In theory the road from Cusco to La Paz would afford much flatter terrain and for some reason we got it stuck in our thick heads that it would be much easier and faster cycling. Yes we were able to pop out several 100km days and make an improved dent on our map, but it was still really tough going what with another mountain pass (Abra la Raya), strong head winds and the high altitude. Cycling along the "altiplano" afforded us brilliant vast views of yellow grasses, farmland and mountains that seemed endless and was only disrupted by the train tracks that our road followed all the way to Puno. By the time we arrived in Puno (famous for the floating islands artificially made from Totara reeds) we were pretty knackered and feeling the effects of some long days on the bike as well as fighting off the sniffles.
Our time visiting Isla de Uros proved to be the perfect remedy, after some time of slowly drifting through the reeds they parted and revealed an entire community of houses, restaurants, boats, viewing platforms and cooking areas all floating some 15 meters from the lake bottom. Their original purpose was for defensive, as they could be moved if a threat arose with many of the islands containing watchtowers largely constructed of reeds. Although this attraction is refered to as the 'Disneyland' of Peru, it was a unique, interesting and relaxing side trip. We agreed with Seth when he said it was nice to observe others for a change as we are usually the ones in the fish bowl in this part of the world. This was one of many islands on Lake Titicaca which sits at 3,811m, making it the highest and largest commercially navigable lakes in the world.
Once we got past Puno, the lake and surrounding area got more and more scenic. In fact, this lake is shared by both Peru and Bolivia and so we had several days to fully appreciate the size of the lake. We said goodbye to Peru on our our 60th day in the country and final day left on our Peruvian visa. Talk about excellent timing. It felt fantastic to be moving into our 14th country, Bolivia, and to decide for ourselves if Salteñas are really the perfect snack. We will let you know!
Cycling down into Copacobana (or if you asked Roland, Copacobanananananana) was a nice surprise on the eyes. Just 10kms from the border lay a sweet little lakeside village with a perfect combination of toursist essentials and steadfast local life. Seth celebrated his birthday here and we even managed to round up a slice of birthday cake in his honour. There were two other cyclists in town, Martin and Nessa (http://caminolatino.wordpress.com/), so there was a whole gang of us catching up and comparing notes of the roads ahead.
After one final night of camping together with Seth and Parker in an abandoned church we had to bid them farewell. We headed towards La Paz as we have some volunteer work planned and to pick up our (much anticipated) new Schwalbe bike tires. It's like Big Bird got a new hair do! The brothers bypassed this big city ( which is no easy task to navigate by bike) and plan to bust-it through Bolivia and find themselves a sweet spot in Northern Argentina to fish. Our paths may connect again somewhere in Salta? We truly hope so as it has been something special having them around: waking them up in the morning, getting updates on their fed-ex package saga, learning how many times they vomitted overnight and being in the company of others that can eat 10 times more than the average person. But most of all, we will miss the 1-2 hours each night of their roaring camp stove that drowned out all other noise. We really don't know how we will get to sleep without it! Seriously though, thanks Seth and Parker for your companionship, laughs, and slugging out some kilometres together on some of the tougest cycling terrain thus far. What can we say? It's been "DELICIOUS"!
What more can we say?
- We bumped into a group of seven Colombian cyclists making their way to Chile and in true Colombian style invited us to share lunch with them (http://www.travesiainternacional.blogspot.com/).
- Who could have ever imagined that we could go almost two months without peanut butter? We did it though and mostly didn't miss it thanks to the delicious 1kg pot of honey we bought in Huaraz that lasted us much longer than expected. Now we are onto a pot of black gold, also known as Marmite from our cycling friends Martin and Nessa which is quite the taste of home. It does make us wonder when we will see our hearty staple back on the grocery shelves though ...... maybe Argentina?
- Belinda knows she has been on the bike too long when she feels grateful for getting one of Roland's less sinister, not completely nostral hair singeing farts. Shouldn't she just not want any fart smells to float her way, period? Maybe there is a medical term for this issue? Rather than 'instutionalised', Belinda has become 'tandemalised'. Serious rehabilitation may be required after this trip to 'normalise' and 'resocialise'. Enough of 'lise' thing already... HELP!