What a ride!
Funny, I just checked my horrorscope and it says this:
Capricorn
You are very insightful right now, and your front door is a likely stop along the way for people who are looking for answers. You'll be quite in demand today, by folks who simply want to compare notes and by folks who need major life help. Yet the tone of your day will not be filled with hopelessness, crisis or sadness. It will be all about connecting with other people. There will be a lot of laughter and bonding.
Realize that life is a crazy ride.
Yep. See the link with the "ride" thing... yep.
Hmm... My last blog entry was some time ago and that coincides pretty well with the long-awaited arrival in Bolivia of one hell of a critical part of my life - Fiona.
She is well, in short and shall be guest blogging soon. She likes my new house in Cochabamba, and is looking forward to long days of Spanish lessons, Cuban sunsets, and the sweet smell eucalypt to come.
Let's see. Now, as I write, there are three photos downloading from Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at around 4000 metres, and nowhere near when Fiona arrived and over a week before today so those reading will have to do a bit of work chronologically (which is a bloody funny word in the end...)
This is what happened:
I couldn't sleep on December 19... which is pretty unprecedented as far as the "exciting or stressful things keeping Michael awake" category goes. Of course Fiona was arriving the following morning and that event was firmly in the subcategory of "exciting" with a toe or two crossing the line into "stressful" but only those one or two toes...
The idea of having the live music at the airport for Fiona fell directly and without ceremony on it's big fat stupid shaky-concept-in-the-first-place arse. But on the other hand, I loved just being able to just stand there and stare at her all smiles both of us, until she made it into my arms and our lips met with great ceremony, so there you are. It probably turned out for the best in the end.
I was feeling pretty cool being able to show Fiona how to fob off (in Spanish, and in the nicest possible way) taxi drivers wanting to charge us 45 Bolivianos to take us back into town from the very high altitude airport. And the tinge of cucumber was colouring my skin as I confidently arranged our minibus ride for 4B each.
La Paz remained as full of buzzing bits and pieces until our free breakfast at Adventurama from whom we booked our trip to Caroico. After breakfast we hopped their bus to La Cumbre (The Summit - 4700 metres) where the cloud cover and cold were ominous messages from the gods about what was to come as we... RODE BICYCLES DOWN THE MOST DANGEROUS ROAD ON THE ENTIRE PLANET!!!
Actually I have to openly admit to the world that the road should now be called "Formally known as the most dangerous road in the world" as the new, safer road opened up just weeks before our trip, so the 20 odd buses that fall down it's harrowingly gorgeous and gorge-ous drops were not really seen. What an anticlimax...
Hmm... come to think of it, probably should put the ride photos here instead of Titicaca if I'm going to go on about the ride...
So I'll talk about Titicaca first.
As many of you know I have already been to Copacabana, Titicaca and the Isla de Sol with my friends Krista and Sam (who I just realise are back home!! Wow!!! - *Jealousy sets in...*). I was excited to show Fiona the same brilliant scenery and culture that exists on the island and around the lake. The object for me was the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun from where the Incas believe the sun rose out of the lake. The moon rose out of Isla de la Luna) because that's where the most stunning views are and where the culture is decidedly more interesting perhaps because of it's separation from the mainland.
Anyway, we walked across the top of the island, a ridge for the most part with those views on either side.
Here I am busily discovering the delights of the Inca trail that leads us to the North side of the island - what IS that ... thing... there...??
An absolute treat of a walk (near the north Ruins now) seeing as we walked South side to North, more down than up, and without packs as full as a goog, unlike last time I was here.
Doing my best impression of James Bond, doing the emerging-from-the-water scene with that cucumber hue again... Maybe James Bond with worms... Either way, here I am emerging from the bloody Lake!!! Can you believe!!? And why? Why am I swimming in freezing waters early morning at 4000 odd metres? Because it was my birthday, that's why. So now when I get asked "What did you do on your 34th birthday Michael?" I can say "Oh, nothing much, just WENT FOR A SWIM IN LAKE TITICACA!!!... ahem... and you?" Yep. Should hardly be an aside but given the ego trip of the whole notion, I think I even had a deep spiritual experience in that water... course, could have been the numbness setting in...
Right. More soon. Time to buy sugar and order water. Big chores for a Sunday.
Oh, and for those who've been following the murders, riots, road blocks and general social unrest in Cochabamba that looks very pre-civil war, we're safe and it's settling but vamos a ver. Keep an eye on the news for tall gringos being lynched. A MUCH more comprehensive editorial about this whole shamozzle soon.
Chau.
p.s. the "death" themed title was to be far more detailed and relative to the entry... and it will be. Stay tuned.
4 comments:
Glad to see Fiona with you. She does look very happy as do you. As for you swimming. It looks like a big stick sticking out of the water. Gees you need to put on some weight Mike. I'm glad to know that you will remember your 34th birthday. Don't forget mine on 16th Feb.
Also we haven't heard of any unrest in Cochabamba. Maybe if I look on the net for the news we will see some.
Love ya
PS.... HI FIONA.
Oh nothing, just went for a swim in Lake Titicaca! Excellent, excellent, what a line, and at very minimum you trumped me. I went for a drive down the highway on my birthday. Thrillsville.
And if you're that desperate for your death title to relate to your blog, then ... I hope you didn't catch your death of cold on that swim in Titicaca. *Ba doom boom ching*
Good to know you're both live and kicking.
happy birthday! glad you are well.
And Michael... did any big bands stumble out on the morning of your b-day to help you celebrate (... with a rather sleepless night thrown in for good measure!)? A bucket full of chicha to you my dear friend! Love to Fiona! Love Krista x
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