Where in the World is Elaine San Hall?

Since being on Lake Titticaca, I haven't had much of a chance to write, so I will provide a brief breakdown of my ''Haps'' here in South America

1. Isla Del Sol= The Birthplace of Incan civilization.
We hiked out of Copacbana around the lake for a ocuple hours along the dirt road, through farms and past fisheries and isla flotantes (floating islands) and bumped into an Australian talking to a charismatic Quechuan man who wanted to take us in his boat to the island. He knew we were coming along becasue his wife had seen us walking in from town. We road to the tip of the Isla del Sol where he dropped us off and we hiked hte next 5 hours through tiny villages and farms with the austrailain and a canadian girl with blond dreadlocks. It was getting late by the time we reached the end of hte isalnd and we still had an hour more to walk when to 10 year olds ran out and told us htey would row us ot the end of the island for 30 bolivianos. 'Who will row'' we asked, and hte bi gger one pointed to the smaller one and said 'Him!'...we couldn{t resist and soon we were in a boat with two 4 foot tall kids rowing 3 grown gringos across the little bay. When they got tired Brad and the AUstralian offered to row andchanged places with teh boys...but after 5 minutes U could tell the guys were sturggling. The boat was an old heavy wooden row boat with thin oars and i was laughing to myself that these bug guys were working ahrder than the 2 kidsm when suddenly Brad gave a hearty pull on the oar, and pulled hte whole seat off with him! we all stopped in shock and the kid{s mouth next to me dropped into a silent 'puuutttaaaaaaa'

But we made it to shore intact, seat fixed, and money in hte kids pockets-they earned it.

Lake Titticaca was one of hte places Che Guevara visited in his travels htrough South America tyhat he painted as iuncredibly backward and isolated...it is still very isolated.even with the constant stream of trouists. The villages are very basic, the resturants are very basic, the people are very simpe, pigs hang out on the beach instead of people.

As for accomodations, I don't know if you have evr stayed in a hostal in SOuth America for a dolalr a night...if you have, you probably haven't since. It was basic. I don't need to explain that we shared atoilet with the family ad we'll jsut say-they definitely were into water conservation..., there was no running water but a little spicket outside in hte courtyard, and the bedding was probably washed right where everything else is--in the lake, next to where hte toilet flushes. But a bed is a bed, good company is good company, and beautiful views of a giant moutnain lake are always beautiful.

2. La Paz = City of Peace, Bolvia's Capital, Voted best place to eat ice cream, by me

We bussed it into La Paz after Lake Titticaca, took a treacherous ferry across a narrow part of the lake, and arrived in La Paz that afternoon. La Paz is shaped like a giant bowl, and the red houses tumble down the valley to the main street- El Prado. We stayed on a quiet plaza up from the Prado, and would walk down to the bustling mainstreet in the day to eat, check e-mails and check out tours and places to go. The Prado is full of dessert places. In fact every day, around 5 pm, masses of families stroll the Prado with ice cream in hand. I hate ice cream so I didn't do that... ,) We also went to a futbol game!!!! Neither of us know anything about futbol, but it was hte championship game for Bolivian soccer and we found great seat! We walked over there in teh evening, loaded up on stadium food (they only have sandwiches--sausage, chicken, hamburger--sodas and candy)

We also searched for inexpensive tour companies who could take us biking on the infamous 'DEATH ROAD'. Truly, that is the name of this one lane dirt jungle road that leads down into the canyon on the other side of the montains from La Paz. One side of the road is sheer cliff going up, and the other side is sheer cliff going down, which leads me into my next blurb....

3. Death Road = Bike riding 5 hours down hill on the most dangerous road in the world (so they say)

I normally don't do much (or any) mountain biking, but I enjoy a good bike ride..People had been telling us to ride the Death Road since we got to Peru. It has become a famous tourist destination and outfitters set you up with a guide, serious biking gear, and promises of buffet lunches at the end of the day. Brad and I found a decent company and met up at 6:30am the next morning with our tour group and a friend we'd met in Copacabana to take on the Road of Death. There isn´t too much to report here...no one died....booring..no just kidding...But really no one died...even so, it was fun riding downhill on this winding gravel road through waterfalls and precariously placed rocks. You don¨t even notice the sheer drop to your left until the end of the trip when you take off all your gear and actually look at the jaw dropping views of emerald forest belwo you...phew...glad I lived though that. The end of the trip we just drank beer and swam in a pool to kill time before driving back to La Paz. Very fun! Back in La Paz we were ready to start our next foray into La Selva!