Down and Out in the Preuvian Hills

I have been very lucky traveling all of these years. I have not really gotten sick at all, so when people would tell horror stories of how they got sick I would always think they must have done something wrong. I mean I have eaten strange foods, eaten from street vendors, and taken a few chances but have always come up on top. Well... this last week has been payback. Me and Lotta arrived to Lake Titticaca, a huge lake at the far south end of Peru, and the north of Bolivia. We went to the floating islands there, which have become floating islands/tourist trinket islands. We had read about when visiting the islands you should only give the (very poor) children pens or toys, but NOT candy, you think the U.S. has a health care program that is in disrepair, the slogan for the Bolivian dental program is "HEY Kids we don´t exist!" Once we got to the island we saw why the book recommended no candy, the kid´s teeth, or lack there of, were gnarled and twisted like the mouth of a fifty year old carny. The kids came up to a group of us and sang come cute songs, some gave candy, some pens, and me and Lotta gave some money. The kids left with our money and came back a few seconds later with more candy. The next day we bought apples and gave those to every kid we saw.
That night we went to a bar and had a drink and the next day we headed out to a small island where people have been living for thousands of years. We arranged to spend the night with a local family on that fantastic island. The locals were great and we ate our meals with them too. That morning we took the boat back and I slept the entire way back to Puno, the town we based out of. We got back to the hotel room and that is where I got to hang out for the next few days. Hmmmmm what did it? I lined up the suspects 1. Altitude Sickness: Headache-check, insomnia-check, poor digestion-(I suppose if THAT is what you want to call it)-check, Malaise- On a side note I like the word "malaise" although it sounds like something you might get just for a few minutes while summering with the queen after a rousing polo game, "Oh tut tut, I feel I have a touch of the malaise, shall we retire to the veranda and have some lemonade, jolly good" Personally I would have called it "groaning on your bed praying for the sweet dark embrace of death" but I suppose MALAISE will do- check. But, I do not think it was just the altitude sickness. No for the perfect vacation sickness recipe you should get a base of Altitude sickness, mix in a healthy portion of very rural local cooking, sprinkle in some dehydration, and to get it just right be sure to remember that night you had that drink at the bar, hmmm it had an ice cube in it didn´t it?
As a public service we have no photos of the sickness week. I did see the best site I have ever seen, much better than the Inca Trail, and cooler than any capital city, that would be: My wife LOTTA, thank God for her! she put up with me for a week and run to the store for any and all needs, I literally do not know how I would have made it if not for her.
Anyway this is me sticking my head out the rabbit hole for the first time and looking around La Paz the governmental capital of Bolivia.

The first real meal that I had when I could eat again? Burger King! I know it is kind of a sell out but I do not care, and it tasted great too. I was struck by the fact there do not seem to be any MacDonald's in either Peru or Bolivia and the Burger King we found was the ONLY western fast food place we have seen the entire time here.
Once healed up we took a short bus to a town called Oruro and then last night we took a very long bus, ten hours, to Sucre. The Bus left at 10:30 P.M. so it was a night bus packed with all Peruvians and two little gringo/gringas. We had two big seats so the trip was going to just be an overnight sleeping trip. But wait! this bus trip has entertainment in the form of two T.V.s. One T.V. is at the front of the bus and the second one is fastened to the side of the overhead luggage compartment so it is hanging in front of one seat in the middle of the bus.... you know.... MY SEAT, about twenty inches in front of my face. So, at about 11:00 P.M. with no where to look but at the screen what is the film sensation they show on the bus? "Karate Dog", featuring Pat Morita (who has the good sense to have his character die in the first five minutes) and gulp, Jon Voit, How? Why? The whole affair is dubbed in Spanish, but don´t worry, somehow I could still follow the plot, which involves a DOG who knows KARATE, and talks, sort of an Air Bud meets Chuck Norris. With "Karate Dog" blasting away in Spanish, my head twisting left to right looking for anything that is not a talking dog beating on ninjas I sudden realize what it is to be Alex in " A Clockwork Orange", I now get sick ever time I see a dog, or Karate, and forget talking karate dogs.
All of a sudden they turn the sound down very low on the movie, so I am really the only person on the bus that can even hear the movie, not that I am complaining but that is so ironic they should cram it into that Alantis Morrisette song, you know "it´s like rain on your wedding day, it´s like meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife, it´s like being the only non-Spanish speaking person able to actually hear the Spanish dubbed movie on a bus load of 46 Peruvians." O.K. it is a bit long but it is still a lot more "Ironic" than any of her so called lyrics.
Speaking of dogs, Lotta and I were walking around town and we saw a dog, which is no big deal as the whole country is thick with them, but this dog happened to have a pink sweater on. Lotta used the zoom and got a photo of the funny dog, the funny dog that stoped waging it´s tail, started walking in our direction growling and barking. We just slowly but deliberately walked away and were fine. There is a relatively high degree of rabies in Bolivia and Peru so it is pretty scary when a big dog looks like it might bite you. What is about a thousand times worse than getting bit by a dog with rabies in Bolivia? Getting bitten by a dog with rabies in Bolivia that is wearing a pink sweater.

Here is a parting shot of some construction going on. I realize this blog was mostly about sickness and bus travel but that is all that has really happened, but we have big ticket adventure just over the hill. Take care all
Craig "Hot Night Bus"Vollmer