La Paz, Bolivia

Hey you,

We went back to La Paz for one last night due to flights from Cochabamba didn't leave early enough to make our flight from La Paz to Santa Cruz (for then to go to Argentina).

We were lucky as we wanted to go on the yellow cable cars last time, but we simply ran out of time. The below is our view from our hotel, located directly opposite a cable car station.  

We therefore jumped at the opportunity to go on the yellow cable cars, that goes to south of La Paz. We had been told the buildings were complete in this are and that most of the world embassies is located there. 

The yellow cable cars and the green cable cars are the only two colour that are connected at a station, so we took the green to the last stop. It turns out that is the place we had heard so mich about as it has a completely different look and feel to La Paz city center.  Everything seems so much calmer and civilised. 

One of the reasons we chose to go to the last stop of the Green Cable Cars was of course cood. We visited the biggest burger place in town, Factory Bar&Grill. It was delicious!  

So we say goodbye to La Paz and hello to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  

Write soon, xo

Oscar Ahlms Boys Home, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Hey you,

We have now spent our week here at Oscar Ahlms Boys Home in Cochabamba. Being here had been an interesting experience amd it will be hard to leave (tomorrow). 

About the Home:
The boys home is a place where 19 boys currently live. Some has poor families that can't afford to take care of them, others have none. The home has room for over 50 boys but due to lack of government funding and limited sponsorships from Norway and Sweden, they can not afford to take any more in. It is very sad as there are so many more that needs a place like this, a secure home with regular meals and a positive atmosphere. The only employee, besides the family that runs the place,  is a chef. Due to the financial situation,  the food is as expected. Bread (often dry) and a hot beverage for breakfast (prepared by the boys),  Soup and a hot meal (usually either a rice or a pasta meal for lunch (prepared by the chef), and reheated lunch for dinner (reheated by the boys). The left over lunch sits in the kettle from lunch til dinner time and the meals are often triple carb but sometimes only double carb. 

 

About our stay: 

We arrived on a Thursday and overnight we becamr uncle (tio) and aunty (tia) to 19 boys, for that is what they call us. We spent the first day playing UNO and basketball (that we bought for them) with the kids, to get to know them. No one here speaks anything other than Spanish so we have been using my translation apps and Google Translate a lot to communicate. On Friday we bought and prepared pizza for the kids. For desert we had bought them jelly and they seemed very happy with us. 

 On Saturday the family took us to a market as we wanted to buy some things for the kids. As they needed socks and sandals the most (and as shoes was to expensive for us), we bought them socks, sandals and tshirts. We also bought a soccer ball and three movies for a movie night that we later had with a bowl of chips for each kid (also a very successful night here).

On Saturday some other kids from the Salvation Army visited the home and they played soccer for a few hours before church, then coffee and pastry.  

We spent Sunday playing with the kids and another church session. On Monday a lady from Finland came to visit us and it turned out her first language was Swedish. We were able to get more information about the home and the potential future for the kids as well as information about Bolivia and other homes. We used her as a translator so we could communicate easily with the family here (whom only speak Spanish). We found out that the home had requested funding from the government for painting the place,  but it had not been approved after several attempts and a long time had passed.  We therefor offered to pay for some paint and so we did. We sanded, washed and painted the common room in two days. 

On our last day, we went grocery shopping again. This time we bought ingredients for tacos and soda for dinner and doughnuts for desert. It was a great success with the kids.

 

After dinner on our last nigh we gave each of the kids their socks, sandals and tshirts. They were very excited as soon as they saw the bag full of sandals and socks and I have to admit I expected them to be slightly disappointed.  I know it's because they are growing up with few possessions, but I am grateful for their gratefulness.  As a thank you to us they had made a picture book from our stays with thank you notes. The book is in the shape of a home with Oscar Ahlms on it and I absolutely love it! 

It will be very hard to leave the boys tomorrow and I hope we can help in the future. Perhaps we would be able to pay for one of the boys to go to university, as their future is so very uncertain.  

Write soon, xo 

Uyuni, Bolivia

Hi friends and family,

Our trip to Uyuni from La Paz turned out to be very interesting,  as locals blocked the road in protest. Apparently protests happen a bunch here and the guide had noe idea what they were protesting in this case. As we had no way of getting through,  we followed other cars driving on dirt ''roads''. After an hour on bumpy "roads" we finally came to a town where we could continue the journey on actual roads. Half of the drive should have been on dirt roads but we were lucky enough to be able to stay on the propper road all the way as theu had newly opened it for use. Yaaay.

The Salt Flats of Uyuni was everything I expected and more. We were very lucky to be able to see it dry and wet (wet gives the ground a reflection of the sky), it looked very cool either way.

We also stopped at a train grave yard, very interesting place indeed. Apparently they leave the trains here as a reminder of how Chile blew up the train trecks. 

Tomorrow (20 April) we head back to La Paz for one night before the volunteering in Cohabamba area. 

Write soon, xo

La Paz, Bolivia

On our way back to Puni from Lake Titicaca, I became unwell. I first thought it was sea sickness but as I continued to worsen through the nigt I realised that I was most likely food poisoning. I had the worst night ever as on top of it all I got a migraine.  I was not feeling much bettet by morning,  when we had to leave early for our journey to La Paz. The trip was log and uncomfortable but we got there in the end.

The day after we joined a walking tour of the city if La Paz. It was very interesting but I don't think I like La Paz that much. Sure, it is full of interesting history but it has a general dodgy feeling about it and plenty of corruption.  Plenty of unfinished buildings and we were told how they sacrificed (still does at times) drunk homeless people and burried them alive at a construction site before buildig houses. A ceremonial thig their witches used to do (does) for them. I am sure there is more to the belief but I am not willing to explore this belief any further. Today each house , nower once at lest,  has a dead baby lama under their house. At the witches market you can also see plenty of dead dried baby lamas hanging in the ceiling, for sale.

After the tour we headed to the cable car for view of the city. It does look amazing as it is so big and in a valley surrounded by mountain ( and some with snow on the top all year round).

Write soon, xo

Tiwanaku, Bolovia

Today, i woke up feeling much much better, finally! I still have a fever but at list I can stand up streight without feeling pain from my stomach. The most unfortunate thing is that now, Luke is feeling very ill. I now understand how helpless he felt when I was feeling terrible as I cannot do anything to help him feel better.

Despite the feeling we went an a day trip to the ruins of the Sun Gate and the temple of tiwanaku. After all, I had kept going on when I was feeling sick so he is doing the same. We both agree that looking back at this trip from the future, we will not remember feeling sick too much.

Tiwanaku (or Tiahuanaco) was the capital of the Tiwanaku empire between c. 200 - 1000 CE and is situated in the Titicaca basin. At an altitude of 3,850 metres (12,600 ft) it was the highest city in the ancient world and had a peak population of between 30,000 and 70,000 residents.

I was shocked when the guide explained how the Spanish had found the old temples and had decided to use heaps of stone blocks to build their buildings. Apparently when the government found more, they used more of the stones to build one of their bridges. 

Write soon, xo

Puno, Peru

Hi guys,

Just letting you know that I write drafts of the blog as we go and that I post them when I have wifi. We are currently in la Paz Bolivia but I want to tell you about the Lake Titicaca experience.  Below draft from a few days ago.

Day two in Puno

This is our last full day in Peru as we are heading to La Paz in Bolivia tomorrow (15th Apr). Today we had almost a full day at Lake Titicaca. We went by boat to a floating island where 7 families lived. They live of fishing and some of the men work in Puno. Their main income however is tourism.  For this reason we bought a wall blanket that was made by a 28 year old lady. She showed us her straw house and we communicated in broken Spanish.  The locals here speak the language of the Incas and pre Inca language as well. It is very fascinating to listen to.         

 The head lady of the island showed us a mini demonstration how the floating islands are build and explained how it took 1 year to build each island. They have keep adding straws to the grown in order for the island to keep floating. At the beginning it starts at approximately 2 meters deep and after some years (due to the constant adding of straws on the floor) it reaches around 10 meters deep.

We went on a local straw boat to another island where we had a snack before continuing towards Bolivia on the lake.

We then visited a permanent island on the Lake, where we could see the mountains of Bolivia. The view from our lunch place was breathtaking and the freshly caught and cooked fish was delicious.  

Write soon. Xo

Puno (Lake Titicaca), Peru

Hi all,

The drive from Cusco to Lake Titicaca took about 7 hours. The bus we had was a double decker with first class seats that decline 160 degrees. We had excellent seats at the front road at the second level. This meant we got a great view for the entire trip.

On the way I was listening to Harry Potter through the Audible app on my phone.  I felt very relaxed and enjoyed the views. At one time we saw a hurd of sheep and it turned out they were all Lamas and Alpacas.  We also drove through the most unofficial town / city in Peru, where there were not one completer house and dirt roads. The city with nothing completed doesn't have to pay any tax, hence why it is the most unofficial town / city. 

Arriving at Puno the view of Lake Titicaca met us at once. It is a hughe lake that we are exploring on day 2 here in Puno.  There are still plenty of unfinished buildings here and most of the city is unsafe at night. We are staying at the safe are and will keep to 5 or so streets around the hotel. We finished the day by going out to a restaurant where they serve alpaca steaks and guinea pigs.  I wasn't feeling to adventurous to try guinea pig but will try on day 2. We already had alpaca steaks in Cusco and it tasted nice. 

Puno by the lake Titicaca

Write soon. Xo

Cusco, Peru

Hi again,

We just had a very interesting day and thought to share it with you. We went to send a parcel back home because of lack og space in our bags. The post office felt like something out of an old movie and we had to put our finger prints on the customs declaration forms (5 or 6 times). Having seen border patrol and other documentaries wherr people have been framed, we may have gotten a little paranoid and ensured to document all items in the box. 

On out way back to the hotel we found the street full of people and locals parading and dancing.  We asked our guide at the hotel what they where celebratig and it turns out that they do this often and that she didn't know. Yhe receptionist explained that they where celebrating the anniversary of a market. 

At noon we went to a place where they produce 200 tonns of salt per year. It consists of 3000 small salt ponds, each privately owned by local families.  It was very impressive to see and their salty chocolates was very tasty.  

After the 3 hours excursions to the salt ponds of Salinidas de Maras, Beau and I decided it was time for a girls night so we booked in a massage.  The massage company picked us up from the hotel and dropped us back after the one hour Inca massage (1 hour). It was very comfortable and I could feel how    sore my legs was. After words Beau and I had dinner at a pizzeria (although we had pasta), while luke met up with an old work mate for drinks.  

Write soon, xo

Magical Incas - The Inca Trail

Hi everyone,

The Inca Trek day one,

We met two more people that joined the Tucan tour, Susie and Jackson. With the girl from Belgium, Beau, we were now a group of 5 trekkers. 

We woke up early,  in the town of Olliantoitambo and packed our bags for the Inca trek. We were given one bag that we could fill up with a maximum weight of 5 kg, that the porters would carry for us on the trek. We also packed our day pack with things we needed to carry throughout the trek ourselves.

A bus picked us up from the hotel and drove us 40 minutes to the starting point of the Inca trek.  We waited there for over one hour before we met the crew that would take care of us throughout the trek.

Us somewhere on the treck on day one. 

Between the five of us, we had a crew group of 9 people, 8 porters,  1 chef and a tour guide. The guides name was Santiago and he would be one of the most experienced guides as this was his 794th trip. 

After meeting the crew we went to the starting point where we had to show tickets and passports.  We started walking, over the wooden bridge and up a hill. I remember struggling with the hill and that there were other challenging steep hills on day one. I was super hungry by the time we got to lunch as it wasn't until 3pm. We arrived at camp two hours later and we had completed the walk for day one. The campsite had tents for each of us  and I think the porters shared tents.

View from the trek.

The food we had for lunch and dinner was outstanding,  full three course meals that you would get at a restaurant. Impressive how they carry all the food and equipment to cook meals like that. Original and traditional peruvian meals.

The day two is known to be the hardest day and it has good reason to be. It was hundreds if not thousands of stairs and we reached the highest peak of 4200m above sea level. Luke and I reached the top earlier than the rest of the group because I had to keep in a rythm to be able to get through the climb. We waited at the top for the other three to get a group photo on the top. As it was raining and we were in high altitude,  we got pretty cold by the end of the wait. The down hill took longer due to Lukes injured knee but we got there in the end. Exhausted and in a little bit of pain we got to the camp before dark and was able to enjoy a nice meal before bed.

Another view from the trek.

Due to the challagne of the day before, day 3 was also rather challenging. It wad less stairs but still plenty to keep our legs feeling like jelly. Day 3 was the cultural day where we saw several ruins and platforms from the Incas. It was amazing to hear the storys of the Incas and to see the proof or their intellect.  So smart and and advanced for the time of their lives. By the end of day 3 we were absolutely exhausted and in need of a good night sleep as we were to be woken up at 3.40 am for day 4. We were not getting a good night sleep as the people in the tent next to us was loud and disrespectful to other campers. When they finally fellA sleep, he snored so loud that it kept us up for a while. 

Day 4 started early and we were on oyr feet at 4.20 am. Only for 80 m or so until we had to stand in a line, waiting for the check point to open at 5.30 am. We walked to the Sungate where we stopped for lunch. We had excellent views of Machu Picchu from here. Best brekky spot ever. After breakfast we continued to the final destination of the trek, the city of Machu Picchu. It was huge and very impressive but I have to admit that the absolute highlight of the trek was the actual trek and the views of the Andes on the way. 

Luke and I at Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

To get back to civilisation,  we took a bus and a train and a bus and we ended up in Cusco (the same hotel we stayed in before the trek).

Write soon. Xo

Magical Incas Tour-Tucan

Hi again,

So we were nervous about starting our adventure in Peru as it is warned to be a risky country to travel in (by the Australian Government). Arriving close to midnight and having to take a taxi fot over 30 minutes was therefore a tiny bit scary. I have since realised that it's not as bad as people hype it up to be as long as you are careful.

We did a 4 hour guided tour around the city of Lima and was able to fit in a lot of places in our one day there. The city of Lima is placed 80 meters above sea level, right on a cliff. The clouds were low and covered the hight of any sky scrapers and it was hard to see exactly how it would look on a clear day. It was still cool and I loved the Lacomar shopping centre which was placed on the cliff side (the lower the level in the mall, the closer to the wall youre view got from the outside areas). 

The view of Lima coast line.

Me in Lacomar shopping centre in Lima.

The Tucan tour started in Lima and we flew into the Amazon Jungle in Peru,  where we stayed at an amazing Econo Lodge located on the river that would take you to Brazil. We stayed in the Amazon for two nights and I wish we could stay longer. It was very hot and humid and there were so many mosquitoes in the jungle so we made sure to cover our selves on mosquito repellant and long sleeves (making it even more hot). Despite this, I absolutely loved it. In the mornings we would walk for hours in the jungle, seeing 5 types of monkeys,  a snake, spiders and plenty of bird breeds. We had time to go into the pool filled with cold water to cool down during the day and i enjoyed the sound of the animals and the smell when it rained. 

The Econo Lodge cabins had plenty og bug nets to keep them out so we could sleep without worrying about mosques. 

At sunset we would sit in the hammocks by the river and enjoy the view and I would listen to an audio book on my phone. We would lie here for about an hour as after that it became annoying with too many mosques. 

From the jungle we headed off to cusco where I am currently at for our first night here. Today we have seen the city of cusco, patted some alpacas and lamas and bought some alpaca clothes for the cold Inca trek.

Us in a street in Cusco

Write soon

Xo