Saturday 29 December 2012

End of Bolivia and Peru's beginnings

Day after boxing day. Christmas spent delightfully in Cusco with the splendid and mervellous Adam, Andreas, Eoin, Gemma, Madeleine, James and Abdulla, much food scoffed, much drink drunk, many games played, much tv watched (Predator dubbed in Spanish being a highlight) many songs sung, and a general all round flippin´ lovely time.

I know it´s been a while since my last update, this is due to a number of things; primarily being mostly motionless for two weeks under hostel arrest in La Paz due to an inappropriately placed abcess and Wild Rover hostel (total party hostel) proved to be an anthropologically interesting/depressing experience.

I did, however, after looking with disgust at a number of semi-naked staff and residents dancing on the bar and saying "that will never be me", don a tiger-mouse costume, and along with my new found Aberdeenshire friend Pete, dressed as a smart-casual beach bear, and proceed to dance on the bar all night long which, it transpired, was an absolute hoot.

So since being told by Bolivian quacks that I could travel, I took a bus to Copacabana, a tourist town on the shores of Lake Titcaca, where I played charango on the beach to the sunset, before settling down for the night in my room with a view of the Lake, the night before getting a boat to the famous Isla Del Sol on the end of the world. I missed the party though, miscalculating that the party would be the night of the end of the world rather than the night before...so I arrived to the beach with the tents (and the heavy police presence due to the arrival of Evo Morales), where the celebration was, asked around and discovered that the party was well and truly over.

The Island itself, however, with its dizzying altitude, plunging cliffs, spiky arid plants, gentle shorelines, distant beaches, winding paths, ancient ruins and sacrifice table, was the breath of fresh air (literally) that i needed after the suffocating smog of La Paz. So I took my charango and after disembarking the boat (which took about 1 hour) pounced up the rocky paths which wound and snaked along the length of the Island, breathing deeply and grinning broadly, a reaction I always have to being in these beautiful and achingly huge open spaces, surrounded by minimal human life (other than the fact that Copacabana and the Island was riddled with hippies getting some kind of end of the world vibes and stuff) and striding with my long legs (courtesy of my Dad) through the beautiful land.

Drawing on the beach biding time before finding accomodation, two wee boys came up to me and curiously asked me what I was drawing. They were quite impressed (doesn´t take much to impress a 12 year old boy)  and I then proceeded to chat for a long while with Douglas, the older seeming of the two, who was the most mature 12 year old I have ever had the pleasure to meet. We talked of our respective family sadnesses, his mother works in tourism and hasn´t been home for 12 months, and about how important it is to have a creative outlet when you feel angry or blue. He was pretty amazing.

Since the Isla Del Sol I shimmied over to the stunning city of Cusco with my new found Isla Del Sol friends (a couple of lovely girls and some Ozzies) to meet my homies in our gorgeous apartment, jacuzzi included oh yeeeaaaahh. Where we didn´t leave the flat for about 3 days and preceeded to drink, eat, watch tv, play games, have jacuzzi parties and generally have a bloody wicked time. Photos of the past months to follow. ENJOY CATS!
love from a small village called Pisac where we have ventured to for a couple of days - google it, it is a stunning old Incan village in the mountains.


Thursday 13 December 2012

La Paz

Some phone pictures of la paz, as since my camera got wet and broke in a storm I've been using my phone which actually makes uploading easier... Enjoy!
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