Forgive me in advance. This blog post is likely to be pretty shady given that we had a huuuuge night here last night.
First thing´s first before I rewind to the end of La Paz - I adore Cusco. Easily my favourite city in South America by far. Unexpectedly beautiful in a European sort of way in the centre, fab food, chilled vibe. MUCH nicer than smelly old gloomy La Paz.
So, with one last big night out, marred by a terrible terrible steak in the Steak House DO NOT GO THERE IT´S RUBBISH, but improved somewhat by venturing out to the closest thing Bolivia has to a club (Mango´s? Mungo´s?) I hopped on the bus with the 5 strapping Aussie boys (whaaaaat....innocent face, wide eyes) - Dim, James, Nick (aka Mick Burquez, fastest gun in the West), Jarrad (aka Harald according to most bemused South Americans who can´t of course pronounce the J correctly) and Marlon to Copacabana. We arrive at the side of Lake Titicaca, and disembark the bus, to watch it float gently across in what looks like a large shoebox to the other side. Back on the bus, and up into the hills. Once again just when I think I´ve seen every bit of landscape Bolivia has to over, she pulls it out of the bag again. Lake T is a stunning Mediterranean shade of blue, the hills rising rocky and scrubby around her. The similarity to the coast on the South of France is heightened by the smell of the trees - no idea what they are but they smell the exact same.
We arrive in Copacabana to be collected by our hotel (niiice). The boys can barely fit into the little tin van that appears - once more the wee one wins, plenty of leg room. Take that, all ye giants. Hotel Utama is hilarious - novel choice of paint combinations, plastic corrugated roof, and once more the eiderdowns excel. Winning element is the hat used as a lampshade in the bedroom. On the upside they do offer free bananas. The boys fall on these, I don´t. This turns out to be an error...
We head down to the beach to catch the boat to Isla del Sol, birthplace of the Inca´s. Initially pleased with our choice of rooftop perch on board, we rapidly become cold, and the alpaca jumpers have to come out to play. Beautifully sunny tho, so I manage to burn my kneecaps. Turns out that the boat takes an hour and half to get to the island. Whilst the scenery around us is beautiful, we all rapidly become obsessed with the thought of food. This is not aided by exchanging tales of the best places to eat in Adelaide/London. I seriously have never heard anyone talk about food as much as these boys. I take note that kangaroo is delicious.
Get to Isla del Sol, and race to get food. Turns out that we only have an hour on the island, so by the time we´ve eaten chips with bits of sausage on them, and pizza that is rated in someone´s bottom three pizzas they´ve ever eaten (cue a run down of ALL pizza eaten on the trip by the boys, including toppings. Dear lord) we only have time to go and stand on the steps leading to the rest of the island before getting back on the boat. Saw lots of donkeys tho´. Didn´t go near them Mummy, don´t worry..... We all snooze downstairs in the boat on the way home, lulled by the waves and the, well, gentle pace of the boat. Hotel, more siestas, and then FOOD. We find an epic place that does tasty Mexican food. The boys order impressive quantities of food, polish most of it off and then package the rest up for breakfast. Brennan & Dr House leap to mind...
Following morning sees us head to Puno, and the border with Peru. Bye bye my beloved Bolivia, hellah Perah. We cross over without incident, and head up into the hills and Cusco.
Cusco is STUNNING. Loki Cusco is also easily the nicest hostel I´ve stayed in. The building itself is really rather beautiful in parts, all high ceilings and exposed beams etc. It´s perched on the side of a comically steep road, which leads down to the markets. First night in Cusco is fairly comprehensively destroyed by karaoke in the bar, the highlight of which is a small cute boy trying his best to sing along to ´I´ve got a feeling´. The next day we head out to explore Cusco, having booked our tickets to Machu Picchu. We find an awesome pub called the Crown serving Thai food, with the best spring rolls I´ve had. Ever. Fact.
Whilst I´m waiting for said spring rolls and Pad Thai to turn up, I nip to the loo. As I´m pulling up my trousers I feel something tickle my leg. I bat at it, thinking it´s my trousers. Then I feel it again, higher up. This time it distinctly moves. I squeak and pull down my trousers AND A MOUSE JUMPS OUT OF THEM. I immediately get hysterical giggles whilst the poor thing desperately runs around by the door, unable to get out. I don´t want to go past it to get out in case it makes a dash for the ol´ travelling trousers again, so end up in comic style standing on the loo seat, until it makes it safely back behind the loo.
Other than the mouse, the food and service was pretty damn good.
After lunch we head to San Pedro market, a huge undercover market stuffed full with meat, fish, fruit, flowers, as well as the requisite llama festooned tourist items. We have the most delicious fresh smoothies, and then wander around buying presents galore. There´s a huge basket stall in the middle - I think of Maman. Back to the hostel, requisite siesta´ing, and then to the bar. Pretty much everyone is planning a huge night, and you can feel the anticipation in the air. I think of Holdsmoore and co. partying the night away at home and miss everyone hugely. It´s Dim´s birthday so we start ordering him the requisite shots. Result: 6ft plus of man dancing on a table whilst yelling ´this is so embarrassing, I´m so embarrassed´. Photo footage of the night is frankly epic. We head out to a safari themed club at oneish and dance the night away. I request Waka Waka in honour of L11 much to the boys´disgust and do my classic wee one dance (hands akimbo, staring at the ceiling smiling to myself).
Today: hungover. Leaving for MP in 20mins. Verrrry excited. & then back here Sunday evening, before racing to Arequipa/Huacachina.
Nearly home time! Love you all.
Argh I meant Incas sans apostrophe.
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