"On the Trail"
Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia (Shauna)-
-------- The short verson ---------
145 kms and one day from Puno to my campsite just before Copacabana, Peru ... flat, paved (a treat to be able to watch kms fly by!), with loads of campesinos cycling (including a few women with their big billow dresses!).
My first hours in Bolivia were highlighted by the dramatic change from pavement to gravel, *and* a sunset over the Peruvian mountains in the west, Lago Titikaka sweeping out in the north, and a little later, the full moon rising over a mountain in the east. I felt like the natural world was welcoming me into Bolivia in style!
From Copacabana, I hiked a circuit of Isla del Sol - where it's believed the Sun and the first Incas mysteriously rose from the Lake. Beautiful, breathtaking, and fascinating the number of ecosystems in this island, and learning more about the Aymara culture.
Back on mainland, both tired and recharged, I hopped back on my bike for a spectacular ride to La Paz.... and the city? Wow! What a sprawl! Red brick stretching out along the flat land "above"... and then dropping off, with a looooong curving downhill 400 m into a canyon (almost 5 kms rim to rim) with red brick climbing up the walls and encompassing the entire "bowl" of a valley. It was cloudy and raining by the time I entered the city, but I have since seen the beautiful snow-capped triple peaked Illimani (6402 m) that towers in the background. First task on arrival -- to an internet cafe to find out that yes! I was still invited to stay with a friend of my Mom's cousin! Scribble down the directions, and here I am! Typing from the warmth of their home, after a hot shower and grrrrrrreat sleep last night! xo Shauna
--------- the loooooooooooooong version ---------
PUNO TO THE BORDER is rather uneventful - flat with a few short, soft uphills
and down. Much of the ride is alongside Lago Titikaka - beautiful! I
am reminded how I love wide open skies ...where the blue of the lake meets the
blue of the sky. A few times I had the company of a cycling campesino -
it's a joy to see so many bikes -- even a few girls on their way to
school, and women too! In their big puffy skirts! Mid-afternoon, I part with a
few spare chain links to help out Alcides on his way home from school.
Before the border, the road leaves the lake, is wide open plains, with a dark shadow of a hill a little ways ahead dipping down on either side of the road... leading me onward... all rather stark and beautiful. The pavement gets better for this last few kilometres to the Peruvian border-town, Yunguyo.
THE BORDER itself is dramatic - pavement, under a stone archway, to gravel. On both sides, people cheerily greet me. Immigration is smooth. I'm not flogged by money-changers - quite organized rather, with one woman on the Peruvian side of the archway and a woman on the Bolivian side, seated at small tables ready to change my Soles to Pesos. I'm only asked by one child for "un regalo" (a gift). Reflecting on the borders of Central America, as borders go, this one ranks as one of the best/easiest I've crossed!
WELCOME TO BOLIVIA: With my passport newly stamped, and waving hellos/goodbyes/ thank-you's, I round the now gravel road away from the border, direction Copacabana. Along with the dramatic change in road to gravel, I've moved from golden grasslands to greenery. No doubt these trees and brushes, coupled with the lateness in the day, is why I now also have sounds of birds twirriling around me. The dramatic change of the world around me heightens my senses - I stop to breathe it in.
To my left is Lago Titikaka; left and back are hills of the shore of Peru ... topped by whisps of clouds and the near-to-setting sun. As I continue on my way, I look over/back often - stopping a few times - to watch the changes of the colours in the sky.
When was the last time I've seen a sunset? (In the midst of mountains, the sun sets quickly with very little display. Or it's been cloudy/foggy.) I feel I'm being welcomed into Bolivia, not only by the smiles and greetings of the local people, but also by the wonderful golds and pinks playing around me.
BORDER TO COPACABANA: Leaving Immigration, I'm supposedly only 9 kms away. I calculate I have enough time before dark, if the road is more or less flat, and the gravel not too soft. With my stopping to admire the lake and setting sun, I cut into my available cycling-before-dark time. But am not worried. A toothless young woman with her first child on her back reminds me there is a full moon tonight. And, anyways, I'd rather camp outside the town and go the final distance first thing tomorrow. I begin looking for a place to camp with a view of the lake (wouldn't that be great to wake up to?!). The road is narrower than usual with mounds of gravel alongside - later I find out they're in the process of preparing this stretch to be paved.
Now dark, I walk with a fellow for a ways - he's in disbelief that I want to find a place to camp. When we come to a junction, lights of Copacabana just below us, I decide to see what I can find. By yourself? Aren't you scared? But it's cold! You're better off going down lower where it's warmer (we're maybe at 4000 m; going down would be to 3800+m). I tell my new friend that if I don't find anything, I know Copacabana is very close.
What I end up finding is an incredible view of the lake to the north west - five stars! With the full moon rising to the east. And no flat ground big enough for a tent. I perch myself on a tiny plateau, enjoy my vista and something to eat, before heading on for one more search ... to find my campsite.
In the morning, I wake up to a fellow walking past with his cow on a path a little below me. "Buenas dias!" And a few minutes later, a woman bustled by, throwing me a huge smile and a comment on my tent. I barely have time to respond with "yep, it's my mansion" and joke about coming in for tea.
She laughs as she disappears down the path, leaving with me the now ever so familiar image of a woman's back. It seems so many of them are always walking away... up a hill, into the plains, ... away from the highway. Her stocky figure, full skirt, and carting on her back something wrapped in their traditional beautifully woven, brightly coloured cloth. The bit of a tall brown bowler hat (in this region) peaking over top.
Other than that, I have no disturbances and wake up to a glorious day... get myself packed and back on the road for the last couple kilometres into Copacabana.
COPACABANA is fairly small and nestled in a small valley - built on a bit of a hill sweeping up from Lago Titikaka, and surrounded on all sides by larger hills. I stop to pick up some bread (I'm hungry!) and fill up my water bottles (empty!)
Down the street a bit is an agency, open but no-one attending, so I go into the next-door hotel to find out the scoop on trips out to the Isla del Sol (Sun Island). And in the end, the best information I receive is from a couple from France who are just getting back from their own visit to the island.
I buy my boat ticket from and park my bike in the hotel... then wander the streets and market while waiting for 1:30.
TO ISLA del SOL: On the boat, I realize "I really am on the tourist trail" as everyone seems to be either coming from Cusco-Puno-Copacabana; or the reverse. Bizarre feeling after being away from "tourism" for so much of my journey.
Hopping off the boat, we climb the "Fuente del Inca" (a steep stone staircase), passing "Compra, seņorita" (buy, miss) and rows of beautiful woven placemats and other goods. A young girl notices I have a bag of pasank'allas (large kernelled "popcorn") and tags along with me for a ways begging in a whiney voice. Maybe its my childhood days of my father telling me to talk in a "nice voice" - I ask her if she can repeat what she said in a nice voice. She can't. I ask her name; Gracela. As we walk and chat, she goes back and forth from talking normal and whining; from talking about life to begging.
At the top of the stairs, I bid farewell to the Bolivian, Colombian and Israeli I had befriended, and am off and "running"... soon to discover that I am the only person to have chosen this route. Interesting. On, but yet off, the beaten tourist trail?
ISLA DEL SOL: Eager to get to La Paz, I had debated the worthiness of visiting the island - totally worth it!! Very glad I made this little whirlwind tour!
Highlights:
Day 1 - walking north.
The vista. A path weaving through houses and chacras (small plots of cultivated land) with a constant view of the lake. Trees and shrubs. A spectacular view of snowpeaked mountains. Land jutting down below me to a "beach" and a football field. Stopping and chatting with a couple local boys (well, early 20's) on their way back from highschool - an hour walk for them each way. The Ethnic Museum, learning more about the Aymara culture. Beautiful coloured feathers make a prime ingredient for their ceremonial dress - the feathers received through trading, I'm told, as from my observation, there seem to be only small brown-grey sparrow-type birds here on the island (ehem, how can you tell, I'm not a birdwatcher?!). Tourism here is rather recent - 10 years - before, and still to some extent, the economy was based on trading. The director (?) of the museum tells me via an article on the wall, "money will kill our community and our culture unless we take action to control its source - tourism." He is concerned about the introduction of the current school system; and if our kids are going to learn a second language, English would be more valuable than Spanish.
Hitting nightfall before reaching my destination - I sit and snack with a view of the lake... dusk to dark... then make my way the final couple hundred meters to Cha'llapampa. With the help of Obidio, I find myself in a new (4 months) hostel of his cousin and a room with a view, for 10 Bs (less than $2 US). Obidio walks me back to the beach where I watch the yellow full moon rising. I go to sleep to the occasional flash of lightning, and the sound of rain and wind - glad to be nestled inside!
Day 2 - I awake, as planned, in time to see the sunrise - the first part from my window. The latter part from the beach. 7:30 visit to the museum - opened just for me as I need to get going back the south-end of the island. 40 minute walk to the ruins further north. And 5 minutes up to the highest, northern most point. Worth it! My walk-run south - fabulous! Vista - pampas; grassland on the rounded "top" of the island, with the view of water all around. I pass a few campesinos coming up with their sheep and/or cows. Now I look down on the trees I wandered through yesterday. Cloudier, the snow-peaked mountains aren't as clear. Still beautiful. I am continually stunned at the blue of the lake.
GETTING BACK TO COPACABANA: It's 10:00 a.m.
and I'm conscious of time... the Island path seems never ending. Can I
really make the whole walk in less than 2 hours? I meet up with a couple
of tourists heading north. They tell me it took them an hour and forty
minutes to get to where we are. Yipes! No way I can make my 11:00
boat. We'll see. I get to the town and start heading to and down the
Fuente del Inca ... it's 10:40... 10:45... whew! I can totally make it!
... 10:50 ... and there's the boat chugging off. Argh! (yesterday, I
specifically asked, if I get here by 11:00, you'll be here. Yes.) A
private boat owner tells me I can charter a boat... and when I tell him I have
10 Bs for my boat ride he tells me he doesn't believe me. He pesters me
for a bit. I tell him briefly about my journey. A few minutes later
he's bugging me again. You have more than 10Bs. How will you eat?
Live? "Listen." I say, "It's my choice how much I choose to
spend on my boat ride. I allocated 10 Bs." He accepts this and
doesn't bug me any more... "in fact, if my clients come before I have
another ride, I'll take you.... if you want to walk to the Temple, I'll stop and
pick you up." In the end, there's a group of tourists who have on
their ticket 11:30; their boat is the one I saw leaving at 10:50 and they need
to be back for a bus at 1:30. They charter a local boat, I chip in
my 10 Bs and we're back by 1:00. I wonder if the agency refunded
them?
READY TO ROLL: After a splurge on a delicious vegetarian lasagna and a trip to the market, I discover and am touched by the fact one of the hotel workers has tied a souvenir reed boat to the front of my bike ... and red-yellow-green coloured yarn to where the Bolivian flag will go on my flag-pole.
4:00 p.m. ... on my way to La Paz! Late to be heading out, but I figure it's best to get a few kms under me, to get into the big city the next day before dark.
ON THE WAY: I can't believe how big Lago Titikaka is!! I mean, I know the square kms... but still... Here I am on just the southern end of it, and it seems to keep going and going. On my left. On my right.
I decide to find a good camp spot where I can watch the sun set over the western part of the lake, and tomorrow morning the sun rise over the snow-capped mountains in the east.
A.m. ride is up a bit, flat, up some more and then down to the water's edge to take a boat across the "estretcha" - a narrow passage in the Lake. I was told yesterday that from here to La Paz is about 75 kms... and there's a sign that says 112 kms - erp! Can I make it for mid-afternoon?! Up up, flat, down, up ... if there's much more of these "ups" I won't make it. I'm now with the lake on my right flat all around, and to my left a snow-capped mountain range. Beautiful!
I am continually astounded on how frequently our world stuns me!
A pay station - Having lost my odometer, I stop to ask how much further to La Paz. I figure I'm about 20 kms away and crossing my fingers it's not further. "2 kms," the man on the other side of the window says. What?! "Are you sure?!" I ask. The man says "Yes, I'm sure". Another man peers over his shoulder "Hola, linda" (hello, pretty) Really? I say again. "Yes." How far to the center? Maybe another 3-4 kms.
.... and here I am in LA PAZ. No longer a dot on the map!
Shauna
<---previous journal | journal list | next journal --->