Machu Picchu, The Jungle, Bolivia and lots more!!!

Apologies for the lateness of this update, we realise it has been a while. To compensate it is a whopper though so we hope you have a fair while to read it!
Also we do feel we need to make you all feel better about England´s weather (although snow sounds pretty good but not grey, grey, grey!). As much as we would love you to imagine we are always in blazing sunshine and warm, we are actually in the most mixed climate ever!!! At the moment it is pouring with rain but warm (like clockwork the rain seems to start at about 3pm in these warm places). However yesterday we biked down ´The World´s Most Dangerous Road´ which starts at the snow line (a height of more than 4000m which is the height of La Paz – the capital of Bolivia) and so was absolutely f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g (major hat and gloves weather – in fact we cannot believe how much we have worn our hat and gloves) to here, Coroico which is at 1300m and is near rainforest so warm!! All this change in climate over just a distance of 64km!! You can actually feel it as you cycle along. It really is amazing. (And I can´t help think would be great to have in England, when you are fed up of the cold you could drive 2 hours and thaw out for the weekend!!) Of course the difference here is that even at great altitude when the sun comes out it can be really hot and you get sunburnt easily too but as soon as that sun disappears – cold – all seasons in one day almost!!

Anyways whilst on the subject of the Dangerous Road, it is a narrow, dirt track curling around the side of the mountains with amazing views and was a main road until 3 months ago. Eventually it was decided that 90-100 people dying every year because buses and truck kept falling off it down the 500m drop, whilst trying to pass each other, was perhaps not the best?! The scary thing is that there seem to be a lot of similar roads to this in South America so you have to wonder if they have as high fatality numbers too?

So we are in Bolivia and have been for a week now. The first few days was spent in a town called Copacabana, a gorgeous hostel with views over Lake Titicaca, which has bright blue waters and is huge! Supposedly we were relaxing, but unfortunately the first couple of days there were absolutely freezing (hat, gloves and thermals definitely required inside the hostel as well (no heating here!)) so staying warm wore us out more! Luckily the next couple of days were lovely and hot and sunny. Phew. So we went to the Isla del Sol, a very pretty island before heading to La Paz the capital, where we survived 1.5 days before the traffic and people got too much so we escaped here!! We are in fact going back there tomorrow though and are going ´back to school´ for a couple of days to improve our Spanish. Should be interesting and we hope helpful!

However previous to entering Bolivia there was lots going on in Peru:

We survived the Inca Trail! In fact after all our worrying about how hard it would be, it was a walk in the park – well almost, the hundreds of downhill steps did your knees in a little!
And although the trail was pretty, we have been so spoilt with lovely scenery that it was nothing special and it felt a bit like we were on a conveyer belt, it was so busy! The 3rd day was the most disappointing though as that was the day we should have got fantastic views as we passed into Cloudforest for this day. However it decided to rain (pretty common for the cloud forest at this time of year). So unfortunately we could only imagine the views we were missing. Although at least we were reasonably dry with our waterproofs, and ponchos. Some people were absolutely drenched! (And the dangerous road goes through Cloud Forest too and was clear – yay, so we don´t feel as hard done by!)
However on the 4th day we reached Machu Picchu which was absolutely FANTASTIC and it did make all the walking worthwhile and even better was that although it started off cloudy by the afternoon it was blazing sunshine and so clear. The views were absolutely amazing so we were really lucky (alot of people had said it had been constantly cloudy when they were there). You could certainly see why it remained hidden for so long as it was so buried in Cloud Forest and miles from anywhere. An awesome sight. We would certainly recommend it!
On the photo you can see Wayni Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu and we set off to climb it, not quite sure whether our legs would hold out! To be bitterly disappointed when we were told it was too late to start climbing (much to Mark´s relief I think. I had twisted his arm rather!) Instead we made do with finding wild chinchillas playing amongst the rocks and they were so cute!

Despite the visions of snakes and insects falling out of the trees onto our heads, and leeches attacking our feet, we survived and loved our first Jungle trip! An 8 day trip took us to Manu National Reserve near Cusco, Peru and we both agree that it was one of the highlights of the trip so far.
You know you are in virgin jungle when:

1) It takes a 10 hour van ride along a narrow dirt track that winds around the mountain edges (much like the worlds most dangerous road really) and a 6 hour boat journey just to get to the outskirts of the reserve!
2) You see Capybaras (huge guinea pigs (see photo), caimans, immense number of different types of birds, huge groups of all kinds of monkeys sitting or swinging through the trees (excellent), Giant Otters swimming, Turtles, Ants, ants and more ants – Leaf cutter, Army, and Bullet are absolutely everywhere!
One type of monkey – the Woolley monkey is quite aggressive and comes low in the trees, staring at you (they are so human looking – that is scary!) and shaking branches to try and get you out of their patch!

3) You are so excited that you may see a jaguar whilst on the boat but at night when it´s dark, you are oh so scared that one may pounce on your back! Especially when your guide tells you that if you did get lost in the jungle, you should sit with your back against a tree (make sure it isn´t the kind where when you touch it Fire Ants come out in their droves and bite you. Apparently you will last 5 minutes. Not good?!) Then rub leaves all over you ( make sure they aren´t poisonous too!) and place them on the ground in front of you. This is supposed to deter whatever it is that is after you!! I´d rather not test it personally!
4) You are awoken to the sound of a violent storm (the wind howling) and the sound of a huge gorilla???!! Thankfully you know that it is in fact the Red Howler Monkeys as otherwise you really would not leave your cabin! (and they look so cute and quiet in the flesh too – see photo)
5) You desperately need the toilet in the middle of the night and after fighting your way out of your mosquito net in a zombie like state, once outside the cabin your heart starts pounding and you decide that you don´t dare walk the 50 metres in the dark to the toilets, so decide to go there and then listening all the time for any sign of movement or the glint of eyes! Fantastic you think, you have made it safely back to bed, only then to find that a pesky mosquito has managed to follow you back into your net!! Aaahhh!
6) Suddenly you feel a cold thing on your shoulder, and you turn round to see a snake hanging from the tree. Just joking!! That didn´t actually happen at all but it´s what most people imagine! In reality the only snake we saw was a Fer-de-Lance that the lodge owner had come across the day before while he was going to the loo in the forest! They are very poisonous so he had killed it fortunately before it got him. In fact there seemed to be a pattern to this going to the loo thing. Our guide said the only time he has ever seen a Bushmaster another poisonous snake which chases you, was when he was doing the same. We were glad we only found this out on the last day! Otherwise the week could have been difficult?!
If you are ever in this situation yourselves, just remember, throw anything you have at the snake – hat, gloves, so that it bites them and not you! Hopefully not a much required piece of advice there!
7) Every evening you look forward to your lovely shower – well I´d like to say that but in reality it is freezing, which is kind of refreshing for about 2 seconds as its soo hot but then . . chhccchhh! Alternatively you could have another real wildlife experience like Mark did and share your shower with a lizard?

8) You feel totally inspired. The scenery is amazing, the rivers power immense. The animals are fantastic. You cannot help but feel moved and like you want to go out and do something that really matters! And also you cannot help but think how sad it is that habitats like this are being chopped down all over the world . . .

Sadly even just outside the reserve you could see the difference. This area is called the ´Cultural Zone´ and has small communities within it. Here the scenery was pretty much the same as in the reserve (logging is prohibited) but the absence of animals was so obvious, despite the fact that hunting is prohibited. We actually visited one community and they tried to sell us a necklace with Red Howler Monkey teeth on it. Need I say more? :o( It makes you realise just how much of an impact humans have on the world and just how necessary National Parks are. Although just imagine a world where everything was natural and the overhunting, overfishing and exploitation of resources didn`t happen at all . . .

So what else . . .
We also visited Colca Canyon – supposedly the deepest canyon in the world and a little disappointing as it was covered in cloud so we couldn´t see a thing! We did see a couple of condors though.
And lastly we went on a tour of Lake Titicaca from the Peru side, which involved visiting some floating reed islands that communities actually live on and also staying with a Peruvian family on the Island of Amantani. This was particularly fascinating as we had lunch, dinner and breakfast cooked by them (lots of freshly grown veg) and a strange Ammonia drink, stayed in their house - different and also went to a dance in their traditional dress. Bet you can´t spot the South American?!

One last thing, confession time, we did finally decide to try guinea pig as it is everywhere here and was part of a buffet (therefore we didn´t request it specially cooked - makes us feel better!). However neither of us liked it, it was very fatty and had a strong taste, so Karen and Lisa and all the pet guinea pigs of the past, we hope you forgive us?!!
Until next time. Adios