Fri 25th - Wed 30th October 2013 (Week 5)

Fri 25th - Caught another overnight bus from Cusco to Puno, which was the worst of the 3 we've taken so far. Apparently there were protests in Puno, so the bus had to go another route - through small villages and on really rough, bumpy roads. We were sat right over the back wheel so felt everything, and did not get much sleep !
Arrived into Puno at 5am, and waited for the 7:30am bus to Copacabana. We were a little apprehensive about crossing the border, but it was very quick and easy. We got to the border at 10am, got our exit stamp from Peru, walked up the hill and through the archway into Bolivia, and got our entry stamp.

Copacabana is a lovely little town, much smaller than we expected, with a nice blue bay with boats, and a real traveller feel with lots of cafes and chill-out bars etc.
The weather was amazing - beautiful dark blue skies, and really warm, which made a lovely change from Cusco where we were wearing 5 layers in the evenings ! Wandered around the town, looking at the Cathedral and walked up the Cerro Calvario to watch sunset/storm coming over the lake.

Feels quite strange to be on Lake Titicaca - the worlds largest high-altitude lake, at 3800m. I have really felt the difference in altitude and get really out of breath climbing stairs, with heart racing and bit of a headache. Brandon doesn't seem to have been affected at all though, and bounds up the stairs with his long legs !

Sat 26th - we caught the 8:30am boat over to Isla del Sol - a 2hr boat ride on the slowest boat we have ever been on ! I thought they were just sticking to a harbour safety speed limit within the bay, but no, it went that speed the whole way !
We had 3 hours on the North of the island to walk up the hills and look at some Inca ruins. Then 1.5hrs on the South to look at some steps, water features, and plants. I was less impressed that I thought I would be, and am glad we didn't bother with staying here a night or two. Lovely scenery over the lake which stretches on forever, but not much else to do.

Sun 27th - We caught the 1:30pm tourist bus to La Paz which took 3.5hrs, and had an interesting stop after 50mins where we had to get off and go across the lake on a passenger boat, whilst the bus went across on another ferry !

It felt quite a shock after being familiar with little Copacabana, to suddenly being dropped off in this massive, sprawling, poor city and became much more aware of looking after our belongings.

Mon 28th - We just wandered around La Paz familiarising ourselves with where all the important things are - good restaurants, tour agencies, and checking out agencies for the "Bike the Death Road" tour.
We also went on a 3 hour walking tour in the afternoon which was really informative - especially about how San Pedro prison is run !

Tues 29th - We took an open-top bus tour around South La Paz and up to Valle de la Luna. Spent an hour there absorbing the strange landscape - which apparently Neil Armstrong has visited and said yes - it does resemble the moons surface !
We also went to the zoo which was nearby and saw a few cool animals, like condors, pumas, armadillos etc, but most were hiding.

Wed 30th - And then the big day - our Bike the Death Road experience. After much research and dithering, we finally chose to go with Barracuda as they are the cheaper sister company of Gravity - which are meant to be the best and safest, but are 300b more expensive. But Barracuda use the same bikes, same workshop, same training etc, so we booked with them. We were both a bit nervous as you read and hear all these scare stories about how many serious accidents and deaths there have been, so we started off really cautiously. You get 22km on tarmac to practice and get comfortable with your bike, then its onto the real thing for 31km - from 4700m, to 1200m. Again, we were pretty gentle, but after a while of realising its not actually that bad, we got up a bit more confidence and speed, and started really enjoying it. Still aware that it was just an unpaved road, and some gravel and rocks, so we had to keep a sharp eye out, but it wasn't as bad or as dangerous as we expected. Finished the whole road by 1:45, then had a leisurely few hours swimming in the river and having lunch. It was incredible the change of scenery and weather as we descended. It started off in the snowcapped mountains, with 6 layers of clothing on, and by the bottom it was like the Amazon and really humid. The road really reminded us of the Amazon single jungle track - same gravel road, and sheer drops off the edge !

So, we live to see another day, and head off to Sucre tomorrow morning.