I have come to the end of my 3 days skiing in Bariloche, and have decided to stay an extra night, to go paragliding over the mountains!
It has been quite an experience.
This town has the most amazing setting. In Europe we dont get these amazing beautiful lakes in the mountains. I really wish we did, because the views from the top were stunning. You could see about 3 of 'the 7 Lakes'.
As a result of being so low down, we have to get a 40min bus to St Catedral..which is where the ski lifts start from.
The whole system roundhere alsotook me a little while to work out. Normally in Europe you would rent everything in the village where you were staying, and then get on the bus with all your stuff. Here they have everything for rent AT the ski lifts. Much better...because you dont have to take everything with you on the bus. But it is a bit confusing. Also at the ski lifts they have loadsofchocolate shops. Just like all through the town! Chocolate, chocolate EVERYWHERE!!! AHHHH!!! I have to admit that i cant even look at chocolate anymore.. and this is the first time I have ever felt like this. Normally i can eat chocolate for England.. but jesus.. had so much... cant handle it any more!
The skiing itself has been pretty varied. Definitly not the best skiing i have ever done, but also not the worst.
Unfortunatly the boots theygave me on the first day were absolutly rubbish! I endedup struggling the whole day.. and the skis felt like 2 planks of wood, no edges! Also, as soon as i got to the top this huge cloud came, and didnt leave all day till i got to the bottom at the end of the day. So the snow had just looked flat all day, which had made everything even worse, and couldnt see further than 10m. Another problem was that it was prettymuchall ice. Atthe very top, the peaks were out of the coulds and the snow was wonderful and powdery.. but below.. just like ice, sprinkled in what looked and felt like salt. Would just run through your fingers, and caused loads of friction. Skiing on that was pretty tough, one minute slidingdown on the ice, the next you hit a mound of this thick snow stuff!
The second and third day were pretty good.Loads of sun, but only did half a day of skiing.I have been told its generally all ice till midday. This is beacuse in the day it gets so warm, melts the snow turns it toslush, but then the next day that leaves everything as ice. Also, now they are really needing more snow assome parts are bare near the bottom. And unfortunatly i think that snow will be coming just as i leave.. Bummer!
The difficulty of the slopes is quite easy.. and there are loadsofmougles to practice on, so i think it isprettygood mix for beginners and more advanced people, but definitly if you are verygod, you would get bored.Another good thing, is that theslopes arent too packed with people. Even on the weekend.. so you have lots of space, and dont have to be too paranoid about people skiing into you!
Really love thistown, just dont wanna leave! I think i will definitly be coming back in the summer. Get stuck into all the hiking, rafting, biking, cannoeing, cannyoning, riding etc! Great little town.
I think this has definitly been the most beautiful place i have stayed! It is simply stunning! Icant getover the views! If you have the time and money .. YOU MUST VISIT!!! xxx
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Bariloche
Right now supposed to be in Chicago.. but i am in Bariloche! PATAGONIA!
It is so beautiful! Not at all what i expected. Nothing like europe. The town is on the edge of a giant Lake. The lake and the town are surrounded by beautiful snowcapped mountains. It is surprisingly warm here in barlioche. Not a drop of snow. I will have to take a bus upto the slopes which is about half an hour!
I hadnt booked any accomodation, so first went to the same place as the brazilian, but they had no space. Phoned around 5 places, nowhere had anywhere... so i was just told to walk around and try and find somewhere... finally managed to get somewhere not too far..but sharing with 3 boys i think.. will be funny. Havent met them yet... just seem their stuff in the dorm.. hopefully they are cool guys!
I have been for a walk around the town, and i think it is my heaven... but will also be the death of me! There are choclatiers EVRYWHERE! Every corner... and inbetween them are Bakeries. Also the activities on offer are skiing, paragliding, horseriding in the snow, rafting, biking.. you name it, they've got it! And the views are just unbeatable!
This morning on the bus though, had quite a scare. At the entrance to the province there was a drugs check.
The police came on with dogs and stuff. The guy sitting infront of me had his bag checked, and they found papers for smoking. The dog didnt seem to find anything in his bag, but the poilice were convinced that if he had paper he had marijana. They took him outside, took out his luggage, emptied it ALL! they looked all round his seat, in the cushions, everywhere,,.. in his shoes etc. The dog didnt seem bothered at all.. so i think they went a bit far with all this. But they eventually found nothing! Lucky guy... otherwise he probably would have been in a lot of trouble. But the police seemed pretty aggressive, and he was shaking.. and they kept accusing him more of guiltbecause he was shaking...
Anyway.. i am off to enjoy bariloche.. rent out some equipment etc...
I will let you know how the skiing is. But i am a bit worried, as i hear that it is very icy and very windy up there. Hopefully the weather will improvefor my next 3 days.
The prices here are pretty good. Only paying 50 pounds for 3day skipass.. i think thats quite decent. And 10ponds a day for the ski rental, and 3 pounds a day for clothes! Pretty cheap skiing i think! Lets just hope its good too!
Ciao!!
PS: dad... guess what hostal i am staying in... MARCO POLO! ha ha ha.. with free dinner and breakfast! - not bad for a trashy budget hostal eh?
It is so beautiful! Not at all what i expected. Nothing like europe. The town is on the edge of a giant Lake. The lake and the town are surrounded by beautiful snowcapped mountains. It is surprisingly warm here in barlioche. Not a drop of snow. I will have to take a bus upto the slopes which is about half an hour!
I hadnt booked any accomodation, so first went to the same place as the brazilian, but they had no space. Phoned around 5 places, nowhere had anywhere... so i was just told to walk around and try and find somewhere... finally managed to get somewhere not too far..but sharing with 3 boys i think.. will be funny. Havent met them yet... just seem their stuff in the dorm.. hopefully they are cool guys!
I have been for a walk around the town, and i think it is my heaven... but will also be the death of me! There are choclatiers EVRYWHERE! Every corner... and inbetween them are Bakeries. Also the activities on offer are skiing, paragliding, horseriding in the snow, rafting, biking.. you name it, they've got it! And the views are just unbeatable!
This morning on the bus though, had quite a scare. At the entrance to the province there was a drugs check.
The police came on with dogs and stuff. The guy sitting infront of me had his bag checked, and they found papers for smoking. The dog didnt seem to find anything in his bag, but the poilice were convinced that if he had paper he had marijana. They took him outside, took out his luggage, emptied it ALL! they looked all round his seat, in the cushions, everywhere,,.. in his shoes etc. The dog didnt seem bothered at all.. so i think they went a bit far with all this. But they eventually found nothing! Lucky guy... otherwise he probably would have been in a lot of trouble. But the police seemed pretty aggressive, and he was shaking.. and they kept accusing him more of guiltbecause he was shaking...
Anyway.. i am off to enjoy bariloche.. rent out some equipment etc...
I will let you know how the skiing is. But i am a bit worried, as i hear that it is very icy and very windy up there. Hopefully the weather will improvefor my next 3 days.
The prices here are pretty good. Only paying 50 pounds for 3day skipass.. i think thats quite decent. And 10ponds a day for the ski rental, and 3 pounds a day for clothes! Pretty cheap skiing i think! Lets just hope its good too!
Ciao!!
PS: dad... guess what hostal i am staying in... MARCO POLO! ha ha ha.. with free dinner and breakfast! - not bad for a trashy budget hostal eh?
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Mendoza - Paraglyding, Winetour
Being in Mendoza reminds me of home. They have the same trees we have back home! But there are no leaves, which in July for me, feels a bit awkward, but i must remember it is winter ound here! Also I have found that Argentina in general is very confusing. It isnt very consistent like the other coutries i have been in. In some towns the shops are open from 9am till 6pm, and then other places they open 9am-1pm and then 5pm-9pm. It svery confusing, especailly if you want to go shopping. This whole siesta thing is just wierd. Particularily, when you are in a part of Argentina where it is Freezing. I tend to associate a siesta with heat..but here thats not the case.
Being in Mendoza, it seems to be a really active place, with loads of activites to offer, so i decided to go Paragliding. Thankfully i wasnt the only one going. There was another girl from my hostal going.. because it involved a long car journey, and then we sat on the mountain for 45 mins waiting for the guys to do whatever it was they had to do.. ie lie out the paragliding chute thing!
We had to fun off the mountain, which was bloody scary... Claire(the other girl) her guy got the kite up really quick so she didnt have to run too far, but i had to run all the way off the cliff!! I was shitting myself! Why am i doing all these stupid things!!!- because they are fun of course!
Flying was amazing, very peaceful, quiet and beautiful veiws of the whole of Mendoza. It was an absolutly amazing experience.. definintly want to do it again! It was great! the landing was a bit scary, because you come in really quickly towards the ground, and then the guy somehow makes the parachute break, and you slow down completely and have to run! Its cool though! Highly recommended.. and less dangerous than jumping out a plane!
Then that afternoon, headed out on a wine tasting tour. I was a bit disappointed that i was the only young person there.. so it was a bit crap... just went round 2 vineyards, and a extra vigin oil production plant. That was fairly interesting.,.. but otherwise i was a bit bored. They didnt serve enough samples, and i had already seen it in Cafeyate. Had to rush from the tour to the bus station for 8pm to catch my Bus to Bariloche! Got quite lucky on the bus to be sat next to a brazilian guy who spoke perfect english... so i had some decent conversation, from someone who wasnt a sleaze at all!
Being in Mendoza, it seems to be a really active place, with loads of activites to offer, so i decided to go Paragliding. Thankfully i wasnt the only one going. There was another girl from my hostal going.. because it involved a long car journey, and then we sat on the mountain for 45 mins waiting for the guys to do whatever it was they had to do.. ie lie out the paragliding chute thing!
We had to fun off the mountain, which was bloody scary... Claire(the other girl) her guy got the kite up really quick so she didnt have to run too far, but i had to run all the way off the cliff!! I was shitting myself! Why am i doing all these stupid things!!!- because they are fun of course!
Flying was amazing, very peaceful, quiet and beautiful veiws of the whole of Mendoza. It was an absolutly amazing experience.. definintly want to do it again! It was great! the landing was a bit scary, because you come in really quickly towards the ground, and then the guy somehow makes the parachute break, and you slow down completely and have to run! Its cool though! Highly recommended.. and less dangerous than jumping out a plane!
Then that afternoon, headed out on a wine tasting tour. I was a bit disappointed that i was the only young person there.. so it was a bit crap... just went round 2 vineyards, and a extra vigin oil production plant. That was fairly interesting.,.. but otherwise i was a bit bored. They didnt serve enough samples, and i had already seen it in Cafeyate. Had to rush from the tour to the bus station for 8pm to catch my Bus to Bariloche! Got quite lucky on the bus to be sat next to a brazilian guy who spoke perfect english... so i had some decent conversation, from someone who wasnt a sleaze at all!
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Córdoba and Skydiving!
Arrived in Córdoba. O Lord, it was so ugly, and dirty, i wasnt happy at all!
We had been told it is one of the most beautiful cities in Argentina, but i really wasnt seeing it. The hostal we stayed in - La PAlenque- was really cool though. Really busy, and then french guys from salta were there too.
I met a dutch guy called Tom there, and managed to pursuade him to go skydiving with me on monday!
Sunday, was pretty crap in Cordoba. We hadnt gone out the night before because we had spent so long awake and travelling and were really too tired. Sunday, we walked arouind, but it was just a ghost town. It was horrible. No prettier by day than by night! Very disapointing. So we just spent the day chilling. Tom told us all his crazy stories of building a raft in the jungle and sailing downriver for a week and how the girl he was with almost drowned, and he almost broke his leg, and also their week of horse riding through bolivia... made me very jealous. In his time with this english girl, he had learn artesinian handicrafts, so he made me a necklace for my andian cross, and then taught us how to make necklaces and bracelets. Very cool!
The next day me and Tom headed off skydiving. Unfortunatly Skye couldnt join us becasue she had blocked ears and was feeling a bit ill.
On the way there i was feeling nervous like crazy, but once i was sat in the plane i felt fine. We had been giving vague training. How to get into the plane, how to exit, the position during the freefall, and to put our legs in the air for the landing.
Tom went first... watching him jump out was pretty scary... i was watching from the ground,a nd he fell so fast! Then he was falling for much longer than he should have, becasue the parachute was released, but wasnt opening! I actually thought he was going to die! that wouldnt have been good... thankfully it opened.. and it was all fine.... but worried me a bit for my flight!
The ride up in the plane lasted about 15mins. The plane is tiny. I am taller than it, and it is made of a thin piece of aluminium. Only 4 people fit. The pilot, the instructor, me and the camera man! VERY tight squeeze. I was feeling pretty calm till they opened the door and i was sitting on the edge. Wind blowing in my hair... the ground very far below. - Why the hell am i about to jump out the plane! - O well... and we went for it! At first it makes your stomach hurt a bit like on a fairground ride, but then its fantastic. Freefalling with the camera guy right next to you. When you open your shoot, the camera guy keeps falling, its scary how quick he falls, and lands. In the meantime, the instructor and I do some twists and turns.. he starts to centrifuge us, we almost makes me puke, but then its all good. The flight is only about 10mins down. Its AWESOME. and the landing was pretty smooth. Overall it was a bloody good day.
Whilst there met an Irish guy who jumped after me, and he was heading to mendoza that night... so i decided i would go with him. Thats where i am now.
So bizzare. This city is so cold! There are ski shops everywhere.. it is bizarre. Tomorrow gonna go paragliding and wine tasting. Then off to Bariloche for a few days skiing! WHoo HOO!
xxx
We had been told it is one of the most beautiful cities in Argentina, but i really wasnt seeing it. The hostal we stayed in - La PAlenque- was really cool though. Really busy, and then french guys from salta were there too.
I met a dutch guy called Tom there, and managed to pursuade him to go skydiving with me on monday!
Sunday, was pretty crap in Cordoba. We hadnt gone out the night before because we had spent so long awake and travelling and were really too tired. Sunday, we walked arouind, but it was just a ghost town. It was horrible. No prettier by day than by night! Very disapointing. So we just spent the day chilling. Tom told us all his crazy stories of building a raft in the jungle and sailing downriver for a week and how the girl he was with almost drowned, and he almost broke his leg, and also their week of horse riding through bolivia... made me very jealous. In his time with this english girl, he had learn artesinian handicrafts, so he made me a necklace for my andian cross, and then taught us how to make necklaces and bracelets. Very cool!
The next day me and Tom headed off skydiving. Unfortunatly Skye couldnt join us becasue she had blocked ears and was feeling a bit ill.
On the way there i was feeling nervous like crazy, but once i was sat in the plane i felt fine. We had been giving vague training. How to get into the plane, how to exit, the position during the freefall, and to put our legs in the air for the landing.
Tom went first... watching him jump out was pretty scary... i was watching from the ground,a nd he fell so fast! Then he was falling for much longer than he should have, becasue the parachute was released, but wasnt opening! I actually thought he was going to die! that wouldnt have been good... thankfully it opened.. and it was all fine.... but worried me a bit for my flight!
The ride up in the plane lasted about 15mins. The plane is tiny. I am taller than it, and it is made of a thin piece of aluminium. Only 4 people fit. The pilot, the instructor, me and the camera man! VERY tight squeeze. I was feeling pretty calm till they opened the door and i was sitting on the edge. Wind blowing in my hair... the ground very far below. - Why the hell am i about to jump out the plane! - O well... and we went for it! At first it makes your stomach hurt a bit like on a fairground ride, but then its fantastic. Freefalling with the camera guy right next to you. When you open your shoot, the camera guy keeps falling, its scary how quick he falls, and lands. In the meantime, the instructor and I do some twists and turns.. he starts to centrifuge us, we almost makes me puke, but then its all good. The flight is only about 10mins down. Its AWESOME. and the landing was pretty smooth. Overall it was a bloody good day.
Whilst there met an Irish guy who jumped after me, and he was heading to mendoza that night... so i decided i would go with him. Thats where i am now.
So bizzare. This city is so cold! There are ski shops everywhere.. it is bizarre. Tomorrow gonna go paragliding and wine tasting. Then off to Bariloche for a few days skiing! WHoo HOO!
xxx
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Tucuman and the Hitchhike.
We arrived in Tucuman, and what a horrible town it was. People told us it is apparently more beautiful than Córdoba. This i still had to find out, but when we arrived in Tucuman, we just went for some tea, then headed into town in search of some sort of beauty...
It was certainly very hard to find. The town was pretty dirty, markets, and just nothing nice around. We did eventually stmble across the pedestrianised part of the town, and it was quite pretty, but nothing in comparion to Salta and Cafeyate. No beautiful Plaza, so we just breakfasted in a funky little joint, where men didnt seem to have a problem with openly staring at us through the window as they passed! Also, some people in a shop got very excited when we went in beacuse we were white, and there were NO other tourists.. and were very friendly and polite.
We didnt feel the need to dwell in this town for very long, so we picked up our bags, and went to the bus terminal. The tickets to Córdoba were pretyextortionate.. 11pounds sterling, for a 9 hour bus ride! Ridiculus. As there were two of us we decided to take advantage of this and try and hitchhike for free.
We went to the petrol station and stood by the exit with our 'Cordoba o Santiago' sign and started to wait, on what we had found out was the road leading to those two places.
Having two beautiful Gringas stood on a corner certainly got us a lot of attention. Lots of people were looking at us from their cars but not stopping. We met two guys who said they were going tomorrow, and they would take us to dinner tonight etc, then we could all go tomorrow. We said if we were still there tomorrow we wuld take them up on their offer, but no thanks for now.
Some hippy guy with black teeth and really nasty nails came up to us, and invited us over to his tent which he had pitched next to the main road the night before, to smoke some marujana. Very nice offer, but again, we had to turn him down. We had work to do.
Then the kids from theother side of the street started whistling at us. Finally they had the guts to come over, but just stood round us in a ring and stared. Asked where we were from and carried on staring. This became a bit of a problem, as being surrounded by them all lessned our chances of being picked up. So I subtely tried to ask them if they should go back to work.... (they had been cleaning car windows at the traffic lights a few mins earlier..) but they said no, so Skye was direct and just told them to leave because they werent helpng us.
During this time the hippy guy had come back with a guitar and was earning money playing the guitar to people through their windows...
he came over again and tolx us, just as many other passers by had, that the bus terminal was 30m away,... and didnt understand how we managed to not have any money!
Then he told us we should buy some thread and make bracelts to sell, like all other hippys, then likfe would be easy... ha ha ha! Then he said he had to go back to work! HAHAHA! Playing guitar!
After about and hour and a half of waiting, the hippy whistled at us. Some guys driving the other way said they could take us to santiago. They looked ok, and said they would be back in a bit to pick us up.
They arrived about 45mins later... OMG they looked so sleazy. They were about 45 and smoking away and scary. Skye and I just looked at eachother... and thought.. we cant get in, this doent look safe... but then on the other hand, we had no other choice. So we jumped in. The guys then started driving, then all of a sudden turned the car around to drive in the opposite direction to Cordoba and Santiago. SHIT! both of us panicked. Skye tried not to show she was scared, so started asking if they had forgotten something- NO, then she asked why we were going this direction, we had been told santiago was the opposite way... they said. No it is this way.,..
We got quite worried, but they did then say they were going onto route 9.. (which is right) and luckily we soon saw signs for Cordoba. It turned out we had been stood in the right direction, but it was a new road, and these guys were from BA and had come in another way, and that was the way we were now leaving. These guys were quite nice. We were a bit weary, but we would only have to spend 2 hours in the car to santiago... then we could hitch with someone a bit more interesting. As we drove, we preactised our spanish a little, they were apparently detectives in the police force, but then they burst out laughing, so we thought they were lying... but that didnt really matter. Of course as they drove they drank maté all the way which cracked us up. We were chatting away about where was best to drop us off, and they decided to change their route slightly, and take us all the way to Cordoba. At the time we were a bit disappointed that our adventure was ending soon, but overall its a good thing, because its 900km to cordoba, and god knows how long we would be waiting for another ride.
These guys turned out to be quite comical. Driving through the countryside we just suddenly stopped. Jesus... it scared the life out of me and Skye.. we were in the middle of nowhere.. then the guy starts reversing and some kids run upto the car tryig to sell tortoises. This was so random. After this we kept stopping to ask for prices. When we asked why they wanted one, they said it was a present for their mother! Crazy! They also sold parrots and snakes along the street. This was very cool to see.. something we would have missed out on had we not hitchhiked.
Finally we stopped for a toilet break at the petrol station, and skye and I couldnt stop cracking up at how much Argentinians love drinking Maté. Everyone ran out their cars with thermos flasks for Maté, to fill up with hot water, then when we were driving, the guys had a screw-in metal heating rod for their thermos to keep their water warm! Its just hilarious. Even at the bus terminal they had a special machine dishing out hot water.
Anyway, we drove on to Córdoba, and at one point one of the guys says, 'please dont be scared, we have a gun, we will protect you!' - this was pretty freaky, as its not leagal to have guns round here... but we just decided to believe their police story. God knows who these people were, but if it was anything bad, we didnt want to upset them. And sure enough they pulled out their gun frm the glove compartment to show us. Also all the documentation to prove it was legal, but overall the guys were cool and dropped us off in Cordoba! We were pretty chuffed at the free ride! Whoo hoo! Gladly do it again!
It was certainly very hard to find. The town was pretty dirty, markets, and just nothing nice around. We did eventually stmble across the pedestrianised part of the town, and it was quite pretty, but nothing in comparion to Salta and Cafeyate. No beautiful Plaza, so we just breakfasted in a funky little joint, where men didnt seem to have a problem with openly staring at us through the window as they passed! Also, some people in a shop got very excited when we went in beacuse we were white, and there were NO other tourists.. and were very friendly and polite.
We didnt feel the need to dwell in this town for very long, so we picked up our bags, and went to the bus terminal. The tickets to Córdoba were pretyextortionate.. 11pounds sterling, for a 9 hour bus ride! Ridiculus. As there were two of us we decided to take advantage of this and try and hitchhike for free.
We went to the petrol station and stood by the exit with our 'Cordoba o Santiago' sign and started to wait, on what we had found out was the road leading to those two places.
Having two beautiful Gringas stood on a corner certainly got us a lot of attention. Lots of people were looking at us from their cars but not stopping. We met two guys who said they were going tomorrow, and they would take us to dinner tonight etc, then we could all go tomorrow. We said if we were still there tomorrow we wuld take them up on their offer, but no thanks for now.
Some hippy guy with black teeth and really nasty nails came up to us, and invited us over to his tent which he had pitched next to the main road the night before, to smoke some marujana. Very nice offer, but again, we had to turn him down. We had work to do.
Then the kids from theother side of the street started whistling at us. Finally they had the guts to come over, but just stood round us in a ring and stared. Asked where we were from and carried on staring. This became a bit of a problem, as being surrounded by them all lessned our chances of being picked up. So I subtely tried to ask them if they should go back to work.... (they had been cleaning car windows at the traffic lights a few mins earlier..) but they said no, so Skye was direct and just told them to leave because they werent helpng us.
During this time the hippy guy had come back with a guitar and was earning money playing the guitar to people through their windows...
he came over again and tolx us, just as many other passers by had, that the bus terminal was 30m away,... and didnt understand how we managed to not have any money!
Then he told us we should buy some thread and make bracelts to sell, like all other hippys, then likfe would be easy... ha ha ha! Then he said he had to go back to work! HAHAHA! Playing guitar!
After about and hour and a half of waiting, the hippy whistled at us. Some guys driving the other way said they could take us to santiago. They looked ok, and said they would be back in a bit to pick us up.
They arrived about 45mins later... OMG they looked so sleazy. They were about 45 and smoking away and scary. Skye and I just looked at eachother... and thought.. we cant get in, this doent look safe... but then on the other hand, we had no other choice. So we jumped in. The guys then started driving, then all of a sudden turned the car around to drive in the opposite direction to Cordoba and Santiago. SHIT! both of us panicked. Skye tried not to show she was scared, so started asking if they had forgotten something- NO, then she asked why we were going this direction, we had been told santiago was the opposite way... they said. No it is this way.,..
We got quite worried, but they did then say they were going onto route 9.. (which is right) and luckily we soon saw signs for Cordoba. It turned out we had been stood in the right direction, but it was a new road, and these guys were from BA and had come in another way, and that was the way we were now leaving. These guys were quite nice. We were a bit weary, but we would only have to spend 2 hours in the car to santiago... then we could hitch with someone a bit more interesting. As we drove, we preactised our spanish a little, they were apparently detectives in the police force, but then they burst out laughing, so we thought they were lying... but that didnt really matter. Of course as they drove they drank maté all the way which cracked us up. We were chatting away about where was best to drop us off, and they decided to change their route slightly, and take us all the way to Cordoba. At the time we were a bit disappointed that our adventure was ending soon, but overall its a good thing, because its 900km to cordoba, and god knows how long we would be waiting for another ride.
These guys turned out to be quite comical. Driving through the countryside we just suddenly stopped. Jesus... it scared the life out of me and Skye.. we were in the middle of nowhere.. then the guy starts reversing and some kids run upto the car tryig to sell tortoises. This was so random. After this we kept stopping to ask for prices. When we asked why they wanted one, they said it was a present for their mother! Crazy! They also sold parrots and snakes along the street. This was very cool to see.. something we would have missed out on had we not hitchhiked.
Finally we stopped for a toilet break at the petrol station, and skye and I couldnt stop cracking up at how much Argentinians love drinking Maté. Everyone ran out their cars with thermos flasks for Maté, to fill up with hot water, then when we were driving, the guys had a screw-in metal heating rod for their thermos to keep their water warm! Its just hilarious. Even at the bus terminal they had a special machine dishing out hot water.
Anyway, we drove on to Córdoba, and at one point one of the guys says, 'please dont be scared, we have a gun, we will protect you!' - this was pretty freaky, as its not leagal to have guns round here... but we just decided to believe their police story. God knows who these people were, but if it was anything bad, we didnt want to upset them. And sure enough they pulled out their gun frm the glove compartment to show us. Also all the documentation to prove it was legal, but overall the guys were cool and dropped us off in Cordoba! We were pretty chuffed at the free ride! Whoo hoo! Gladly do it again!
Friday, 20 July 2007
More BBQ Fun and walks
Stayed one more day in Córdoba. Decided to go for a walk to see the waterfalls. We were told by some new argentinian boys we had met the night before at another fab BBQ, (this time only 2, from BA- who are going to take me to a football match) that they are really beautiful.
We(me and Skye-who i met on the bus to salta) thought it would be a pretty short walk to the casscades, only 6 km each way... but when we got there it turned out we had another hour or so to walk! There were some argentinians there determined to be our guides, but we were not wanting to spend any money, so pretended not to speak a word of Spanish. but the guy was pretty persistant. He just kept talking at us, and telling us about the route we had to take, we needed water etc.. and finally when i said in english - we dont speak spanish- he took the hint and left us to it.
The walk was pretty long, but really good for us. Had been overeating on wine flavoured icecream, and snicker flavoured icecream.. and god food in general. The walk through the cannyon was pretty cool. Very rugged walk so a bit of rock climbing involved and stuff which was a good laugh, but managed to completely destroy my jeans! The cascades themselves were pretty cool, but couldnt really even see them as they were obscured by some rocks, and in order to see them we would have had to climb down a very dangerous part of the rocks, and there was no real exit. Plus we were getting hungry, and were tired, as we hadnt planned for this 6 hour excursion, we were only prepared for 3hours. On the way back we tried to hitchhike, but all the cars were full.. so ended up walking all the way back to our hostel.
We then spent the rest of the evening trying to kill time, as our us to Tucuman was leaving at 2am. We didnt feel too hungry but went to a restaurant anyway at 7:30, and were relying on normal south american service which takes hours normally, and were disapointed when our food arrived within 5 mins of us ordering. We have no idea HOW this was possible. They must have already had our food in the oven! I have no idea... which worried us a bit, because surely only a microwave can prepare food that quick!
We jumped on our 2am bus to Tucuman, and we had the worst seats, they were slanting forward, so we just kept slipping down. We wanted to move, but when we had bought our seats the ladt said the bus was almost full! So we stayed put, and thought that maybe we were collecting others on the way! As it turns out, the whole night we spent starting and stopping, but at no point was the bus ever full!
We arrived in Tucuman.. and went out in search of food before our next adventure...
We(me and Skye-who i met on the bus to salta) thought it would be a pretty short walk to the casscades, only 6 km each way... but when we got there it turned out we had another hour or so to walk! There were some argentinians there determined to be our guides, but we were not wanting to spend any money, so pretended not to speak a word of Spanish. but the guy was pretty persistant. He just kept talking at us, and telling us about the route we had to take, we needed water etc.. and finally when i said in english - we dont speak spanish- he took the hint and left us to it.
The walk was pretty long, but really good for us. Had been overeating on wine flavoured icecream, and snicker flavoured icecream.. and god food in general. The walk through the cannyon was pretty cool. Very rugged walk so a bit of rock climbing involved and stuff which was a good laugh, but managed to completely destroy my jeans! The cascades themselves were pretty cool, but couldnt really even see them as they were obscured by some rocks, and in order to see them we would have had to climb down a very dangerous part of the rocks, and there was no real exit. Plus we were getting hungry, and were tired, as we hadnt planned for this 6 hour excursion, we were only prepared for 3hours. On the way back we tried to hitchhike, but all the cars were full.. so ended up walking all the way back to our hostel.
We then spent the rest of the evening trying to kill time, as our us to Tucuman was leaving at 2am. We didnt feel too hungry but went to a restaurant anyway at 7:30, and were relying on normal south american service which takes hours normally, and were disapointed when our food arrived within 5 mins of us ordering. We have no idea HOW this was possible. They must have already had our food in the oven! I have no idea... which worried us a bit, because surely only a microwave can prepare food that quick!
We jumped on our 2am bus to Tucuman, and we had the worst seats, they were slanting forward, so we just kept slipping down. We wanted to move, but when we had bought our seats the ladt said the bus was almost full! So we stayed put, and thought that maybe we were collecting others on the way! As it turns out, the whole night we spent starting and stopping, but at no point was the bus ever full!
We arrived in Tucuman.. and went out in search of food before our next adventure...
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Cafayate
The argentinian grill... is called Parillia! - just something from my last blog...
Yesterday afternoon/evening arrived in Cafayate, unfortunatly missed all of the apparently stunning scenery, because i just passed out on the bus. Not only because i was tired form the night before, but because the most annoying argentinian sat next to me. I put in my headphones, but he kept talking ... ¿como te llamas?(name) where are you from.. blah blah blah.. eventually he got the message that i wanted to listen to my music.. after i explained that my MP3 player hadnt worked since my first week in SA, which was 3 and a half months ago! Then when we stopped for a break. he woke me up! I was pretty annoyed. Then when he got back on the bus, he just started singing my name... Nicooole nicooole... then I got - ¿Que piensas Nicole? - ARGH!! I was so annoyed i just wanted to sleep... so just snapped back.. NADA.. ESTOY CANSADA(nothing, i'm tired) Jesus.. that man wouldnt leave me alone! 4hours! and then kept waking me up to show me the scenery! Very nice i suppose, but i just really wasnt in the mood!
Anyway, once i arrived in Cafayate, it was beautiful. Still has all the niceties of Salta but much smaller, and stunning, surrounded by Vineyards. Me and a girl i met in salta went to visit some of the vineyards, shown how wine is made, sampled it... and i managed to get drunk very quickly!
Walking around we bumped into my polish friend from Tupiza, and her english boyfriend, who is a chef in London. They invited us over to their campsite for dinner, so of course we couldnt decline! Our hostel is also suposed to offer Parilla on the roof but that night the guy who does it wasnt there, so this was perfect.
At the cash machine i met a really cool Irish guy, so we decided to bring him along.
At the campsite wer had an awesome night. Andy cooked the best chicken, with guacamole and tomatoes and onions, and garlic bread. They had also invited 3 argentinian guy, and they had a guitar! The whole night was awesome. We had brought the wine, so we spent the evening drinking, and playing the guitar, everyone singing along... and then the boys light a bonfire, and it was great, sitting around and playing tunes till the small hours! Really like this little town, very tempted to stay a few more days.. see how it goes, cerainly one more night!
Yesterday afternoon/evening arrived in Cafayate, unfortunatly missed all of the apparently stunning scenery, because i just passed out on the bus. Not only because i was tired form the night before, but because the most annoying argentinian sat next to me. I put in my headphones, but he kept talking ... ¿como te llamas?(name) where are you from.. blah blah blah.. eventually he got the message that i wanted to listen to my music.. after i explained that my MP3 player hadnt worked since my first week in SA, which was 3 and a half months ago! Then when we stopped for a break. he woke me up! I was pretty annoyed. Then when he got back on the bus, he just started singing my name... Nicooole nicooole... then I got - ¿Que piensas Nicole? - ARGH!! I was so annoyed i just wanted to sleep... so just snapped back.. NADA.. ESTOY CANSADA(nothing, i'm tired) Jesus.. that man wouldnt leave me alone! 4hours! and then kept waking me up to show me the scenery! Very nice i suppose, but i just really wasnt in the mood!
Anyway, once i arrived in Cafayate, it was beautiful. Still has all the niceties of Salta but much smaller, and stunning, surrounded by Vineyards. Me and a girl i met in salta went to visit some of the vineyards, shown how wine is made, sampled it... and i managed to get drunk very quickly!
Walking around we bumped into my polish friend from Tupiza, and her english boyfriend, who is a chef in London. They invited us over to their campsite for dinner, so of course we couldnt decline! Our hostel is also suposed to offer Parilla on the roof but that night the guy who does it wasnt there, so this was perfect.
At the cash machine i met a really cool Irish guy, so we decided to bring him along.
At the campsite wer had an awesome night. Andy cooked the best chicken, with guacamole and tomatoes and onions, and garlic bread. They had also invited 3 argentinian guy, and they had a guitar! The whole night was awesome. We had brought the wine, so we spent the evening drinking, and playing the guitar, everyone singing along... and then the boys light a bonfire, and it was great, sitting around and playing tunes till the small hours! Really like this little town, very tempted to stay a few more days.. see how it goes, cerainly one more night!
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Argentina Heaven - SALTA
Hello!! My spirits are finally up again. I was feeling very depressed after the bad salta trip. - I also realised i forgot to mention why the fact that the doors didnt shut properly was so important.
On day 2 we were also driving through rivers, and i dont just mean small shallow things. The water came half up the car.. so if i had my window open i could reach down and touch the water. As we went through these rivers, the guy sat by the other door and his bags got extremely wet! Especially at one point. we drove into the water which was covered in 3cm thick ice. Stopped dead. Then he had to reverse and go forward again, smashing up the ice as he went. We got stuck in the middle for about 5 mins... which was pretty worrying, as i defiitly was nOT getting out to push, like when we were stuck in the sand!
Anyway.. the other day after a hellish night in Tupiza got the bus to Villazon which is on the border to Argentina. There was a fair going on, so i ditched my bags and went to have a look around. Was really good fun, people doing raffles and stuff for really ugly sculptured animals.. Was a bit crazy. I then did a bit of last minute shopping on my walk to the border and then crossed hassle free into La Quacha which is the same town but the other side of the border. Straight away you can tell you are in a 1st world country... The men were better looking... there was an actual TARMAC road!! then we walked past a BAKERY! I was getting very very excited! Also, all the people had the Argentinian accent, which really surprised me, especially as we were so close to the border. I met a Italien on the Border.. who had grown up in Kenya and was studying A.I in Germany. We bought our tickets, me to salta, and him to Buenos Aires, then he took me out for dinner. I am so thankful to this guy. He introduced me to REAL argentinian food. He ordered a Pane***(cant remember the name.. will let you know soon) but basically it is a big grill... and you get chorizo(sausage), another kind of sausage made of blood and herbs, intestines, steak, ribs and stomach- all of a cow. It was delicious! I definitly wouldnt have tried it had i been alone! It was fab. Unfortunatly had to part with the Italien, but it had been a real pleasure! Also he introduced me to Quilmes..Argentinian Beer.. MMMmmmm delish!
The bus to salta was pretty standard. Only 8 hours. I was quite annoyed though, when they woke us at 3am, we had to take all our stuff including my fat rucksack, for drugs checks. They didnt even bother to touch my bag, just looked at my passport and let me pass! But the Argentinians had everything looked through thoroughly!
Arrived in Salta at 6am.. an hour early... again, very disappointing as I could have done with some more sleep! But met a chica at the station and we went Hostal hunting together!
OMG SALTA! I have been in 3rd world countries till yesterday! We couldnt get over the fact that there were actual SHOPs! Clothes, TVs they sell furniture... they sell everything! its amazing!! They even have SHELL! and normal petrol stations, and ROADS, and no cholitas, and the town square is beautifully european! There are actual cafe's where you can sit ourside, enjoy the sunshine, and just enjoy yourself! First night we went to Viejo Jack, which has been recommended by everyone, and the steak was TRUELY amazing!
Today i slept. Then headed up to the mountain overlooking the town. WHilst searching for the path i came across a group of young christians. They offereed that i walk with them. I took them up on this offer,.. and boy am i glad i did. They were aged between 11 and 21. About 10 of them. I chatted to them loads, and the first thing they asked is if i like tea! Ha ha ha! We all walked to the top, where they prepared sandwhiches and drinks. Then we all stood in a circle and held hands, and one of the girls said a prayer.. and ten we ate and drank. It was such a good experience. The kindness of these people was so cool and so nice. It really made my day! Anyway, tomorrow off to Cafeyate... wine country... cant wait! x
On day 2 we were also driving through rivers, and i dont just mean small shallow things. The water came half up the car.. so if i had my window open i could reach down and touch the water. As we went through these rivers, the guy sat by the other door and his bags got extremely wet! Especially at one point. we drove into the water which was covered in 3cm thick ice. Stopped dead. Then he had to reverse and go forward again, smashing up the ice as he went. We got stuck in the middle for about 5 mins... which was pretty worrying, as i defiitly was nOT getting out to push, like when we were stuck in the sand!
Anyway.. the other day after a hellish night in Tupiza got the bus to Villazon which is on the border to Argentina. There was a fair going on, so i ditched my bags and went to have a look around. Was really good fun, people doing raffles and stuff for really ugly sculptured animals.. Was a bit crazy. I then did a bit of last minute shopping on my walk to the border and then crossed hassle free into La Quacha which is the same town but the other side of the border. Straight away you can tell you are in a 1st world country... The men were better looking... there was an actual TARMAC road!! then we walked past a BAKERY! I was getting very very excited! Also, all the people had the Argentinian accent, which really surprised me, especially as we were so close to the border. I met a Italien on the Border.. who had grown up in Kenya and was studying A.I in Germany. We bought our tickets, me to salta, and him to Buenos Aires, then he took me out for dinner. I am so thankful to this guy. He introduced me to REAL argentinian food. He ordered a Pane***(cant remember the name.. will let you know soon) but basically it is a big grill... and you get chorizo(sausage), another kind of sausage made of blood and herbs, intestines, steak, ribs and stomach- all of a cow. It was delicious! I definitly wouldnt have tried it had i been alone! It was fab. Unfortunatly had to part with the Italien, but it had been a real pleasure! Also he introduced me to Quilmes..Argentinian Beer.. MMMmmmm delish!
The bus to salta was pretty standard. Only 8 hours. I was quite annoyed though, when they woke us at 3am, we had to take all our stuff including my fat rucksack, for drugs checks. They didnt even bother to touch my bag, just looked at my passport and let me pass! But the Argentinians had everything looked through thoroughly!
Arrived in Salta at 6am.. an hour early... again, very disappointing as I could have done with some more sleep! But met a chica at the station and we went Hostal hunting together!
OMG SALTA! I have been in 3rd world countries till yesterday! We couldnt get over the fact that there were actual SHOPs! Clothes, TVs they sell furniture... they sell everything! its amazing!! They even have SHELL! and normal petrol stations, and ROADS, and no cholitas, and the town square is beautifully european! There are actual cafe's where you can sit ourside, enjoy the sunshine, and just enjoy yourself! First night we went to Viejo Jack, which has been recommended by everyone, and the steak was TRUELY amazing!
Today i slept. Then headed up to the mountain overlooking the town. WHilst searching for the path i came across a group of young christians. They offereed that i walk with them. I took them up on this offer,.. and boy am i glad i did. They were aged between 11 and 21. About 10 of them. I chatted to them loads, and the first thing they asked is if i like tea! Ha ha ha! We all walked to the top, where they prepared sandwhiches and drinks. Then we all stood in a circle and held hands, and one of the girls said a prayer.. and ten we ate and drank. It was such a good experience. The kindness of these people was so cool and so nice. It really made my day! Anyway, tomorrow off to Cafeyate... wine country... cant wait! x
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Salt Flat Tour HELL
I decided to start this 'amazing and beautiful' tour from Tupiza, as everyone I had met had told me that the tour was a little longer- 4 days instead of 3, to use Tupiza Tours, they are a little more expensive, but VERY reliable, and will provide a better experience. Also tupiza is more beautiful than Uyuni. The only truth from all that was the fact that Tupiza is beautiful!
DAY1
Woke up nice and early, very excited about seeing the salt flats, the tour is supposed to be fantastic.. so i wake up enthusiastically and dress in lots of layers and prepare for the cold nights nearing -20 degrees.
We all set off, in a jeep which looked like the worst of all the ones that were leaving. Windows celotaped shut.. all a bit dodgy, but we were sure we would be fine. Nice and sturdy! As we left Tupiza the views were just stunning! the scenery changes so much, red mountains, yellow mountains, grey mountains, all next to eachother... how can it all form like this. Also absolutly nothing for miles... its beautiful to see a country not poluted by civilization. About 2 hours in i am looking out the window when i see a long metal tube coming out of the car. hmmm what could this be.. then it falls out. So i quickly call to the driver to stop. He hadnt noticed, so thank god i did before we all noticed as the car would have given us a quicker ride down the mountain. We all get out to explore what happened. It turns out that the tube that came out was something that went in the axle i think. But on the end of it, it had the circular plate which normally has the 4 screws that go into the wheel to hold it on! Basically.. if i hadnt seen this thing fall out, a few meters more and the wheel that i was sitting on would have fallen off. It also happened to be the wheel by the cliff edge, and physics would mean that if we lost that wheel, we would be taking a short cut to the bottom, rather than being stopped by hitting the cliff! Anyway... the driver then sent us up the mountain searching for the screws... Of course we arent going to find them!! but we look anyway... we find nothing.. so i look at my recipt where it says jeeps in good condition.. if there are any problems the company will send another at no extra cost.
OK.. so we are getting another Jeep, but lets consider the first problem... HOW? We are in bolivia, in the middle of the mountains,.. of course there is no radio, no phone reception. So we wait for a vehicle going the other way.. which only happens once in a blue moon, the cook gets in to go to Tupiza to get another jeep. We therefore just have to sit in the car and wait... a long time. After 3 hours, the driver gets frustrated and leaves us too. At 4:30 arrive the cavalry...(we broke down at 11:30). The next jeep arrives with about 4 blokes in it, as well as the cook, and our driver. they move all our stuff to the next jeep, and then they start fiddling with the 'new jeep' with the wheels, and put on a new clutch disc. SO.. we hope this is the end of our problems.,.. We leave after 5 hours of waiting. It is almost 5 oclock, and we have to go another 6 hours to get to our Hostal where we are staying the night. I am pretty annoyed at this point, because it means we cant see anything out the window for most of the journey because the sun sets at 6:30! I thought we should start again the next day, but the driver didnt seem to agree, or apologise for the delay!
Anyway, this new jeep.. interesting replacemen. It was smaller than the other, also the windows and doors didnt shut properly.. (this would be important for later!)
So we drove through the night.. freezing cold beacuse of the gaps in the doors and windows... suddenly we stop. Ok... everybody out! We need to push the car up a hill! It is stuck in the sand!
This was a bit fun.. good to get out the car after sitting in it for about 10hours, but it was Freezing. We get the car out the sand and carry on... and then we start passing ghost towns. The driver wants to stop, but that would mean we just have to get up at 4am to catchup with the other group. we ask how far the place where we are meant to stay is.. and he says its an hour. So the we decide to just keep going. An hour later, we stop in another town.. the driver and cook start running round this dead ghost town made of mud huts knocking on doors till they find somewhere we can stay... This is NOT where we are supposed to be.. but it will do.. it is 10pm and the driver is tired. It is very basic accomodation, basically a bed and nothing more. I didnt expct better, so i wasnt complaining, and it was marginally warmer than the jeep! We dont eat dinner, because it would take 2 hours to make, so we just have some bread and tomatoes! then bed.
DAY2
We wake at 4am. Breakfast is pretty crap, the boiled water isnt very hot, so that means no tea or coffee--, also just bread and orange jam, which tastes like orange peel! apparently the driver had been up last night changing the tyre.. so this meant that today was going to be interesting.
We start driving and see a few ruins, catch up with another group, which i thought was the group doing the 4 day tour too.. but apparently not.. we see some ruins, then make our way to Aguas Calientes. (hot springs) the driver says we will be there at 2pm... hmmm... he keeps saying 2 hours more.. but we never seem to see these waters. We stop to make lunch in a ghost town.. but then decide its not a good idea, coz all the kids start coming out, facinated by us, so we move on and find a lagoon and eat there. This company saved themselves by serving us hot pasta! I was worried we would be livng off bread and tomoatoes the whole 4 days!
After dinner we start travelling, stop at lagunas and stuff... which i am sick of seeing now! But the driver only ever gave us about 5 mins.. and then started herding us back in the car. This is very frustrating, as we are spending the entire time in the car. Anyway.. we arrive at the hot springs at 5pm. We want to go swimming, but if we do that we cant see the 'amazing laguna Verde' So we drive an hour to see this, and maybe we can swim on the way back... The laguna is of course like any other, and i am not impresse, but everyone else in the group had been desperate to see it! We drive back to the hot springs to go swimming, but then the driver starts telling us we might get sick, we shouldnt.. blah blah blah.. so we test out the water and decide its not hot enough, plus the sun has gone down, so it is getting colder by the second. In our itinary we were also supposed to see Geisers too... but now it was dark.. i asked if we could go tomorrow morning, beacuse we cant see anything in the dark. Reply: No i havent got enough petrol!
So we go to the geisers, the driver turns on his lights, and says... there you go... Geisers!
Couldnt see anything.. culdnt take any photos.. Very angry.. I just wanted to get to the Hostal.
We start driving after having seen the smoke shadows(geisers) and after an hour.. VEGAS! Lights!! we see the hostal.. there are loads of cars, lights,.. looks promising.. hopefully warm.
NO! Colder than the night before, and then we dont even eat till 10;30pm because we arrived there so late, plus the food is cold! I end up sleeping uncomfortably with all my clothes, and still cold! - I forgot to mention.. this entire time we were driving we were stoping every 30mins so the driver could check the tyres were still screwed on properly! Which made us even later than we already were--- which was 2hours to start with !
DAY 3
Friday the 13th... not a good day for me.. and certainly a bad start!
We do start well.. on time, with all the other groups.. we go to Lago Colorado, which is pink, because in the summer it is full of flamingos. I reach into my pocket for my camera... its gone!
I jump in the car with the driver and go back to the hostal which is luckily only 15mins away... and look for it in my bed.. not there.. but luckily find it in my sleeping bag! (i had to sleep with it, because i have been told that the people who work at these hostals rob you when you sleep!)
Everyone else is actually quite thankful that i had lost it briefly because it meant that they were left at the laguna for longer than the usual 5 mins. When i get back.. i try to take a pic.. but guess what.. the camera doesnt work! Also, getting in the car earlier had ripped my new trousers on the frickking seat!! I was not having a good day!Also the driver started complaining to me about now he wouldnt have enough petrol.
We then drove on, saw the dali rock.. but i had no camera.. i was so gutted.. the area was really good for taking pics.. but i couldnt take any! Luckily the Plich couple I was with took some and will email them. We were hurried from here to another laguna, and i remembered i could use my phone as it was pretty good, 3mega pixels! Also it took panoramic pics.. turns out its better than my camera. .. I also kept fiddling with my camera lens,.. and finally got my camera back into action. In time for some pics of some flamingios.
After lunch we just started rushing, and driving like crazy... to our hostal.... we were all so angry, because we arrived at the hostal at 5, which was early, and we had had to rush all the lagunas etc! As it turns out, hostals are first come, first serve! So we kind of forgive the driver, also it is a fairlky good hostal.. beds and floor of salt! There is also a salt hotel.. but you have to pay for that, but this was pretty good. It was on the edge of the flats, so went for a walk and watched the sunset. That night was pretty good in the hostal, but got pretty drunk, as i had brought a bottle a whisky for keeping warm, and then i caused a huge argument with some Israilis about why there was a war in Israil, and how it should be solved! Not good... but this place was pretty nice and warm, so went to bed early, ready for an early start to watch the sunrise!
DAY 4
We got up very early.. drove into the flats... and i have to commend our driver here.. he was very good, did it very quickly so we were first. Sunrise was beautiful, all the mountains turned pink! Then we drove to the cactus island in the middle. This was good fun too, took loads of pics and stuff, and enjoyed the short walk. Then our driver started to hurry us again! this wound me up so much.. but as it turns out he drove us out to the middle of nowhere, wheras other grouos stayed at the island, and we tooks loads of the comedy pics. He let us stay here as long as we wanted.. so we were all pretty happy. Finally once WE were ready to leave... we drove to the salt hotel, which was pretty cool to see, with everthing of salt, took some snaps, and then went to the edge of the flats for lunch. There.. it was pretty uninteresting... just lots of souvenirs...
Finally at about 12pm, we headed for Uyuni.. everyone overtaking us, and outr jeep shaking like its about to fall apart.. still stopping often to check tyres...
We start driving through what looks like a rubbish site... there is rubbish everwhere! then i see the sign.. 'Bienvenidos a Uyuni'
Oh my lord! I am so happy i started in Tupiza! Uyuni was an absolute dump. the whole place was mud huts, and no one! We also visited the train cemetary... which was quite amusing, especially as someone had written ' remember who built these trains' and drew a british flag!
Anyway.. hell started here again. A french couple had come with us here and had paid the agency to orgainise bus tickets for them to La pAz from there... this adnt been done, and the driver had no money on him to pay back the couple, or buy them tickets! Also it was hell for me as i wanted to go to Salta... but no buses.. they all went through tupiza first, so i thought i might as well go back with the driver and cook.
We set off.. and he says we will arrive in tupiza at 9pm. It is 3;30, by the time we leave uyuni. Then he stops beacuse he wants to eat in a restaurant.. but too expensive so we drive on. I have to say the road was pretty interesting. I woulndt really call it a road. More like land, with lots of car tyres from where everyone goes it freestyle. If we broke down here i think i would cry! It was pretty cool though, as we went through a bit of desert... lots of sand dunes.. a huge truck was half buried, and i hoped the same wouldnt happen to us, as only 3 of us left to push instead of 8! I was the only tourist going back. So i was quite lucky to have the car to myself.. but it was quite lonely!
Everytime i asked how much further, he would ask me the time and just say however long was left till 9pm... but soon it became 10pm, and i was getting pretty frustrated!
We eventually arrived at 10:30pm. Me an unhappy bunny, as it was too late to get a bus to the border to argentina, also the hotel charged me double of last time... luckily this morning i spoke to the owner and got a discount because of the trouble on the tour! Now i am just waiting to go to Villazon, from where i can move onto salta.. cant wait to leave right now... especialy as that trip was so hellish and now i have a cold!
Also i had had to lend the driver money to pay back the french couple, and this morniung have had a huge fight to get it back...
Anyway.. on i go.. hopefully more luck on the next leg of my journey!
Gota go, as my bus leaves in an hour.. and i dont want to miss it! Ciao!xxx
DAY1
Woke up nice and early, very excited about seeing the salt flats, the tour is supposed to be fantastic.. so i wake up enthusiastically and dress in lots of layers and prepare for the cold nights nearing -20 degrees.
We all set off, in a jeep which looked like the worst of all the ones that were leaving. Windows celotaped shut.. all a bit dodgy, but we were sure we would be fine. Nice and sturdy! As we left Tupiza the views were just stunning! the scenery changes so much, red mountains, yellow mountains, grey mountains, all next to eachother... how can it all form like this. Also absolutly nothing for miles... its beautiful to see a country not poluted by civilization. About 2 hours in i am looking out the window when i see a long metal tube coming out of the car. hmmm what could this be.. then it falls out. So i quickly call to the driver to stop. He hadnt noticed, so thank god i did before we all noticed as the car would have given us a quicker ride down the mountain. We all get out to explore what happened. It turns out that the tube that came out was something that went in the axle i think. But on the end of it, it had the circular plate which normally has the 4 screws that go into the wheel to hold it on! Basically.. if i hadnt seen this thing fall out, a few meters more and the wheel that i was sitting on would have fallen off. It also happened to be the wheel by the cliff edge, and physics would mean that if we lost that wheel, we would be taking a short cut to the bottom, rather than being stopped by hitting the cliff! Anyway... the driver then sent us up the mountain searching for the screws... Of course we arent going to find them!! but we look anyway... we find nothing.. so i look at my recipt where it says jeeps in good condition.. if there are any problems the company will send another at no extra cost.
OK.. so we are getting another Jeep, but lets consider the first problem... HOW? We are in bolivia, in the middle of the mountains,.. of course there is no radio, no phone reception. So we wait for a vehicle going the other way.. which only happens once in a blue moon, the cook gets in to go to Tupiza to get another jeep. We therefore just have to sit in the car and wait... a long time. After 3 hours, the driver gets frustrated and leaves us too. At 4:30 arrive the cavalry...(we broke down at 11:30). The next jeep arrives with about 4 blokes in it, as well as the cook, and our driver. they move all our stuff to the next jeep, and then they start fiddling with the 'new jeep' with the wheels, and put on a new clutch disc. SO.. we hope this is the end of our problems.,.. We leave after 5 hours of waiting. It is almost 5 oclock, and we have to go another 6 hours to get to our Hostal where we are staying the night. I am pretty annoyed at this point, because it means we cant see anything out the window for most of the journey because the sun sets at 6:30! I thought we should start again the next day, but the driver didnt seem to agree, or apologise for the delay!
Anyway, this new jeep.. interesting replacemen. It was smaller than the other, also the windows and doors didnt shut properly.. (this would be important for later!)
So we drove through the night.. freezing cold beacuse of the gaps in the doors and windows... suddenly we stop. Ok... everybody out! We need to push the car up a hill! It is stuck in the sand!
This was a bit fun.. good to get out the car after sitting in it for about 10hours, but it was Freezing. We get the car out the sand and carry on... and then we start passing ghost towns. The driver wants to stop, but that would mean we just have to get up at 4am to catchup with the other group. we ask how far the place where we are meant to stay is.. and he says its an hour. So the we decide to just keep going. An hour later, we stop in another town.. the driver and cook start running round this dead ghost town made of mud huts knocking on doors till they find somewhere we can stay... This is NOT where we are supposed to be.. but it will do.. it is 10pm and the driver is tired. It is very basic accomodation, basically a bed and nothing more. I didnt expct better, so i wasnt complaining, and it was marginally warmer than the jeep! We dont eat dinner, because it would take 2 hours to make, so we just have some bread and tomatoes! then bed.
DAY2
We wake at 4am. Breakfast is pretty crap, the boiled water isnt very hot, so that means no tea or coffee--, also just bread and orange jam, which tastes like orange peel! apparently the driver had been up last night changing the tyre.. so this meant that today was going to be interesting.
We start driving and see a few ruins, catch up with another group, which i thought was the group doing the 4 day tour too.. but apparently not.. we see some ruins, then make our way to Aguas Calientes. (hot springs) the driver says we will be there at 2pm... hmmm... he keeps saying 2 hours more.. but we never seem to see these waters. We stop to make lunch in a ghost town.. but then decide its not a good idea, coz all the kids start coming out, facinated by us, so we move on and find a lagoon and eat there. This company saved themselves by serving us hot pasta! I was worried we would be livng off bread and tomoatoes the whole 4 days!
After dinner we start travelling, stop at lagunas and stuff... which i am sick of seeing now! But the driver only ever gave us about 5 mins.. and then started herding us back in the car. This is very frustrating, as we are spending the entire time in the car. Anyway.. we arrive at the hot springs at 5pm. We want to go swimming, but if we do that we cant see the 'amazing laguna Verde' So we drive an hour to see this, and maybe we can swim on the way back... The laguna is of course like any other, and i am not impresse, but everyone else in the group had been desperate to see it! We drive back to the hot springs to go swimming, but then the driver starts telling us we might get sick, we shouldnt.. blah blah blah.. so we test out the water and decide its not hot enough, plus the sun has gone down, so it is getting colder by the second. In our itinary we were also supposed to see Geisers too... but now it was dark.. i asked if we could go tomorrow morning, beacuse we cant see anything in the dark. Reply: No i havent got enough petrol!
So we go to the geisers, the driver turns on his lights, and says... there you go... Geisers!
Couldnt see anything.. culdnt take any photos.. Very angry.. I just wanted to get to the Hostal.
We start driving after having seen the smoke shadows(geisers) and after an hour.. VEGAS! Lights!! we see the hostal.. there are loads of cars, lights,.. looks promising.. hopefully warm.
NO! Colder than the night before, and then we dont even eat till 10;30pm because we arrived there so late, plus the food is cold! I end up sleeping uncomfortably with all my clothes, and still cold! - I forgot to mention.. this entire time we were driving we were stoping every 30mins so the driver could check the tyres were still screwed on properly! Which made us even later than we already were--- which was 2hours to start with !
DAY 3
Friday the 13th... not a good day for me.. and certainly a bad start!
We do start well.. on time, with all the other groups.. we go to Lago Colorado, which is pink, because in the summer it is full of flamingos. I reach into my pocket for my camera... its gone!
I jump in the car with the driver and go back to the hostal which is luckily only 15mins away... and look for it in my bed.. not there.. but luckily find it in my sleeping bag! (i had to sleep with it, because i have been told that the people who work at these hostals rob you when you sleep!)
Everyone else is actually quite thankful that i had lost it briefly because it meant that they were left at the laguna for longer than the usual 5 mins. When i get back.. i try to take a pic.. but guess what.. the camera doesnt work! Also, getting in the car earlier had ripped my new trousers on the frickking seat!! I was not having a good day!Also the driver started complaining to me about now he wouldnt have enough petrol.
We then drove on, saw the dali rock.. but i had no camera.. i was so gutted.. the area was really good for taking pics.. but i couldnt take any! Luckily the Plich couple I was with took some and will email them. We were hurried from here to another laguna, and i remembered i could use my phone as it was pretty good, 3mega pixels! Also it took panoramic pics.. turns out its better than my camera. .. I also kept fiddling with my camera lens,.. and finally got my camera back into action. In time for some pics of some flamingios.
After lunch we just started rushing, and driving like crazy... to our hostal.... we were all so angry, because we arrived at the hostal at 5, which was early, and we had had to rush all the lagunas etc! As it turns out, hostals are first come, first serve! So we kind of forgive the driver, also it is a fairlky good hostal.. beds and floor of salt! There is also a salt hotel.. but you have to pay for that, but this was pretty good. It was on the edge of the flats, so went for a walk and watched the sunset. That night was pretty good in the hostal, but got pretty drunk, as i had brought a bottle a whisky for keeping warm, and then i caused a huge argument with some Israilis about why there was a war in Israil, and how it should be solved! Not good... but this place was pretty nice and warm, so went to bed early, ready for an early start to watch the sunrise!
DAY 4
We got up very early.. drove into the flats... and i have to commend our driver here.. he was very good, did it very quickly so we were first. Sunrise was beautiful, all the mountains turned pink! Then we drove to the cactus island in the middle. This was good fun too, took loads of pics and stuff, and enjoyed the short walk. Then our driver started to hurry us again! this wound me up so much.. but as it turns out he drove us out to the middle of nowhere, wheras other grouos stayed at the island, and we tooks loads of the comedy pics. He let us stay here as long as we wanted.. so we were all pretty happy. Finally once WE were ready to leave... we drove to the salt hotel, which was pretty cool to see, with everthing of salt, took some snaps, and then went to the edge of the flats for lunch. There.. it was pretty uninteresting... just lots of souvenirs...
Finally at about 12pm, we headed for Uyuni.. everyone overtaking us, and outr jeep shaking like its about to fall apart.. still stopping often to check tyres...
We start driving through what looks like a rubbish site... there is rubbish everwhere! then i see the sign.. 'Bienvenidos a Uyuni'
Oh my lord! I am so happy i started in Tupiza! Uyuni was an absolute dump. the whole place was mud huts, and no one! We also visited the train cemetary... which was quite amusing, especially as someone had written ' remember who built these trains' and drew a british flag!
Anyway.. hell started here again. A french couple had come with us here and had paid the agency to orgainise bus tickets for them to La pAz from there... this adnt been done, and the driver had no money on him to pay back the couple, or buy them tickets! Also it was hell for me as i wanted to go to Salta... but no buses.. they all went through tupiza first, so i thought i might as well go back with the driver and cook.
We set off.. and he says we will arrive in tupiza at 9pm. It is 3;30, by the time we leave uyuni. Then he stops beacuse he wants to eat in a restaurant.. but too expensive so we drive on. I have to say the road was pretty interesting. I woulndt really call it a road. More like land, with lots of car tyres from where everyone goes it freestyle. If we broke down here i think i would cry! It was pretty cool though, as we went through a bit of desert... lots of sand dunes.. a huge truck was half buried, and i hoped the same wouldnt happen to us, as only 3 of us left to push instead of 8! I was the only tourist going back. So i was quite lucky to have the car to myself.. but it was quite lonely!
Everytime i asked how much further, he would ask me the time and just say however long was left till 9pm... but soon it became 10pm, and i was getting pretty frustrated!
We eventually arrived at 10:30pm. Me an unhappy bunny, as it was too late to get a bus to the border to argentina, also the hotel charged me double of last time... luckily this morning i spoke to the owner and got a discount because of the trouble on the tour! Now i am just waiting to go to Villazon, from where i can move onto salta.. cant wait to leave right now... especialy as that trip was so hellish and now i have a cold!
Also i had had to lend the driver money to pay back the french couple, and this morniung have had a huge fight to get it back...
Anyway.. on i go.. hopefully more luck on the next leg of my journey!
Gota go, as my bus leaves in an hour.. and i dont want to miss it! Ciao!xxx
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
TUPIZA - Polacy
Arrived in Tupiza at bloody 3am! Searching for a hostal was hell! First one had no space, and then the next 2 wouldnt let me in... the third.. bloody expensive.. but private room, hot water, TV.. so many luxuries... and a swimming pool. But I'm not staying long, so its not too bad. Also breakfast included.
I woke up and went to breakfast... saw the pool... SCORE. Saw the view.. WOW.. amazing RED mountains! then i heard. POLSKI. There was a couple sat next to me chatting away... then they went over to the buffet to top up, and another polish couple were like.. OMG POLACY... so i joined. WOw.. no polish people for all my travels.. and suddenly loads here. I am now going on a tour of the salt flats with one couple.
I then decided to go for a walk to the cannyon. Everyone just told me to follow the path... WHAT PATH... there were about 5 all in different directions. After a while i got bored and climed up the red mountain type thing. its not made of rock. Kinda red clay full of stones.. very wierd... and i am sure you arent supposed to climb it. From there.. beautliful views of the city.. but still no sight of the cannyon. Coming down was much more of a challenge.. slipping on all th rocks, also, the ver top was just clay.. so everytime i stood on anything it just disappeared from my feet. It was a bit scary and a bit crazy! But i got down, and decided to walk a little further down the path i was walking.. and as it turned out. there was the cannyon!! Silly me.
Anyway.. really love this town. it is soo beautiful! i absolutly adore it. Looking forward to 4 days of salt flats, then have to get my butt into gear.. to get to Buenos Aires!!! Ciao
Arrived in Tupiza at bloody 3am! Searching for a hostal was hell! First one had no space, and then the next 2 wouldnt let me in... the third.. bloody expensive.. but private room, hot water, TV.. so many luxuries... and a swimming pool. But I'm not staying long, so its not too bad. Also breakfast included.
I woke up and went to breakfast... saw the pool... SCORE. Saw the view.. WOW.. amazing RED mountains! then i heard. POLSKI. There was a couple sat next to me chatting away... then they went over to the buffet to top up, and another polish couple were like.. OMG POLACY... so i joined. WOw.. no polish people for all my travels.. and suddenly loads here. I am now going on a tour of the salt flats with one couple.
I then decided to go for a walk to the cannyon. Everyone just told me to follow the path... WHAT PATH... there were about 5 all in different directions. After a while i got bored and climed up the red mountain type thing. its not made of rock. Kinda red clay full of stones.. very wierd... and i am sure you arent supposed to climb it. From there.. beautliful views of the city.. but still no sight of the cannyon. Coming down was much more of a challenge.. slipping on all th rocks, also, the ver top was just clay.. so everytime i stood on anything it just disappeared from my feet. It was a bit scary and a bit crazy! But i got down, and decided to walk a little further down the path i was walking.. and as it turned out. there was the cannyon!! Silly me.
Anyway.. really love this town. it is soo beautiful! i absolutly adore it. Looking forward to 4 days of salt flats, then have to get my butt into gear.. to get to Buenos Aires!!! Ciao
Monday, 9 July 2007
POTOSÌ - Bought Dynamite Legally!
Arrived in Potosí still feeling like absolute shit. Still a bit dodgy from the bad water... that'll teach me not to party so hard!
straight away bought a ticket to Tupiza... and left my bag there. Took a bus up to the silver mnines and thought i could get a tour. Apparently not. After much asking around I had to return back to the town, go through an agency. I took the afternoon tour... we first got kitted out in protective clothing... boots, trousers, jacket and helmet. Then we stoped at the miners market. Bought some 'gifts' for the miners... drink, and dynamite. Then we got driven upto the mines. There were some other groups coming out.. so we watched them blow up their dynamite.. it was so cool! - and used ammonium nitrate to make the explosion about 5 times more powerful!
We then headed into the mines. Shit is was DUSTY. There was crystalised aspestos and arsenic all over the walls and celing.. i can still smell the crap on my hands. It was the most amazing experience going in there. The conditions are appalling, and i cant believe people still work there like that! The average life expectancy for a worker there is 10years... before they die of the aspestos or arsenic. It was so dark and dusty... and we watched the actual workers pushing carts of silver ore.. and shoveling it into buckets, it being taken up 3 floors. there were no stairs, most of the time we had to crawl to get around. This is just amazing how these people do this everyday.. and in todays world, its unbelievable there are no better methods for silver extraction. The worst thing is that 2000 workers are children. (10-16). The reason so many people work there though, is the good wage. They earn about 3000bolivianos per month. and miminum wage here is 360bs. so you can see they do very well for themselves.. because they are all freelance.. only have to pay 6% of the silver they find to the government, from whom they are renting the mine.
After the mine we headed off to the refinery.. unfortunatly it wasnt working.. but we say all the machinery. It is such a shame that bolivia can only make the primary materials- silver, lead, tin and copper... and dnt have smelting factories... because they could be so muc richer if they could do something with the metals after extracting them.
As we lft it started snowing and there was a huge storm brewing. I wasnt planning on hanging around.. went to a hostal and had a shower, then ate some llama, and jumped on the bus to Tupiza.
Arrived in Potosí still feeling like absolute shit. Still a bit dodgy from the bad water... that'll teach me not to party so hard!
straight away bought a ticket to Tupiza... and left my bag there. Took a bus up to the silver mnines and thought i could get a tour. Apparently not. After much asking around I had to return back to the town, go through an agency. I took the afternoon tour... we first got kitted out in protective clothing... boots, trousers, jacket and helmet. Then we stoped at the miners market. Bought some 'gifts' for the miners... drink, and dynamite. Then we got driven upto the mines. There were some other groups coming out.. so we watched them blow up their dynamite.. it was so cool! - and used ammonium nitrate to make the explosion about 5 times more powerful!
We then headed into the mines. Shit is was DUSTY. There was crystalised aspestos and arsenic all over the walls and celing.. i can still smell the crap on my hands. It was the most amazing experience going in there. The conditions are appalling, and i cant believe people still work there like that! The average life expectancy for a worker there is 10years... before they die of the aspestos or arsenic. It was so dark and dusty... and we watched the actual workers pushing carts of silver ore.. and shoveling it into buckets, it being taken up 3 floors. there were no stairs, most of the time we had to crawl to get around. This is just amazing how these people do this everyday.. and in todays world, its unbelievable there are no better methods for silver extraction. The worst thing is that 2000 workers are children. (10-16). The reason so many people work there though, is the good wage. They earn about 3000bolivianos per month. and miminum wage here is 360bs. so you can see they do very well for themselves.. because they are all freelance.. only have to pay 6% of the silver they find to the government, from whom they are renting the mine.
After the mine we headed off to the refinery.. unfortunatly it wasnt working.. but we say all the machinery. It is such a shame that bolivia can only make the primary materials- silver, lead, tin and copper... and dnt have smelting factories... because they could be so muc richer if they could do something with the metals after extracting them.
As we lft it started snowing and there was a huge storm brewing. I wasnt planning on hanging around.. went to a hostal and had a shower, then ate some llama, and jumped on the bus to Tupiza.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Milling around La Paz
Well... since my return from the jungle... hae just been chilling and partying very hard in La Paz!
I think i have overstayed by many a day... but everyday.. we went out.. met people, made friend, and were told mañana, fiesta granda! so we thought.. hmmm might as well stay another day, and another... and attend all the parties. One of our favourite clubs.. Traffic... we went to one of the 'big parties' everyone was about 15!! it was a private leaving party for some guy, and we managed to blag our way in. Had a fantastic night of dancing, which was much needed.. the DJ was unbelieveble!! He was so good, me and Jim were impressed with his techno and house skill.. just needed some pendulum. Anyway.. he invited us the next day for the aniversary of the club. We turn up, apparently we need invites, which steve had failed to mention... luckily our cab had given us 2, but we were with a 3rd person.. Jim went in and got another invite off steve... but then the bouncers wouldnt let us in coz the club was full! We finally got in... and it was amazing, music pumping, camera crews, the works.. we partyed till the end.. 4am.. it was fantastic.. and of course we had to return on friday.. because its FRIDAY... so the house is always pumping.. and I have to admit that was my best night.. the last night there. By that time, I had also made friends with the 60yr old owner, so we no longer had to pay the entrance..!! SCORE
Each of my evenings in La Paz were always followed up by a trip to Vivien's. This is the dodgy underground drug den i previously mentioned. It is absoulutly crazy there.. but loved it. You enter through a garage door.. then you come to a barred door, where you now.. the guy has to unlock all the padlocks, then you walk through the kitchen, behind the bar, and then into the club. The club is all mirrored walls and red lights and there is a cat lying on the bar, which i thought was dead, but i was informed that actually it is high on coke!
Worryingly though, the guys who owned it, ran it, delt there... all seemed to know me pretty well. When there was a queue.. as soon as i knocked on the door... ' Mi Amor... Ven! Ven! ¿Como Estas? ' and thats how i jumped the queue. (my love.. Come! come! how are you?) Me and Jim managed to get pretty famous in there.. when we realised this we both thought it was about time to leave. We had also been quite lucky not to have been caught by the police yet. There were police raids there fairly often.. because the club is illegal.. and full of drugs. Then on my last night at about 5am i was talking to some brazilian guy, and standing outside drinking a bottle of water. Some guy came upto us and started trying top get us into the taxi.. i sed no thanks, we arent going home. He left us alone briefly, then walked up to me and said - i am the police you are under arrest. - OMG my heart stopped. I was thinking ... shit i am going to Bolivian Prison! I am SCREWED. Quickly managed to come top my senses.. and started having a go at this guy asking him why we were under arrest.. we were just standing on the street talking and drinking a bottle of water.. he had no grounds for arrest. He then looked a bit bemused.. appologised and walked away! WHAT THE HELL!! i had been so scared at that point.
In general... i think La Paz was getting a bit dangerous. I had also heard a story of a group of 4 Israli boys.. had been taken in a cab, down an alley, then robbed and one of them stabbed in the leg several times.... since then, more and more israilis were being taken.
These are amazing people, so friendly and seen so muc shit in their lives.. i dont know why they are being targeted. I have met so many Israili's and they are genuinely nice people, and others have told me they are hostile, but i havent seen that at all. One israli i met in particular had quite an effect on me. We were talking in Vivians, and i asked him his age.. despite already knowing he is 22/23 just out the army and traveling. Then he asked me mine. When I said 19... he laughed almost with a tear in his eye, turned away from me and said, 'if only you knew what i had been doing when i was your age'. Naturally, this sparked interest, so I probed him in the hope he might say... and he did ' I was a sniper in the Israli Army'. This just stunned me completely. This also really made me realise how screwed up the world is. I have never seen a gun in real life.. let alone held one, shot one, or killed with one. Yet this BOY had the blood of men on his hands from such a young age. And all in honour of his country. It is something he needs to do to protect his country! And he is happy to be waiting in the reserves to go back and fight, should he be needed, as is with all the Israli boys I have met. I think they are a brave nation, and i really wish they didnt have to be exposed to all that.
As well as all the Parties I was actually stuck in La Paz. There were Bus strikes going on, and blockades on the road, which meant that there was no possibility of passage by bus. Some people did try and made it to their destinations after hitchhiking part of the way.. and the 4 hour journey taking 20. but at least they made it.
Funny that the capital of Bolivia is La Paz.. (peace) jet it always seems to be in turnmoil. On my last day waling through the streets, there was a huge protest, hundreds of paceñias (people of La Paz) walking through the streets protesting. From what i hear it is apparently a national sport in Bolivia.
Also, as a result of my prolonged stay, I did decide to do something useful. Me and Jim decided to be tourists and take an open topped bus city tour. Unfortunatly it was pretty bad.. and my lack of sleep meant i missed most of it... It was pretty bad though. It was all on an automated machine.. with the gude clicking for the next clip of chat as we reached each site. Meaning that when there was no traffic, half way through an explanation of a church it would skip to ' on your right is the new university...'.
The first part of our tour ended in the Lunar Landscape(moon). It was quite cool. but a bit small, so i was quite disappointed. We also only had 15mins. I have to admit we were about 5 mins late, but when we went out of the national park everyone was gone. the bus had LEFT US!! We couldnt believe it!! WE were so so angry. WE jumped in a cab.. drove to the bus terminal... there was the bus.. about to go on the second part o the journey. We jumped on and tried to get our money back, but they said NO, but hurry we are going to the other side of the city now. We arrived in the north at a viewpoint. Got out took pictures, this time we were back at the bus early. We sat down, and Jim asked me to pass him the juice we had bought earlier. (we had been to the supermarket to buy, ham, bread, cheese, juice and fruit, because we hadnt had lunch.) I turned to the seat next to me where i had left it and it was gone. I asked the tour guide about it.. and she turned around with a mouthfull of cheese and ham sandwhich... Oh! sorry... we ate it all.. we thought it was rubbish!
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! We were fuming! This city tour had been nothing but hell.
Anyway... finally decided to leave La Paz on Sat.. had had enough of munching on llama steak, and partying, but sods law... i drank some tap water in the hostal, because i was dying of thirst.. just one sip... the next day.. had the works... bad water... Ended up in bed all day.. but it did snow. When i finally left on sunday, snowed quite a few centimeters.. so bizarre.... especially as its like 25 in the day.. then at night it will snow.. and back home its summer.
Well... since my return from the jungle... hae just been chilling and partying very hard in La Paz!
I think i have overstayed by many a day... but everyday.. we went out.. met people, made friend, and were told mañana, fiesta granda! so we thought.. hmmm might as well stay another day, and another... and attend all the parties. One of our favourite clubs.. Traffic... we went to one of the 'big parties' everyone was about 15!! it was a private leaving party for some guy, and we managed to blag our way in. Had a fantastic night of dancing, which was much needed.. the DJ was unbelieveble!! He was so good, me and Jim were impressed with his techno and house skill.. just needed some pendulum. Anyway.. he invited us the next day for the aniversary of the club. We turn up, apparently we need invites, which steve had failed to mention... luckily our cab had given us 2, but we were with a 3rd person.. Jim went in and got another invite off steve... but then the bouncers wouldnt let us in coz the club was full! We finally got in... and it was amazing, music pumping, camera crews, the works.. we partyed till the end.. 4am.. it was fantastic.. and of course we had to return on friday.. because its FRIDAY... so the house is always pumping.. and I have to admit that was my best night.. the last night there. By that time, I had also made friends with the 60yr old owner, so we no longer had to pay the entrance..!! SCORE
Each of my evenings in La Paz were always followed up by a trip to Vivien's. This is the dodgy underground drug den i previously mentioned. It is absoulutly crazy there.. but loved it. You enter through a garage door.. then you come to a barred door, where you now.. the guy has to unlock all the padlocks, then you walk through the kitchen, behind the bar, and then into the club. The club is all mirrored walls and red lights and there is a cat lying on the bar, which i thought was dead, but i was informed that actually it is high on coke!
Worryingly though, the guys who owned it, ran it, delt there... all seemed to know me pretty well. When there was a queue.. as soon as i knocked on the door... ' Mi Amor... Ven! Ven! ¿Como Estas? ' and thats how i jumped the queue. (my love.. Come! come! how are you?) Me and Jim managed to get pretty famous in there.. when we realised this we both thought it was about time to leave. We had also been quite lucky not to have been caught by the police yet. There were police raids there fairly often.. because the club is illegal.. and full of drugs. Then on my last night at about 5am i was talking to some brazilian guy, and standing outside drinking a bottle of water. Some guy came upto us and started trying top get us into the taxi.. i sed no thanks, we arent going home. He left us alone briefly, then walked up to me and said - i am the police you are under arrest. - OMG my heart stopped. I was thinking ... shit i am going to Bolivian Prison! I am SCREWED. Quickly managed to come top my senses.. and started having a go at this guy asking him why we were under arrest.. we were just standing on the street talking and drinking a bottle of water.. he had no grounds for arrest. He then looked a bit bemused.. appologised and walked away! WHAT THE HELL!! i had been so scared at that point.
In general... i think La Paz was getting a bit dangerous. I had also heard a story of a group of 4 Israli boys.. had been taken in a cab, down an alley, then robbed and one of them stabbed in the leg several times.... since then, more and more israilis were being taken.
These are amazing people, so friendly and seen so muc shit in their lives.. i dont know why they are being targeted. I have met so many Israili's and they are genuinely nice people, and others have told me they are hostile, but i havent seen that at all. One israli i met in particular had quite an effect on me. We were talking in Vivians, and i asked him his age.. despite already knowing he is 22/23 just out the army and traveling. Then he asked me mine. When I said 19... he laughed almost with a tear in his eye, turned away from me and said, 'if only you knew what i had been doing when i was your age'. Naturally, this sparked interest, so I probed him in the hope he might say... and he did ' I was a sniper in the Israli Army'. This just stunned me completely. This also really made me realise how screwed up the world is. I have never seen a gun in real life.. let alone held one, shot one, or killed with one. Yet this BOY had the blood of men on his hands from such a young age. And all in honour of his country. It is something he needs to do to protect his country! And he is happy to be waiting in the reserves to go back and fight, should he be needed, as is with all the Israli boys I have met. I think they are a brave nation, and i really wish they didnt have to be exposed to all that.
As well as all the Parties I was actually stuck in La Paz. There were Bus strikes going on, and blockades on the road, which meant that there was no possibility of passage by bus. Some people did try and made it to their destinations after hitchhiking part of the way.. and the 4 hour journey taking 20. but at least they made it.
Funny that the capital of Bolivia is La Paz.. (peace) jet it always seems to be in turnmoil. On my last day waling through the streets, there was a huge protest, hundreds of paceñias (people of La Paz) walking through the streets protesting. From what i hear it is apparently a national sport in Bolivia.
Also, as a result of my prolonged stay, I did decide to do something useful. Me and Jim decided to be tourists and take an open topped bus city tour. Unfortunatly it was pretty bad.. and my lack of sleep meant i missed most of it... It was pretty bad though. It was all on an automated machine.. with the gude clicking for the next clip of chat as we reached each site. Meaning that when there was no traffic, half way through an explanation of a church it would skip to ' on your right is the new university...'.
The first part of our tour ended in the Lunar Landscape(moon). It was quite cool. but a bit small, so i was quite disappointed. We also only had 15mins. I have to admit we were about 5 mins late, but when we went out of the national park everyone was gone. the bus had LEFT US!! We couldnt believe it!! WE were so so angry. WE jumped in a cab.. drove to the bus terminal... there was the bus.. about to go on the second part o the journey. We jumped on and tried to get our money back, but they said NO, but hurry we are going to the other side of the city now. We arrived in the north at a viewpoint. Got out took pictures, this time we were back at the bus early. We sat down, and Jim asked me to pass him the juice we had bought earlier. (we had been to the supermarket to buy, ham, bread, cheese, juice and fruit, because we hadnt had lunch.) I turned to the seat next to me where i had left it and it was gone. I asked the tour guide about it.. and she turned around with a mouthfull of cheese and ham sandwhich... Oh! sorry... we ate it all.. we thought it was rubbish!
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! We were fuming! This city tour had been nothing but hell.
Anyway... finally decided to leave La Paz on Sat.. had had enough of munching on llama steak, and partying, but sods law... i drank some tap water in the hostal, because i was dying of thirst.. just one sip... the next day.. had the works... bad water... Ended up in bed all day.. but it did snow. When i finally left on sunday, snowed quite a few centimeters.. so bizarre.... especially as its like 25 in the day.. then at night it will snow.. and back home its summer.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
The Jungle
After our dodgy night at the club, we headed off to the travel agents the next morning for the jungle tour. It was a cannoe type boat, but luckily with shade and seats. So overall the ride was pretty comortable. It was 3 hours upstream. It was so wierd in places because there were 2 levels of water... so the water we were on was lower than the water infront. It was biszzare. We also had some great views as we chugged into the jungle.
When we got there, we got ourselves settled, and then the guide came looking for us. He could hear boars eating the coco nuts. We had to sneak up on the boars from behind, and around them by crawling. Then we chased them every so often, just to get great views of them. Unfortunatly unphotographable... but still beautiful! This made us really feel like we were in the jungle.. it was awesome.. especially the way it got the adrenaline pumping!
Te¿hen we went for a tour of the jungle. We saw an actual bleeding plant. When you cut it red liduid came out. Apparently good for sandfly bites! Then we say the rubber tree, and the viagra tree, and the garlic tree. That was my favourite, because i LOve garlic.. but i think it acted not only as a mosquito repelent, but as a people too. On that walk we also managed to see a sloth, and many many maquaurs(parrots). We were also shown this green plant, that if you rub it a lot, then it turns to purple, and you can have war paint!!! I was also made the litttle queen of the jungle, by making me a crown with bunny ears!!
Later that night we went out again, watching for nocturnal animals. We managed to see what the guide told us was a monkey.. but hard to say, because all we could see was trhe eyes. But this fun escapade ended with having to swig across the river tarzan style on a vine. It was great fun!
The following morning we made our own jewelry. We made rings of coconuts, and the guide made us necklaces. Making the rings was bloody hard work. First you have to saw them open, and saw out your ring. Then using a knife, pick out the inside. then sand the outside, then use fine sandpaper, then rub it in the clay, and rub it in ash to finish! You wouldnt believe how clean and wonderful it looks!
We then went fot another walk and did some more animal and tree spotting. Whilst taking a photo of a giant tree we got attacked by a huge fleet of flys, which flew into your hair and then then buzzed and crawled to the roots! Difficult to get rid of!
Unfortunatly that was the end of our jungle tour. Very short, just 1 night.. definitly not enough. I wouldnt mind going back for a 10day tour, learn more survival stuff!! I think i prefered this to the pampas. Much less animals, but definitly a great experience. Love the Jungle!
Now i am just in La Paz.. waiting to go south, but needing to wait for the buses to be taken off strike.. so that i can finally travel. BUt i may just spend a bit longer here.. as i am planning on cancelling my flight to canada, and staying in South America a bit longer! It will mean i can go skiing in Aregentina! Whoo Hoo!! Till then ... xxx
When we got there, we got ourselves settled, and then the guide came looking for us. He could hear boars eating the coco nuts. We had to sneak up on the boars from behind, and around them by crawling. Then we chased them every so often, just to get great views of them. Unfortunatly unphotographable... but still beautiful! This made us really feel like we were in the jungle.. it was awesome.. especially the way it got the adrenaline pumping!
Te¿hen we went for a tour of the jungle. We saw an actual bleeding plant. When you cut it red liduid came out. Apparently good for sandfly bites! Then we say the rubber tree, and the viagra tree, and the garlic tree. That was my favourite, because i LOve garlic.. but i think it acted not only as a mosquito repelent, but as a people too. On that walk we also managed to see a sloth, and many many maquaurs(parrots). We were also shown this green plant, that if you rub it a lot, then it turns to purple, and you can have war paint!!! I was also made the litttle queen of the jungle, by making me a crown with bunny ears!!
Later that night we went out again, watching for nocturnal animals. We managed to see what the guide told us was a monkey.. but hard to say, because all we could see was trhe eyes. But this fun escapade ended with having to swig across the river tarzan style on a vine. It was great fun!
The following morning we made our own jewelry. We made rings of coconuts, and the guide made us necklaces. Making the rings was bloody hard work. First you have to saw them open, and saw out your ring. Then using a knife, pick out the inside. then sand the outside, then use fine sandpaper, then rub it in the clay, and rub it in ash to finish! You wouldnt believe how clean and wonderful it looks!
We then went fot another walk and did some more animal and tree spotting. Whilst taking a photo of a giant tree we got attacked by a huge fleet of flys, which flew into your hair and then then buzzed and crawled to the roots! Difficult to get rid of!
Unfortunatly that was the end of our jungle tour. Very short, just 1 night.. definitly not enough. I wouldnt mind going back for a 10day tour, learn more survival stuff!! I think i prefered this to the pampas. Much less animals, but definitly a great experience. Love the Jungle!
Now i am just in La Paz.. waiting to go south, but needing to wait for the buses to be taken off strike.. so that i can finally travel. BUt i may just spend a bit longer here.. as i am planning on cancelling my flight to canada, and staying in South America a bit longer! It will mean i can go skiing in Aregentina! Whoo Hoo!! Till then ... xxx
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