Peru

We`re now in Peru. There`s a bit of a backlog so here goes:

Thoughts about Bolivia:

1. Music is everywhere. The moment we entered the country, in a 4x4 towards the Salar, the driver grinned, put in a really bad tape of 80`s pop music remixed bolivian style (worse keyboards, panpipes), and said "Bolivian national anthem". Oh, and that Argentinian tune (if you haven`t heard it, count yourself lucky).
2. Road rules are non-existant. The crosses by the side of the road are known as Bolivian caution signs.
3. So many first hand horror stories. The Mercado Negro (yes, it means Black Market in Spanish as well) is rumoured to have a stall selling all the stolen backpacks - didn`t actually see it ourselves. Pretty much everyone here has either been robbed, pick pocketed, fallen ill, been stoned (in the thrown-at sense) at blockades, sold non-existant tickets, you name it.
4. The rest of the Bolivians (the non-Bovillains?) are really friendly, and the country is very cheap. Of course, exceptional French restaurants serving fillet mignon and souffle for 2.70gbp are much better if you don`t come down with diarrhea for the next 4 days.
5. Bolivia is messed up, seriously. Loads of ethnic groups, all pulling in different directions. Entire sections of society - e.g. 5m Quecha (ex-Inca, trying not to be ex-tincta) speakers that want their traditional subsistance farming lifestyle except there`s nowhere near enough land. Oh, and a few luxuries on top like cars.
6. The government -little bit of politics here- is in trouble. The old president cracked down on rioters, killing 67 of them, and was forced to flee the country to America. The vice-president (now president) is giving in to every single demand. He tried to resign, claiming the country is un-governable, and failed - congress put him straight back in on the principle that anyone else would probably be worse.
7. The chess sets are Incas (think llamas, sol-bishops etc) vs Spanish.
8. Some parts are really nice, the Salar, Coroico, Copacabana (on lake Titicaca, not Brazil). It was an experience.
   

As for Peru, we went pretty much straight to Cusco, stopping at Puno to see the floating souvenir stalls. Ok, they were the Uros people, who fled the Incas by building floating islands of reeds. Walking on them is weird, its really spongy - about a foot of peat with lots of reeds, over Lake Titicaca.

Cusco is really touristy. It might just be the culture shock of going from Bolivia, with really cheap, backpacker only culture, to a reasonably civilised country (they give you a tag for your luggage on the bus! Wow, that`s almost Argentina - Bolivia, its a free for all, get out early and glare.) But personally I blame the gringos over here for a 2 week holiday, with 200gbp to spend on Macchu Picchu, the other ruins etc - the prices have tripled in the last 3 years (good old 3 year old guidebook) and still they have too many tourists.

You can`t actually do the Inca trail now. Its limited to 500 people a day, booked out till 14th August, everyone paying 3-400$ (it used to be 1-200$). Lots of other trails have sprung up, ending up at Macchu Picchu). Oh, and the only way to get to Macchu Picchu is via Peru rail, who are fleecing tourists for all they`re worth, a 10km ride costing 40$ to 200$. The locals get to pay a tenth of that of course. Oh well, you come all the way out here, you`re going to see it.

Anyway, we`ve backpacked our way up the Sacred Valley, I`m now in Ollantaytambo, waiting for the train to Machcu Picchu. This valley is really nice, 2000m high, green (with river), lots of short hikes to Inca ruins. The ruins have largely been disappointing, the books go on about the immaculate stone walls - think English medieval castle walls, built 500 years ago, and sort of still standing.