Highs and Lows

This is going to be brief - as much as I hate to admit it, my travelling bubble has burst recently, and the past week or so hasn't been all that much fun. I don't really want to write about it but if I didn't, I'd feel bad for missing it all out. Nothing bad has happened per se, I just think I have burned out a bit and lost my sense of purpose a bit. I am sure it will pass. I´ve always been honest in my blog, and I don't want to hide anything now, so here goes...

Actually, I don't think I can face it after all, not in detail. Damn, this is hard, you know I love being comprehensive! A list will have to do:

Tuesday 12th May

Arrived in La Paz at 5.30am, found a hotel, paid too much. Spent a few hours in the Witches Market, bought woolly hats, alpaca jumper, loud stripy trousers, flag patches. Wandered around the city in the afternoon, collected laundry in the evening. Had a really cheap haircut for £1, found a cheaper hostel for the next day, booked a tour to Tiahuanaco, decided not to go to the rainforest as I wouldn't have enough time for Peru.

Wednesday 13th May

Picked up early for the Tiahuanaco tour. Took a few hours to get there, important ruins, but most still underground, so quite disappointing. Found it extremely tiring, even though there was not much walking to do, altitude was really getting to me. Back in La Paz, was dropped miles away from new hostel and had to walk with my backpack there. Bought bus ticket to Copacabana for next day.

Thursday 14th May

Woken up by noisy neighbours coming in drunk at 5am, so stomped around as loudly as possible when I left at 7.30am! Caught bus to Copacabana by Lake Titicaca. Found hostel, cheap at last, but plans to nap for the afternoon thwarted by extreme cold. Looked into tours to Isla del Sol, but got into a tizz (again) about how many days to spend there, which boat to take, etc. Decided that I was really not enjoying myself anymore and felt like a failure. Eventually booked just a day trip to the island, tried to have a hot shower at the hostel, but after it being freezing and nearly electrocuting myself, abandoned the idea.

Friday 15th May

Took boat to north of Isla del Sol. Supposedly significant ruins there extremely disappointing, walked 8km to south of island. Have cheap and cheerful sandwich for lunch. Took boat back to Copacabana, booked onward bus leg to Puno for next day. Had tepid shower in shared bathroom, wondered what was the point of getting a private room with TV after all when my shower was rubbish and the TV only had 2 Spanish channels!

Isla del Sol

Saturday 16th May

Went up to Horca del Inca to find first and only Bolivian geocache, should've taken maybe 20 minutes but I had to stop after every 10 metres to sit down, catch my breath and drink water. After an hour and nearly disappearing down a rock face, eventually found the cache! Decided to definitely NOT trek to Machu Picchu! Took bus across the border to Puno in Peru. Found hostel, chilled out in front of the TV and ordered pizza.

Sunday 17th May

Up really early for pancakes, spent ages on free but pitifully slow Internet uploading photos. Left hostel around 1pm to book tour to Floating Islands, but most places closed. Back to hostel, then back into town again and eventually booked a tour and an onward bus ticket to Cusco for Wednesday. Early night. No shower again as still couldn't get hot water.

Monday 18th May

Up early again for pancakes, booked hostel for Cusco so I would be nice and organised. Walked to tour agency office as they said my hostel was too far away to offer me the free pick-up included in my tour! Was told seconds before leaving that there were no buses to Cusco running on Wednesday due to strike action, so went online to cancel the accommodation I had booked just minutes before. Lost deposit, good job it was only 85p! Took the boat out to the Floating Islands, interesting but incredibly touristy. Arrived on Amantani Island for lunch with a local family and met new roommates, Graciela (Honduras) and Nico (USA). Walked to top of the island to watch sunset, then had dinner with the family. Dressed up in traditional Amantani clothes and went to a party with the locals and other tourists. Weird, weird, weird, seemed completely inauthentic. Stars amazing though, the clearest I´d ever seen the Milky Way.

Floating Islands

Tuesday 19th May

Breakfasted with family, gave them food gifts we'd brought from the mainland, caught boat to Taquile Island. Tour guide gave very informative talk about the formation of Lake Titicaca and the Andes, but had lost the will to live by this point, so was a major relief when he finally shut up. Got herded into a restaurant for lunch and decided to boycott it out of principle until I realised that it was still cheap and I would starve otherwise. 3 hour boat trip back to mainland was tortue as it was hot and I was wearing many layers because of the cold. Reorganised bus ticket to Arequipa instead of Cusco as the agency were liars and gave me the impression I would be stuck in Puno until Friday. They swapped the bus tickets and said they had charged me 10 soles commission, but back at the hostel I checked the ticket and it was clear they had again lied and had diddled me out of 15 soles, nearly double the cost of the ticket. Went back and kicked up a stink and demanded a 5 soles refund. Got it and felt slightly victorious, all for just over £1. It was the PRINCIPLE! Had pizza with Graciela and Nico for dinner, so grateful that they were still spending time with me even though I was just not nice to be around.

Wednesday 20th May

Took bus to Arequipa, 6 hour journey not too bad apart from the guy next to me had no concept of personal space, so I elbowed him in the arm all the way! Found nice hostel and felt slightly more civillised. Had a shower with hot water at last and got an early night. Arequipa felt a little more promising!

Thursday 21st May

Up early as mind was swimming at 6am again. Kept trying to put thoughts of going home early out of my mind. Had nice breakfast and chatted with other guests in the hostel. Met Alice (UK) and wandered around the town in the afternoon to organise a tour to the Colca Canyon. Decided that I had no energy to trek, but couldn't face being another tourist cow packed onto a minibus to market again! Looked into a 2 day trek and decided to not bother, to save the money and not do the canyon just because I felt obliged. Went to see Angels and Demons at the cinema with Alice and Siri (Norway), paid only £5 for the ticket and large popcorn and large Coke. Got back to the hostel feeling much better.

Friday 22nd May

Woke up at 6am AGAIN with whizzing thoughts, felt bad again and moaned all through breakfast despite positive suggestions from fellow travellers about what I could do to feel better. Walked around town with Alice, booked a really cheap bus ticket to Cusco tonight, hopefully the bus will have wheels despite the price! Had a cheap manicure for only £1.75. Wasted £1.75 as the manicure was absolutely rubbish and I still have the cuticles from hell. Considered buying cuticle trimmers from the market, but the quality was shoddy, so didn't bother. Wandered around for ages looking for somewhere nice to have lunch, settled for pizza again, tormented the pigeons in the town plaza.

So, there you have it, my most depressing and tedious blog entry so far. I thought I shouldn't document it so morbidly, but I have to keep this blog as honest as possible. It is a real shame that I have hit this low point, especially as I've been the Travelling Guru for so long, but to be honest, I have done well to get as far as 8 months before crashing and burning! Hopefully, this phase will pass, although I've been out of sorts for a fortnight or so now... how long do I stick it out?

Anyway, next stop Cusco and from there I will organise my trip to Machu Picchu. At this point, I can't say that I am excited about going anymore, which is akin to blasphemy! However, I'm not going to quit yet and hopefully things will pick up soon. Just as long as I make it to Cusco in one piece on a bus too cheap to be true! I'll fill you in with the next installment soon - fingers crossed that by then, I am back in the game!