Lake Titicaca is among the highest navigable lakes in the world, with its altitude of 3820 meter above sea level. It’s a huge lake that’s more than 230 km long, 97 km wide and has a lot of amazing history. The Incas believe that their first emperor rose from the Titicaca rock (Rock of the Puma), and the legend says that the sun was born here. In addition to all this, the Isla del Sol and Lake Titicaca in general, is a very beautiful place, surrounded by the mountains in this crazy high altitude.

We started by spending a night in Copacabana, before taking the ferry to Isla del Sol. I cannot recommend this though, as there is nothing really to do in Copacabana, other than shopping a bit of souvenirs, and spending way too many money on overpriced food and internet. This is, of course, the tourist hub for all the people going to Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna. Since it was carnival time in Bolivia, this day just so happened to be their big day of carnival – which made the town a bit livelier. Dancing Pepinos (special type of clowns at carnival in Bolivia) in the street is always fun and entertaining, though I had enough of carnival after carnival in Oruro and even a couple of days of carnival in La Paz.

The next morning we went up early to go with the morning ferry to Isla del Sol. The boats are old and slow though, so it takes quite some hours to get to the northern part of the island, where we started our trek. We started by walking up to Cerro Tikani at the height of 3936 meters, where there is an amazing view over the island. On the way there, you go pass the Titicaca rock (Rock of the Puma) and the Chincana ruins. The Titicaca rock is not really impressive, and makes one wonder why they believe their first emperor rose from this stone… The Chincana ruins are a bit more impressive, and looked awesome from the view of Cerro Tikani. I can only recommend people going up there, since there is no tourists and an amazing view of the island.

Then we took the route down to the south end of the island, which takes about 3 hours to walk. On the way it features a lot of great views, and most of the time you can see both the Bolivian side with the small town of Copacabana, and the Peruvian side with the much bigger town of Puno. It is an amazing small trek, with a lot of really nice views of the lake and the island. It ends up in the small town of Yumani, where there are a lot of hostels and restaurants. Most of them feature terraces with fantastic views over the lake, the perfect spot to relax with a cold beer after the trek. Of course we were followed by the carnival again, so most of the restaurants where closed because the people were dancing and playing music around the island. At this point I was getting a bit tired of all the carnival music, dancing people and closed places because of this one-time-a-year event – it is really a big deal in Bolivia.

We took the ferry back to Copacabana early the next morning, so I was able to catch an overnight bus in the afternoon to Cusco. I spent the last afternoon walking around Copacabana, shopping a bit of souvenirs and drinking some beer until my bus left. Copacabana is absolutely just a stop on the way to Isla del Sol, and recommend staying as little time as possible in this boring little town. Next stop Cusco, and the famous Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

You can see more pictures from Isla del Sol and Copacabana here.

Road going under waterfalls

The road going down from La Cumbre to Coroico near La Paz is rumored to be “The Death Road”, because of the dangerous conditions, narrow road and not less than 3345 meters of vertical descent. Though the road isn’t as dangerous anymore, because they build a new highway, and closed “The Death Road” for traffic, so now it is pretty much just bikers and the buses following the bikes going down the road.

That being said, the road is definitely worth mountain biking down. There are many companies in La Paz offering this trip, each with different prices, bikes and reason why you should choose these. I can only recommend the company DOWNHILL MADNESS, which seems to be in the middle of the price-range. They use Canadian Rocky Mountain bikes, and have English-speaking guides, just as all the other companies. Including in the price, you get the T-shirt (“Death Road Survivor”), and a CD with pictures and videos from your trip.

Ready to go down the Death Road

You start in the morning by getting the equipment you need in the right size (helmet, pants, gloves etc.) and then you drive up to La Cumbre (4640) where the trip starts. In the beginning the road is paved, and downhill on the asphalt you can go pretty fast. Then you go through a Coca checkpoint, where the police control for stuff that can be used to produce cocaine. Shortly after that, there is a short stretch where you have to go uphill – but because the weather was pretty bad this day, our guides decided just to put all the bikes on the bus, and drive to where the downhill started again. I wouldn’t mind going uphill, but being rainy and foggy, I didn’t really miss the challenge either.

From there on, The Death Road really started, going downhill on the unpaved and sometimes very narrow road. Makes one wonder how they actually where able to drives cars, trucks and busses on this road, in BOTH directions! No wonder their calling it the Death Road, when there was once traffic in both directions of the road. However, this is absolutely one of my best mountain biking experiences. Since it was rainy season, the weather was quite bad the first part, so unfortunately it was impossible to get a good view of how far down there was.

View from the hotel in Coroico, showing the new road back to La Paz

But on the lower part of the trip we got better weather, and luckily some nice views. In a distance of 3-4 kilometers, the weather changes from being ass-freezing to being hot-ass-hell. One moment everyone is wearing big jackets etc, and the next moment everyone is going in T-shirts and shorts.

The trips ends at Yolosa in a altitude of 1295 meters, where you can buy a cold beer and relax, knowing you “survived the Death Road”. After a little while you go to Coroico in the bus, to relax a few hours at a very nice Hotel, with big buffet and a very nice pool. The perfect ending to an amazing downhill experience. I can only recommend everyone doing the Death Road, if going through La Paz.

More photos from the Death Road, La Paz

Carnival show in Oruro

This weekend was the big carnival in Oruro, la Diablada, one of the biggest carnivals in the world. We left Sucre Thursday night, and got to the apartment we were staying in at Friday morning. Since it was impossible to book a hostel (we tried several times, but each time they cancelled our booking), we found a guy who rented a floor in a big house with no furniture. We had to sleep on the floor, but at carnival it doesn’t really matter, as you don’t expect to get much sleep anyway. It was only 50 boliviano per night, compared to hotels charging between 60 and 100 dollars per night, with minimum 3 nights.

The carnival was amazing though; the big parades started Saturday morning, and kept going most of the night. It was fantastic with all the dancers in costumes, big bands, music and happy people everywhere. No wonder people from the entire world travel to Oruro to see the carnival.

Chicas at the carnival in Oruro

During all the day, when the parades go on, there is constantly water- and foam-fights going on, so don’t bring a camera you worry too much about – it’s a good idea to bring a old camera, so you can still take pictures, without having to think about the risk of the camera getting wet.

After 8 o’clock in the evening, it is not allowed to throw water anymore, and the only “danger” is the foam that people still spray on each other. That’s a nice thing, because it gets pretty cold, and you won’t be able to dry from the water.

At Sunday the parade starts over, and you have a chance to watch it all again. We did not stay for all of Sunday though, since we spent all Saturday watching the parade.

Unfortunately this is also a great opportunity for thieves, as you a lot of times have to pass really big crowds, where it is easy for them to pick your pockets… I’ve never gotten anything stolen before, but this time someone got to my phone. I was in a crowd for like 10 minutes, and after my phone was just gone. I had to go to the police station at Sunday, before leaving Oruro, to get a paper from the police, for the insurance. I met a lot of other people there, who had lost cameras, passports etc. – so it’s very common during the carnival.

Also watch out for people working together doing scams; sometimes they spray foam in your head and eyes, and then try to pick your pockets. There are a lot of thieves and people trying to scam in Oruro during the carnival, so always beware and keep an eye out.

Tips for carnival in Oruro:

• If you want a cheaper hostel, book and pay at least a month in advance. (make sure you pay in advance too, otherwise they usually cancel your reservation later)
• Remember to book seats to watch the parade. Costs 100 boliviano for Saturday and Sunday – Calle 6 de Agosto is a good place to watch the parade.
• The show is beautiful all day, but the mood gets much better in the afternoon of Saturday, when people have been drinking some more beer and gets ready to party all night.
• Take much care of your stuff – the city is full of thieves and scammers. Bring only what you “can afford to lose”, but don’t be scared or paranoid.
• Most important: enjoy your time at one of the best carnivals in the world!

You can see photos from the carnival in Oruro here.

I’m not really doing that much here in Sucre, besides learning Spanish at Academia Latinoamericana de Español. It feels like I’ve learned a lot in a week, but there is still very much to learn. It’s very hard to speak Spanish, and explain things, because of my very little vocabulary. I’m learning so many new words every day, but it is so hard to remember them all, and to construct sentences when you don’t remember half of the words. I can understand a lot more Spanish than, but it’s still difficult when they speak so fast.

Mirador over Sucre

I found a nice gym right in the plaza, on the top of a center. It’s pretty cheap, 75 Bolivianos for a month, including entry fee. Compared to Denmark, it is really old equipment, mostly just weights and bad/broken old machines. But it got most of what I need, and it is nice to train with weights again. Otherwise I’m mostly just doing pushups and exercises for the stomach in the hostels when I’m travelling around. The gym has the most amazing view over the Plaza and the city, and walking up all the stairs is a nice warm-up exercise…

This weekend I went out eating at Los Balcones, a restaurant at the Plaza, with a lot of the other students, because it was the last day in Sucre for a guy at the school. Afterwards we went to Locots as usually, where they have happy hour from 22 to 23.
Rest of the weekend, I spent some time walking around town, and taking some pictures. The Mirador was really beautiful in the nice weather; it gives a really good view of Sucre. I also love spending time in the plazas and at the big market.

To get from San Pedro de Aatacama to Sucre, I took a 3-day trip over Salar de Uyuni, end up in the small town of Uyuni. The trip was really amazing, and Salar de Uyuni is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. We went with a bus from San Pedro to the Bolivian border, which is just a little house in the middle of nowhere. From the Bolivian border, the trip started with 4WD Toyota Land Cruisers – a car I really got a great respect from on the trip. In my car there were 3 Brazilians, a man from France, and guy from Spain, our local driver Juan and me. The car had a stereo where you could connect your IPod, so most of the trip we were listening to soft rock like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Pepper and a lot of other music in that genre. It was really great, and gave the trip a special feeling.

The view of a tomato!

On the way to the Salar, we stopped at so many lagoons, that they don’t feel so amazing at the end. I almost got sick of seeing flamingos and Llama’s, because they were everywhere. The first time I took a lot of pictures of the flamingos, but the next 5-6 times didn’t amaze me that much.
The Salar de Uyuni was amazing though! Almost a week before I went to Salar de Atacama outside of San Pedro – and compared to Salar de Uyuni it was nothing! The salar was so big and amazing! Everywhere you looked, it was just this white salt plain. Even more amazing was the Island of Cactus, in the middle of this big salt plain. As of out of nowhere, this great hill rises with lots and lots of cactuses, like a Island in the middle of the sea. There where cactuses over 1200 years old, growing about one centimeter a year. While this of course was a very touristic attraction, I was amazed that there weren’t more people there. Most of the time, you would find yourself wandering alone in all the cactuses, in the short hour we had there.

Cactus from Salar de Uyuni

Chilling in Uyuni

We arrived to Uyuni Wednesday afternoon, and together with the Spanish guy from our car, I bought a ticket with the bus, going to Sucre with a change of bus in Potosí. Our bus left around 7 in the evening, so we had some hours to wait in Uyuni. We used the time drinking some beers with a couple of Swiss guys, who had also done the 3-day trip. In the Plaza we met some musical people, so the hours quickly passed as we were playing music and singing. More and more people came, and right before we left, there was about 12 people sitting in this place, enjoying the time, chatting and drinking wine and beer. I was so amazed of how easy it is to talk to people, and just enjoy the company of each other. Compared to Denmark where everybody is in their own “tiny square”, where nobody else is allowed…
I also met a Columbian girl there, who lives in Bogota. As soon as she heard I was going to Columbia, she offered me to show me around town when I get there, so hopefully I’m going to meet up with her and her friends in Bogota when I get there.

I started studying Spanish at Acadamia Latinoamaricana de Español here in Sucre this Monday, and already met a lot of fellow students – even a Danish girl! Its quite rare to meet other Danish people here in South America, so its nice with a fellow traveler. It was her birthday Tuesday, so we went out drinking with a lot of the students. It was really nice, even though there weren’t many people drinking on a Tuesday. Expect some crazy pictures on facebook!

I’m really looking forward to a nice month here in Sucre, and I’m already learning a lot of Spanish.
Hasta luego chicos!