Peru/Bolivia - Lake Titcaca, Death Rd & the Amazon

Never smile at a.....

...crocodile!!

It´s been a big 10 - 12 days and we´re loving every minute of it! We departed Cusco (what seems like a lifetime ago!) for the Southern most point of Peru where we hit Lake Titicaca. We then entered Bolivia and using La Paz as a base, we´ve taken on the adrenaline rush of the infamous Bolivian ´Death´ road and then spent the last week exploring the Amazon jungle.

Aftering arriving in a small Peruvian town called Puno (had a rather septic smell about this place!), we wasted no time jumping on a boat and heading out on to the islands of Lake Titicaca (pronounced Lake Titihaha).

First stop was an exploration by boat to the incredible floating islands of Uros. The islands have been constructed by the locals with a solid mud base and thick straw covering which feels like you could fall through it at any moment. They somehow provide residence for the local communities.

Even though they are only a couple of hours off the mainland they are seemingly a million miles away from the hectic buzz of Peruvian city life! We took the opportunity to kit up in some local outfits. Aurelie found herself very much at home in this environment!

Aurelie modelling the latest fashion on the Isle of Uros

Back on the boat and onto our next stop, Amantani, another of Lake Titicaca´s islands (not floating thankfully!) where we spent the night with a local family enjoying an insight into their culture and lifestyle. After feeding us with some local cuisine which they were proud to acknowledge was exclusively cultivated by them, they took us for a night out of local music and dancing. Our host Noberto or Nobby (he didn´t exactly welcome this nickname!) loved having a beer with Shane, as long as Shane was paying of course! He even invited his amigos to join him for a drink, shrewd operators these local folk!

We awoke early and after being presented with a home cooked breakfast, we said our farewells to our host family and moved onto probably the most impressive of Lake Titicaca´s islands, Taquille. After an hour exploring the island we spent the majority of the afternoon dining on coffee and a local 3 course feast. The restaurant sat high up on the island with views as far as the eye can see of the pristinely clear blue water and snow capped mountains on the horizon...incredible spot! We were simply amazed upon leaving to be given a bill totalling something like $8 USD! We would´ve paid that for the view alone!

Taking in the view on the Isle of Taquille

Peru was then left in our wake as we entered Bolivia. First stop was La Paz, a bustling Bolivian city located 3,600m above sea level. Fortunately, thus far we have not had any issue whatsoever with the altitude..´touch wood´.

We were advised the best way to see the dramatic landscapes surrounding La Paz was by bike, so we quickly booked ourselves onto a mountain bike tour. Well, not just any tour, it was a trip by bike along the infamous´death´ road - a 64km descent on some of the most treacherous roads that you are ever likely to encounter! It started at 4,700m above sea level and finished at a mere 1,200m.

A couple of speed demons ready to take on Death Road (that's us!)

Surrounded by snow capped mountains, the initial descent on bitumen roads was pretty comfortable. About 14km into the descent the fun commenced. This was where the bitumen disappeared and the trail turned to rocky (with random boulders strewn across the road!), narrow, windy, dirt roads with no rail partitioning and a cliff drop off the side of the road of up to 1000m. Any little slip up and it was game over! Scenary was simply breathtaking, not that Aurelie took the time to look sideways, she was too focused on strangling the bikes breaks as she bounced her way down the trail! Shane was a little more extravagant however knowing the ramifications of a burst of over confidence he managed to restrain himself enough to ensure that both of us survived this experience. Tick that box and move on, certainly no need to do this one twice!! We´ve still got no idea how trucks used to commute along this road...insane!

With no time to rest, we woke early the next day for a 7am flight to Rurrenabaque, the heart of the Maididi National Park situated in the upper Amazon river basin in Bolivia.

We split our week in the Amazon with 3 days of jungle trekking and 3 days on a Pampas tour which was a wildlife exploration tour by boat.

First up was the boat exploration. This proved to be the ultimate wildlife feast which included getting up close and personal with caiman crocodiles (100´s of them and some of them were literally only an arms length away!), alligators, capibaras, turtles, monkeys, spiders, many differents types of birds and even finding time to throw a line in and do a spot of fishing...

A nice little catfish to join the piranha Shane caught moments earlier

The highlight though was getting the opportunity to swim in the crocodile and parinha infested waters with pink dolphins. We were reliably informed that the dolphins were the kings and that crocodiles would not attack while the dolphins were around! Fortunately this theory held true although it was still a daunting experience diving into waters with crocodiles on the banks of the river looking at us!

After a goodnight´s sleep on dry terra firma, we then ventured off for our 3 days of jungle trekking. This was a pretty intense experience with the thrill of wildlife discovery being combined with the overwhelming flora and fauna of the jungle, random animal noises thundering in all directions and the constant threat of mosquitos, ants, bees, wasps, oversized sand flies and many other varied insects that enjoy inflicting damage to humans whose paths they cross..repellant was certainly no deterrant to some of the above, we got eaten alive!

Night one was spent in a nice comfortable ecolodge, night two was spent in the jungle, under the stars with nothing more than a mosquito net for protection! Of course, this was the night that a monstrous thunderstorm hit with rain pelting down from 3 through to 9am. Although cold and soaked, the one positive of the storm was that at least it drowned out the overbearing snoring of the one other tourist, a 28 year old Irishman who we had the ´pleasure´ of sharing this experience with (very ´unique´ character this chap who certainly did not personal hygiene at the top of his priority list!).

List of wildlife encountered included an abudance of bird life including the very impressive and colourful macaws, a batch of 50 odd roaring wild pigs, snake who we saw eating a frog, spiders, butterflys and about half a dozen of these attractive little fellas...

Tiranchula spotted on night jungle trek

Like any good adventure, there were a couple of downsides:

1. You can choose your friends but you can't choose your travel companions! Majority of the time, this is not a bad thing, but having to spend three days with the aforementioned Irishman was an absolute nightmare, we almost felt sorry him he was that bad...!

2. We didn´t find our anaconda although we did find a dead anaconda, a cobra and a smaller snake eating a frog but unfortunately no anaconda!

3. The trip home! The heavy storm damaged the airport runway which was made out of sand (still have no idea why they don´t put a bitumen runway down - only in Bolivia!), but anyway, it ensured that all flights out of the jungle were cancelled so we took a ´15 hour´ bus back to La Paz which subsequently turned into a 25 hour bus ride from hell due to a landslide leaving us perched on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for 8 - 10 hrs!

A couple of days relaxing in La Paz, then we have some big travel days to get to Iguazu Falls and then onto Brazil!

The joys of travelling...you gotta love it!