Shush !!!

Our best night of the whole trip so far was in Ecolodge Copacabana (predates Rio) on Lake Titicaca, Bolivian side. The place was totally isolated and we were the only guests !

But the main thing was that my nightly altitude sickness tossing and turning and huffing and puffing seemed to have disappeared thanks to some miracle pills. We thought we'd acclimatised quite well apart from a little light-headedness early on, but for the last week or so I'd been having asthmatic- type attacks at night, and Bernard had a persistent drippy nose and cough, no doubt also altitude related.

So now we're cured we're once again kept awake by other noises. Here's just a sample. (And yes, I know, some people were just getting on with their jobs, and we're on holiday, there’s no money for double glazing etc etc)

From outside:

• Round the clock beer factory 100m from our window
• Large pet parrot squawking in the patio next door
• Thumping reggae beats from the deck above on the Amazon boat
• Saturday night bar music (every Saturday night, wherever)
• Saturday night revellers going home
• Taxis honking twice to attract custom
• Stationary police cars sounding their sirens periodically to remind people of their presence
• Dogs barking incessantly
• Building site excavations 20m from our window, starting 4am
• Dairy farm workers merrily clunking milk churns outside our (no glass window) expensive authentic farm holiday accommodation), again at 4am
• Cars, lorries, motorbikes, buses revving up the hill outside the window
• Firecrackers and screams all night for Halloween…

Inside the hotel:

• Guests arriving late or leaving early and believing the rest of the rooms are completely empty
• Chinese neighbours making a loud 3am phone call home
• Friendly host-guest chat in hostels
• Room opposite with a family of six (including fractious toddler and loud TV quiz show)
• Night staff telling each other jokes
• Zealous breakfast staff crashing plates about from 5am
• Excited groups (German, French, US, motorcycle clubs) making loud jokes and comments in the stairwell
• Lifts clunking up and down all night
• Neighbours peeing noisily and flushing each time
• Alcohol driven evenings with men trying to impress shrieking women
• Bachelors away from home unable to get to sleep without loud TV background noise (which continues after they do drop off)
• Old rattly air conditioners …

And yet now we're in cooler climes we rather miss these, they cover a multitude of other noises !

We’ve tried adapting our schedule (8.30pm 5am for a while), but that didn't last long. Perhaps we’ll just eventually get used to it all, look at Ste Bazeille, we sleep through the trains, which even shake the house !

Comments

[annick]

Mais vous êtes des héros, moi qui me plaint du camion-poubelles à 7h...........

Bises!

Annick