Disaster strikes – not once, but twice!

You may have noticed this blog has had a quiet week…we set out last Monday, 17 March, for Copacabana and the Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, in high spirits.

At the mid point of our trip, ahead of us lay many interesting and exciting options. We had a general plan – few days on the Isla, another week to explore the underbelly of La Paz/El Alto, on to Salar d’Uyuni and the Atacama desert, the north of Chile, an anarchist bookfair in Santiago, more Chilean culture and sights, before back to Santiago for May Day, followed by a last Pacific beach blast before a visit to family in Canada.

We have, and would have had, plenty more to write and say, pics to share, opinions and rants to unleash. Alas…it was not to be…

By Wednesday we were back in La Paz licking a wound, one of us was quite sick. A Friday in a clinic, and tests revealed both salmonella and amoebic dysentery in the gut, so strong meds were purchased, and we had 8 days to recover for the Uyuni and onwards.

It was not to be. The call that all travellers fear and hope does not come, came – an elderly parent, in London, has suddenly just died. And that is that, the end of the trip, c’est la vie as they don’t say in Spanish. The priority now is to return to share the practical and emotional burdens of bereavement with family and friends. Marion D Beasley RIP, a kind soul who gave so much and asked so little in return, you will be missed.

So no time now, as we tap away awaiting a connecting flight faraway, for stories anew. No time to tell of the hailstorm that left the beaches of the Isla del Sol white, nor of the odd celebrations in La Paz this weekend to commemorate a Pacific war long lost.

This may, or may not, be the last post to this blog? We may, or may not, return later to complete our south American trip? Thanks for reading, we hope you were amused, entertained, informed and provoked in equal measure. We were!