death Road bike tour that almost killed us all... ok maybe just me.

Sucre: aka the Hilton Suites of Bolivia 

Potosi: 36 hours of sickness I won't go into too much detail about. probably. 

Uyuini: ...to bring out the inappropriate pictures, or not, that is the question?

Salar de Uyuini: 3 days in the desert with no running water doesn't even begin to cover it.

Still to come in South America:

Chile

Argentina

Brazil part 2

Thanks for reading :) 

Peru

Peru

At the end of the WCOB Brazil Summer course, I flew from Brazil to Peru

Recife à Rio à Lima à Cusco 

arriving on June 10, 2012.

Charishma and I at Machu Picchu 

Charishma, my feisty and intelligent Indian cousin who will be my travel companion for the remainder of the summer, had arrived from Arequipa earlier the same morning after her travels in other parts of Peru. I actually only participated in less than half of the Peruvian travels that she experienced, but she really enjoyed the other places she visited.

Charishma:

Lima à Huacachina àArequipa àCusco 

For any travelers reading this post, I’ll mention the highlights of the beginning of her journey, just logistical things- she can fill you in on the good parts J

Lima

Transport: Spirit Airlines

Hostel: Puriwasi and Kokopelli

Activities:

Sightseeing in Miraflores and Barranco,

Peru vs. Colombia futbol match on huge projector screens in a bar district

First Pisco sour

Salsa club

Travel from: Chicago

Total Time:  3 days

The nightlife is good, but there’s not much to do during the day.

Standard Peru prices for shopping. 

*Know how much you’re paying for a cab before you get in and agree on a price with the taxi driver.

Huacachina

Transport: Lima à Ica à (cab) à Cruz del Sur (bus)

Hostel: Desert Nights

Activities: Sandboarding

Travel from: Lima

Total Time: 1 day

Arequipa

Transport: Cial

Hostel: Wild Rover

Activities: White water rafting

Museum

Club with live music (some famous Peruvian band)

Most disgusting pizza she’s ever eaten

Travel from: Ica

Total Time: 3 days           

*Cial is the worst bus she’s taken so far.... until Bolivia

We met each other in 

Cusco

Transport: Taka Airlines/ Oltursa

Hostel: Loki

Activities: Machu Picchu

Travel from: Lima/ Arequipa

Total Time: 3 nights

Date: June 10-12, June 14

Cusco’s center, Plaza de las Armas was bustling and bright and we were fortunate to have great weather during the day. The town's economy is centered on tourism; travelers stay there for a few days on the way to Machu Picchu mostly to adjust to the high altitude. Cusco was close to bankruptcy while Machu Picchu was closed to the public for 6 months due to flooding in 2007.

Peruvian people are friendly. The locals are happy to have tourists [and their money]. The vendors may become a nuisance at times but harassing would be an overstatement. As obvious foreigners to Peru, Charishma and I had many, many people try to sell us things if we stood still for too long in the streets. 

We never felt like we were in danger –but our wallets probably did!

Charishma and 1,000 scarves

Tell me someone has seen the South Park episode about the Peruvian flute bands!? 

...I was interested to find a toy guinea pig amongst the scarves.

Conspiracy...?

Kids dancing in the Plaza de Armas

Cusco’s birthday is coming up this week, but the festivities had already begun in the streets while we were there. Children would dance and sing traditional Peruvian songs around the square in their school uniforms. During the day, traditional food such as roasted guinea pig or chicken with potatoes and vegetables was sold on the streets.

It is much colder in Peru than in Brazil. 

I’ve had to buy all kinds of gloves, coats, leg warmers, socks, jackets, hats, etc to keep warm. Luckily, the prices are low enough to not break my bank and I’d left enough room in my backpack to accommodate extra clothes. Every other store in Cusco had a very nice selection of North Face and Columbia jackets (the official North Face store claimed they were fake, but I’m skeptical.) Apparently we weren’t the only ones who didn’t anticipate the cold.

The first two nights in Loki, Cusco –an Irish owned chain of party hostels- was a fantastically rude introduction to the life we are about to share for the next 8 weeks. 

For anyone who has never stayed in a hostel:

It’s an amazing experience to meet people from all over the world. Many of our hostel-mates were glad to see Americans out of our own country. They know American geography surprisingly well (Kansas City? Arkansas?) and all ask about frat parties! It’s like an urban legend J “uni” (college) isn’t quite the same abroad as it is in the US. 

Campus life is exceptionally uncommon.

We’ve met people from Ireland, England, Wales, Germany, Holland, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Austria, Russia, Israel, Japan, Canada, and South Africa – and we’re only 2 weeks in! The rest of the world seems to be more inclined to explore other corners of the earth. This being said; all of these people speak English. I can count on one hand the number of non-Americans I’ve met that are traveling South America that know more than 5 words in Spanish.

Body language is universal, so they get by.

Irish people at the hostel being loud, drunk, and Irish

Hostels are really interesting to me.

Cramming anywhere from 4-16 guests in one room, they staff maybe 3-5 full time employees, and hire locals for the manual labor. The bar staff is made up of backpackers like us who are taking long trips and have time to stay stationary for a few weeks in exchange for free beds.

Loki Cusco in particular is located at the top of a HUGE hill 10 minutes walk from the city center. Seems like a great location on mapquest, but no one wants to walk the hill! The hostel becomes like a black hole you can’t escape from: there’s good food, drinks, hot guys with accents… where else would you want to be?

It’s a trap!–
...a good trap ;) but it gets you.

Charishma and I never went out in the city of Cusco. [Like I said, the hostel sucked us in.] We had a great time there and saw everything we wanted to see but left fully aware of the hostel-game, armed and ready for La Paz.

Customer review?

Loki was fantastic!

The food was cheap but tasted great. The staff was friendly and there’s always something going on. We even used the in-house travel agency to gather information on Machu Picchu travel (although we arranged it ourselves for a lower cost) they helped us book our bus to Copacabana. The rooms are big, beds are above average, and they supply lockers both in the rooms and at reception w/ outlets to charge any electronics. (I love the Internet so it was slightly annoying to me that the wifi is only available in the bar, but I also met more people that way, so no complaints.) Laundry services are available right across the street, cheap and speedy. The atmosphere in general is laidback and ready to party.

Ironically, it’s kind of like a frat house.

Ollantaytambo

Transport: Van ($10 BOB)

Hostel: none

Activities: catching the train to A.A.C.C., and back to Cusco.

Travel from: Cusco

Total Time: 1 hour

We only briefly passed through Ollantaytambo on our way from Cusco à Aguas Calientes, the base town for Machu Picchu. We took a cab in Cusco to the van station where we were told the 1:00 van would get us to the town in plenty of time to explore and enjoy the ruins (available for a price). However, as we quickly learned, the things that should happen in South America rarely occur the way you’d like to expect.

For example: no van will leave the location unless there are butts in 90% of the seats available 

so sit next to who you would like to sit by when you first enter the van; it will fill up!

Charishma and her sleepy Peruvian friend

We waited until 1:45 before the van was filled to the driver’s liking then began the hour and a half journey along the windy Peruvian roads to Ollantaytambo. 

About an hour in, the van broke down on the side of the road.

[All we could do was laugh]

Its just part of the experience

I honestly began considering walking/hitchhiking after half an hour of no progress (the train tickets are pretty expensive, we didn’t want to miss our train) but the van kicked to life around 2:30 and successfully delivered us to the town with just enough time for lunch before our train left. 

Another quirky thing about van travels in Peru that we could only laugh at was the driver’s lack of regard for the passenger’s agenda. If he has an errand to run, you will wait in the car.

“Sir I have a train to catch” (In English or Spanish) doesn’t faze him. 

He needed to get something in that store over there…

Aguas Calientes

Transport: Inca Rail

Hostel: Pirwa

Activities: Machu Picchu

Travel from: Ollantaytambo

Total Time: 1 night

The whole town is a glorified market.

*Know your power as a consumer here! That leverage allows you to set your own prices at restaurants, request free drinks, and shop around.

If the 500 tiendas, 100 restaurants, or 50 hostels weren’t there, the only thing in the whole city would be the bus/train stations and the hot springs (which we did not visit).

The Inca Rail

An alternative to the train is to do a few days hike to AACC

(We didn't bring our camping gear or anything so we just took the train)

There wasn’t much to do besides spend money in A.A.C.C. so we purchased our bus tickets to the mountain (although some people hike from here) and our tickets to enter the ruins and climb Machu Picchu Mountain.

*Students with an ISIC card get half off the attraction! (Score!)

We went to bed early and had our own room with peace and quiet.

Honestly, I hardly slept.

Machu Picchu in the morning!?!!

I’m such a child lol too excited to sleep.

Machu Picchu

Transport: Bus

Hostel: N/A

Activities: Hike Machu Picchu Mountain

Travel from: Aguas Calientes

Total Time: 6 hours

Sunrise!!

(haha I just noticed that my outfit is ridiculous)

We go up at 4:00am to pack and get ready for the day at M.P. We were on the 3^rd bus that reached the mountain and some of the first people into the area. In our first pictures at Machu Picchu we are wearing every layer we had packed. It was very cold before the sun came up. We pet the alpaca grazing around the grass before latching onto the back of a tour group (cheap?... or genius?) and listened to some of the history until the sun rose.

It was astonishing to witness.

Andes Mountains

The ruins themselves are incredible to see but the terrain they are surrounded by make the setting really unfathomable. At sunrise, the light illuminates the surrounding Andes Mountains slowly. The ruins’ green grassy plots stand alone -on flat land- bordered by agricultural plots and built with stone that doesn’t exist in the natural environment. 

"HOW?" was my consistent thought. 

But that's why it's a World Wonder, no one knows...

North Face.

Pay me.

They say you can’t take a bad picture at Machu Picchu. I think they’re right because we took about 250 of them. 

I couldn’t get over it.

Sergio, my Alpaca friend

(kinda function like cattle)

There are multiple treks available at Machu Picchu. The most popular Inca Trail takes 3 days to complete, the most difficult Waynna Picchu must be reserved months in advance, and the most awesome (because it’s the one we did) is climbing Machu Picchu Mountain.

Charishma, hiking MP Mountain

We started our hike at 8:20am. By 8:30 we had shed our first layer of clothing. By 9:00 we were in tank tops. It took us an hour to reach the top; we believe the altitude had something to do with how out of breath we were.

Catching the Cusco flag at the top of the mountain

oh... lost it...

...whatever.. yay we climbed the mountian!

The ruins from the top

We ate crackers and bananas, finished our water, took a video and about 30 more pictures before heading back down. The people we passed were sweating bullets since the sun was reaching high noon. We were laughing and telling inappropriate jokes, talking about “how bad I need a massage after this” when I saw it !!!! .............

(I had been looking for critters all day long and all I’d spotted was a spider and some mosquitoes… and the alpacas.)

The path was only about six feet wide with a steep ascending hill on the left, and a steep descending hill on the right. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the creature, 20 feet in front of me, the size of Romeo (my giant dog/horse), all black but with larger paws and a shorter snout. 

It was a baby black bear.

I tiptoed up to it, careful not to step on anything that would startle the beast. I have experience with this size animal, so I first offered him my hand to sniff, making him aware I am not a threat. I kept eye contact as he examined my offer, as Hagrid has taught us, great creatures such as this do not tolerate disrespect. He slightly snarled before taking four short whiffs of my left palm. I knew he could smell the crackers we ate at the summit. I motioned to Charishma behind my back to hand me a few he could eat. He appreciated the snack and scoffed. We were friends, not foe. I touched his coarse fur and rubbed his ears just as I would to Romeo, who is basically a small bear himself. We had a short photo shoot and he introduced us to his parents.

...and that’s how Charishma died.

J Can you guess which part of that is bullshit?

But for real, I saw a bear! 

Some German guy hiking up saw him too, but the bear ran off before I could get a picture.

At the ruins in the middle of the day

The ruins were buzzing with tourists by the time we returned to the base. 

We'd spent a total of 6 hours at M.P.

Best. Day. Ever.

We took the bus back to the train, and the train to Ollantaytambo where we got back in a van. The van took us to Cusco where we walked up the hill to Loki, and spent one more night in the hostel. This time in a room with 5 Israeli dudes and 3 guys from the UK who helps us drink a proper farewell to the frat house.

Peruvian delicacy, guinea pig, in the square

South Park episode makes since now... I mean, as much as South Park ever makes since

Our last day in Cusco was my other favorite. Sore as all hell, we stood still in the city square for as long as it took until someone came to offer us a massage.

Full body, hour-long massages for the equivalent of $5 USD!

Heaven.

We even tipped (for the first time in South America) and felt relaxed after the 3hour hike up Machu Picchu Mountain.

We took a night bus (booked through the hostel) to Copacabana, Bolivia.

…But that’s another story.

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Thanks for reading! Bolivia will be next. 

-Cj