Friday, November 28, 2008

last days in Bolivia

sooo I left Bolivia this afternoon and am now in Puno in Peru, a couple days to check out the lake from this side of the border and then on to Cusco and staying in one place and volunteering. So I´m trying to get used to the idea that my time in Bolivia/travelling alone is over.. anyway here´s what I´ve been up to this week.
After the climb I stayed in La Paz two more nights, attempting to understand Hebrew in the Israeli hostel and exploring some more of the city. Monday after having lunch w/ my friend Max from GHS (so weird/great to see someone from home!) I went to Sorata, a little town at the north end of the Cordillera Real about 3 hours away from La Paz. Definitely the most ¨Bolivian¨ bus ride so far, we were packed in a little minivan that took the downhill curves in the middle fo the road and honked to warn anyone coming the other way.. but lots of awesome mountain views, so I was happy! Sorata was really nice and peaceful and green (much lower than La Paz, although I don´t know the exact altitude), I had a relaxing couple of nights enjoying the views and did a hike out to la Gruta de San Pedro on the day in between. It was a pretty walk, a little exciting when I had to cross the mudslide that covered the whole road in one place.. and the cave itself was cool, not the most exciting in terms of stalactites or stalagmites or whatever but there were lots of bats and a lake that reminded me of where they found one of the horcruxes in HP7.
Two microvans, a boat, and a taxi ride from Sorata and I arrived in Copacabana on.. Wednesday. Nice (although very touristy) town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, I walked up the hill w/ stations of the cross (I swear there´s one in every city) to see an amazing sunset at night, and planned my venture to the lake the next day. Couple hours in a little boat to the north end of Isla del Sol, where I had lunch and tried to understand a really friendly Aymara woman explaining life in Cha´allapampa (the billage on the north end), then hiked up to see the Inca ruins/rock where the sun was born. Amazing views around the island and of the whole lake (which looks more like ocean/Puget Sound to me than a lake)´and the Cordillare Real, then I walked to the south end to spend the night in the village Yumani and watch another gorgeous sunset. Woke up in one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been, back to Copacabana this morning, border crossing, now Puno and more lake!

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