Two days ago it was Millsy being all proud of his daughter Daniella’s Birthday, and today it is my turn; Happy Birthday Tyla, from all of us, 27 years later and look what fine woman you have become. Lief you STUKKEND !!!!!!!!
Some photos of the lake;
Below you can see the suburb of the floating islands:
The lake is 191km long and 80km wide, and at its deepest it is 360m deep.
We went on a bout tour yesterday to the Floating Islands, but I was a little disappointed as it has become a Tourist Trap. There are 150 of these little islands, all tied together, each with its own name. There used to be only three but over time more people built an island for themselves, it is Tax Free Living. Up to 1986 the people lived on their islands permanently, but there were such massive floods in 1986 that the water level rose by 3m, as a result the reeds they need to keep on putting onto their island every 2 weeks were submerged and their islands were sinking as they could not get any reeds. The government stepped in and gave them an area against the mountain and they moved there. But a year later they moved back to build new islands and now only 35% stays on the Islands full time, the others stay on land and then commute to their island to still earn an income from the tourists that were visiting them.
When we spent some time with the Nomads in Mongolia I was disappointed to find they did not just move using horses but that the family also had an old Ford Pick up truck, they had a TV and Solar Panels, well today was the same feeling, as there were solar panels and water-tanks. There were also some islands which you could rent a type of Hotel Room on, so it has become very commercial, and other tourist loves this, (like the many boats of Chineese Tourists we saw today,) but for the 6 of us who enjoy less commercial travel it was a bit of a disappointment.
The foundation they use is the roots of the “reeds” and then they are tied together, and then they cut the reeds and 1st lay it in one direction, then the next layer is laid in the opposite direction. The houses they build are placed on a wooden plank foundation to spread the weight over a larger area.
Below is a “model” of how it all works and they even have a little house sitting on top of the floating island.
Our guide gave us an in-depth explanation of not just the history of the Inca and the people from the area, but also informed us about the Floating Island People.
The altitude is really hard on us, but Johannesburg is at 1600m and some tourists stay at Sea Level and are taking more strain than us. Peens “stole” this photo in the hotel foyer last night, proof that the hotel is used to dealing with the altitude problem:
We had a proper hotel breakfast with muesli and yoghurt and eggs, I mean PROPER. Then we tried to leave but a some Tourists wanted some photos and had many questions for us. The one Chineese lady insisted on hugging each of us.
We headed South with the lake on our left hand side. The road was quiet, no trucks, hardly any cars. Here are some photos of the morning’s ride:
We had the lake on our left most of the morning:
If you look at the photo below you will see, if you turn the photo ( or your screen) 180 Degrees,that the lake looks like a Jaguar chasing a Rabbit. Titi means jaguar, and Caca means stone. Stone, so, what does this tell me? Well in hind some the Inca People now say the name for the lake comes from the Inca people, but how did they know the shape looked like a Jaguar if they could not view it from above???
Then Peens found a Coffe shop and bought some cake and coffee to celebrate Tyla’s Birthday. I told the group to look out for a place that sells cake and peens found it.
We found a place to exchange Dollars for Bolivian money and then the lady that helped us came and asked for a Selfie, in which Pie proudly flashes his cash:
Look at all the Fish Farming in the lake in the photo below:
When we got to the border we went searching for a fuel station that sold Premium Fuel. We eventually found one and started filling our bladders and bike’s fuel tanks. In total we put in 235lt. We had changed money into Bolivian Currency and we were READY for Bolivia.
We even all scratched out al our Peruvian coins and Rocky used it to Balance The Kitty, the coins added up to R300-00
And yes, those are Rocky’s hands and not those of a street child with out access to soap and water.
We arrived at immigrations and exited Peru, and then it got interesting. We had applied for Visas in South Africa, paid a large fee and handed in lots of paperwork. Our visas were approved and the lady from the Consulate told us that we should simply give them a letter she supplied us with at the border, they would then print a sticker and stick it in our Passports. But the man at this border said “No” we had to drive back to Puno, 180km away and go to the Bolivian Consulate who would issue the sticker, they could not do it at the border as they did not have the printer. We tried everything. Peens, who took the lady from the Bolivian Consulate in Johannesburg some fish, and who’s number he has on Speed Dial, phoned the lady and explained our problem, she then spoke to the Immigration official and he said that he could not issue us with a visa, we had to return to Puno. She asked to speak to his senior but he refused. She then said she knows there is a “new system” and that it does work that way at the airport in La Paz, but it should work that way also at a border when entering by road. She phoned several officials and we waited, already planning our next move. Can we make it back to Puno before 16h00? Will the Consulate close early on a Friday, are they open on a Saturday? Rocky then tried the next move by asking them if there was any “Emergency Visa” which we would pay very handsomely for, but the official was adamant we had to leave his little domain and castle of which he was in charge of. So we did, telling him that our Dollars would now be spent in Chile, and his country would just lose and continue going backwards, he did not understand me and I had no Data to use Google Translate to mild tell-him-off.
So then we thought it would be easy and we could simply return to the main road and continue on the road we were on in Peru, not so, more hoops were lined up for us to jump through as the “Man-with-whistle” who is ultra powerful in the Border Parking area was blowing hard and directing us down a certain path, which Milsy and I followed but missed the open window where we had to stop, so more whistle and arms waving we stoped and pushed out bikes back to the window, where chaos ensued for about 10 minutes before window-man understood we could not enter Bolivia and we were returning to Peru. So we thought we had to re-do our Temporary Import Permits into Peru, but another 10 minutes of confusion and Google Translate got us no closer to our re-entry into Peru, but Rocky, Mr. Cool Head saved the day by going back into the Immigration office and led the official by the hand to explain to the Man @ Window that we never left Peru and were simply continuing on our journey in Peru. We then discovered that it was all a waste of time as Man with Whistle took us wrongly to Man @ Window as Man @ Window was Bolivian man and not Man From Peru, So eventually we were whistled into an new direction only to be stopped by Man @ Boom, who refused to open the boom-gate until he saw our Bolivian entry papers, which of course we did not have. So more google translate helped nothing and eventually Man @ Boom used his WalkieTalkie and then the boom lifted and we were off.
Then we realized that we all now have lots of fuel on the bikes, which we now don’t need on the bikes as it is freely available in Chille, our country we were heading for to. get us around Bolivia. We also all now had vast amounts of Bolivian currency we would never use ever as we swore a pack never to try to go to Bolivia after all the Drama it caused us. So we had to exchange money back to Dollars of Soles. We found this Money Man (who also runs a Spaza Shop,) and exchange money. He must have heard our predicament as he offered an Exchange Rate that was 25% worse to the rate we got half an hour earlier. But we had no choice and took the pain and left Money Man with Big Smile.
I was thinking we were going to be on a main road with lots of traffic, but I was so wrong, there were no other vehicles on the road, which passed through little towns, each uglier than the previous, but we were starting to climb again for the comfortable 3800m as we were now heading West into the Andes Mountains to cross over into Chile.
And then we turned Left and I thought ” hier kom dit nou!!! But I was wrong, the pawpaw did not hit the fan and instead of the road getting buy and finding some trucks and cars, the road got smaller and we were on the road all by our selves. Our GPS’s said there was a hotel in 140km, so I said a few prayers to myself in my helmet and we rode into the rain, hail and storm of note!!!!!
And then we started climbing and at the next turn the road got even smaller, and we continued to climb:
Thankfully the road was “tar” but it was so narrow that it was only slightly wider than a Single Lane, so every car we had to pass, or dodge coming from the front turned into a fancy footwork-dance move.
We were crossing the Andes Mountains at 4800m and breathing and engine power was once again on the menu. The temperature dropped to 4,5 Degrees and the “going got tuff,” as the song goes, which only few of you would know.
At the top of the mountain we continued along the top of the mountain for a while and there were no more trees or bushes, we were to high, but we did pass through many many Lama grazing fields, with many suicidal animals throwing themselves in front of us. I could not figure out what all the color coded ribbons on their ears meant, but some even had ribbons around their necks and waists.
And then we started going down the mountain;
I stopped at this ………well, not sure what to call them…….. they were not the normal cyclist we find, they had no proper gear, the one looked very young and they say they had been riding for 4 years, even went as high as Colombia, but they were heading North, so not sure if the true story was lost in translation. But from the bicycles they were using it is clear they are not tourist who love to cycle. They were gathering sticks to make a fire to make tea with, and was going to sleep at 3800m in a tent I could not see on their old bicycles.
But at least Millsy was having a great time;
Eventually we started dropping down and then the skies cleared, I heard angels singing in my ears and we we got a Sun Set to lift my spirits as confirmation that we were all safe and we had endured a very long and challenging day and that we safely got through everything. A religious moment for me.
By the time we had re-grouped and found one of the two Hostals in the town (yes my pumpkins, we have moved away from Hotels, we now do Hostals,) the sun had set and this was our view.
I have to stop now as we are all very hungry as we skipped lunch, so I will chat again with you tomorrow, hopefully from Chile, not sure where in Chile as we now need to re-plan our entire route.
Luv ja All
Fleisch
Lekker Johan