Friday 3 October 2008
We are home now...
...and this is a wordle of our travels...a display of our commentary of our trip.
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Argentina...all about the snow
The trip over the Andes was lovely, possibly the prettiest mountain pass on record, but the journey was very slow going and 12 hours later we finally arrived at our destination. It became obvious pretty quickly that it was not cold enough for snow in Bariloche and the constant rain was a give away that things on the mountain were not going to be good. With the pending arrival of family the next day (and the concern about the fact there was no snow) I hardly slept at all the first night and when we were greeted with more rain in the morning the concern developed into action. So good to see Andrew and Keith arrive safely in Bariloche the next morning and after some hotdogs and a serious conversation over the snow report, we changed our plans.
The problem with this whole global warming thing is that places that had LOTS of snow the year before are not guaranteed to have it the next, but the fact that all they currently had was rain didn't bode well for us and our boards. We cashed in our airtickets, quickly booked bus tickets and an appartment in Las Lenas (700km away) and headed off on an entertaining overnight bus journey. Simon and I are quite acustomed to long bus trip by now, but I am not sure the other two were as entertained by the movies in Spanish and bus bingo (also in Spanish) A connection into a minivan in San Rafael and we arrived in Las Lenas by noon the next day.
Las Lenas is Argentina's premier ski resort, so this means the prices for things are too!! They also only book accommodation Sat to Sat , so our arrival early on the Thursday confused them no end, but in no time we were dropping off our bags, into our snowboarding gear and off to the hill. The studio appartment we managed to find was good for us and the bunkbeds make it feel a little like a school camp. Most important is the kitchen as we are able to cook up a storm and save some cash in the process. Also good is that we are right at the bottom of the hill, so we come home for lunch and it is sometimes the only time we see each other in the day (the boys are so fast I lose them regularly!)
At 3000m we are guaranteed snow and that is exactly what we found. On day one they had 30cm of fresh powder for us to play on and within a few warmup runs we were back in the groove. One or two falls for me has turned into 7 or 8 and with injured ribs I have had to take it a little easy. Sunday was a bit icey and windy, so I stayed away while the boys did their thing, but being 5 days in with 5 days to go not much can keep us off the slopes now. Keith and Andrew do the very nutty boy thing and do a fair bit of off-piste-ing...Simon is trying a bit, but I stick to the runs.
That is all from me for now as the lifts have opened and it is a bluesky day...the slopes are calling.
On top of the world...at 3400m
view for birds
Andrew having fun
Family on the lift
At the end of a hard day
View at night from our flat
The problem with this whole global warming thing is that places that had LOTS of snow the year before are not guaranteed to have it the next, but the fact that all they currently had was rain didn't bode well for us and our boards. We cashed in our airtickets, quickly booked bus tickets and an appartment in Las Lenas (700km away) and headed off on an entertaining overnight bus journey. Simon and I are quite acustomed to long bus trip by now, but I am not sure the other two were as entertained by the movies in Spanish and bus bingo (also in Spanish) A connection into a minivan in San Rafael and we arrived in Las Lenas by noon the next day.
Las Lenas is Argentina's premier ski resort, so this means the prices for things are too!! They also only book accommodation Sat to Sat , so our arrival early on the Thursday confused them no end, but in no time we were dropping off our bags, into our snowboarding gear and off to the hill. The studio appartment we managed to find was good for us and the bunkbeds make it feel a little like a school camp. Most important is the kitchen as we are able to cook up a storm and save some cash in the process. Also good is that we are right at the bottom of the hill, so we come home for lunch and it is sometimes the only time we see each other in the day (the boys are so fast I lose them regularly!)
At 3000m we are guaranteed snow and that is exactly what we found. On day one they had 30cm of fresh powder for us to play on and within a few warmup runs we were back in the groove. One or two falls for me has turned into 7 or 8 and with injured ribs I have had to take it a little easy. Sunday was a bit icey and windy, so I stayed away while the boys did their thing, but being 5 days in with 5 days to go not much can keep us off the slopes now. Keith and Andrew do the very nutty boy thing and do a fair bit of off-piste-ing...Simon is trying a bit, but I stick to the runs.
That is all from me for now as the lifts have opened and it is a bluesky day...the slopes are calling.
On top of the world...at 3400m
view for birds
Andrew having fun
Family on the lift
At the end of a hard day
View at night from our flat
Chile - all a bit of a blur really
So we entered our last new country via the border control at San Pedro de Atacama, one of the most stringent places outside of Australia...we were a bit worried about our flamingo feathers and saw a rather irate South African couple have a lovely shaman mask confiscated due to it being made of goat horns!! After lucking our way through with Cath again charming security staff (she really has a knack that is lost in HR of diverting people's attention when needed) we continued into town and unloaded our bags from the bus. Given that Cath wasn't feeling too great my unintended diversion (map reading was never a great skill) didn't help either of our moods and we were glad to find some slightly overpriced accommodation and have a snooze.
We had arrived in the tourist mecca of San Pedro on the feast of San Pedro and San Juan, this meant parades galore and lot's of locals partying and drinking til late. We tried to keep up but after our exploits in the Salar we could not and retired at a very respectable hour.
The next few days found us trying not to spend too much money (San Pedro benefits from being one of the main routes into Bolivia and so prices are hiked considerably) as well as trying to build ourselves back up with as much nutricional goodness as possible...mostly from cuppa soup! One great trip we managed was out into the desert at night time to hear a very amusing French chap talking about stars and the night sky (and a bit better informed than dad and Brian in the back garden in Le Cellier!!) After taking photos of Saturn and her rings and looking at Crab Nebula we were invited in for hot chocolate and a further chat about our celestial blanket.
Next stop was La Serena, a cute little hostel and an overnight to break up the journey. The only thing to say about this place was that it was where I taught Cath how to play Cribbage...and she is still 5 - 2 up overall wins.
The capital of Chile, Santiago, was a bit of a mixed time for us, we had some fun at a wine farm (me a little too much although no golf balls involved this time) and some cool art museums but there was a lot of moving around due to some booking errors with the hostels were tried to stay at...and I finally got a decent haircut so I won't be coming home looking like a yeti!!
Valparaiso and Vina de Mar are both just outside Santiago and provided us with two days of great exploring, the first is a haven for artists and travellers alike and we walked the mural and graffiti filled streets snapping happily away. The hostel we stayed in is owned by one the of the writers for a well known travel guide book and so they knew all of the ingredients for a great stay...we were not disappointed!! Some good conversation and decent wine added to the experience and the next day we bravely set off on a mission to find the Chilean team set up due to a tour by my football team, Everton de Chile, in Vina. After arriving early-ish we trotted up to the stadium after a visit to the tourist information centre...then we trapsed to a shooping centre on the tip off that we might find a shirt...no luck but hot dogs galore!! Next was an even smaller retail outlet on a street quite a bit our of the way, success but still not an overwhelming result. After having given up the hunt we headed for the tube as we had to get back to Santiago...only to stumble on the headquarters and trophy room of the Chilean Blues!! Stunned we walked around for a few minutes before realising we were now about 15 mins late for our bus...PANIC!! With 5 minutes to spare we made it and no more excitement followed for a time.
After leaving Santiago we were truly on our way, we were headed for Pucon, a South American outdoors wonderland...just not while we were there. We arrived just after it started raining on a Tuesday and four days later we were still waiting for it to stop, more importantly we were waiting for it to snow as the South African boys were now only a week away and we needed to have something for them to snowboard on!! We were very lucky to have found a homely hostel (called Ecole) in which to hibernate for those four days; good food, some great company and plenty of reading and sleep allowed Cath to shake her persistent Chile cough and me to..well sleep lot's. Some evening hot springs and trips to the chocolate cafe were as exciting as it got but we had needed a break and got exactly what we were after!!
And so we say goodbye to Chile, travelling over the pass into Argentina and Bariloche hoping for some snow...although it doesn't look good...
We had arrived in the tourist mecca of San Pedro on the feast of San Pedro and San Juan, this meant parades galore and lot's of locals partying and drinking til late. We tried to keep up but after our exploits in the Salar we could not and retired at a very respectable hour.
The next few days found us trying not to spend too much money (San Pedro benefits from being one of the main routes into Bolivia and so prices are hiked considerably) as well as trying to build ourselves back up with as much nutricional goodness as possible...mostly from cuppa soup! One great trip we managed was out into the desert at night time to hear a very amusing French chap talking about stars and the night sky (and a bit better informed than dad and Brian in the back garden in Le Cellier!!) After taking photos of Saturn and her rings and looking at Crab Nebula we were invited in for hot chocolate and a further chat about our celestial blanket.
Next stop was La Serena, a cute little hostel and an overnight to break up the journey. The only thing to say about this place was that it was where I taught Cath how to play Cribbage...and she is still 5 - 2 up overall wins.
The capital of Chile, Santiago, was a bit of a mixed time for us, we had some fun at a wine farm (me a little too much although no golf balls involved this time) and some cool art museums but there was a lot of moving around due to some booking errors with the hostels were tried to stay at...and I finally got a decent haircut so I won't be coming home looking like a yeti!!
Valparaiso and Vina de Mar are both just outside Santiago and provided us with two days of great exploring, the first is a haven for artists and travellers alike and we walked the mural and graffiti filled streets snapping happily away. The hostel we stayed in is owned by one the of the writers for a well known travel guide book and so they knew all of the ingredients for a great stay...we were not disappointed!! Some good conversation and decent wine added to the experience and the next day we bravely set off on a mission to find the Chilean team set up due to a tour by my football team, Everton de Chile, in Vina. After arriving early-ish we trotted up to the stadium after a visit to the tourist information centre...then we trapsed to a shooping centre on the tip off that we might find a shirt...no luck but hot dogs galore!! Next was an even smaller retail outlet on a street quite a bit our of the way, success but still not an overwhelming result. After having given up the hunt we headed for the tube as we had to get back to Santiago...only to stumble on the headquarters and trophy room of the Chilean Blues!! Stunned we walked around for a few minutes before realising we were now about 15 mins late for our bus...PANIC!! With 5 minutes to spare we made it and no more excitement followed for a time.
After leaving Santiago we were truly on our way, we were headed for Pucon, a South American outdoors wonderland...just not while we were there. We arrived just after it started raining on a Tuesday and four days later we were still waiting for it to stop, more importantly we were waiting for it to snow as the South African boys were now only a week away and we needed to have something for them to snowboard on!! We were very lucky to have found a homely hostel (called Ecole) in which to hibernate for those four days; good food, some great company and plenty of reading and sleep allowed Cath to shake her persistent Chile cough and me to..well sleep lot's. Some evening hot springs and trips to the chocolate cafe were as exciting as it got but we had needed a break and got exactly what we were after!!
And so we say goodbye to Chile, travelling over the pass into Argentina and Bariloche hoping for some snow...although it doesn't look good...
Friday 11 July 2008
The strangest end to a country yet!!
Coming to the end of our Bolivian leg and what a way to exit!! Firstly we hopped on a bus to Uyuni which I am sure you will not be surprised to know had small mechanical issue on route...I say small, one of the supports keeping the suspension attached to the back wheels decided to snap so we spent about an an hour deliberating and pointing before someone managed to get us patched up and on the road again. An honourable mention has to go to the passenger who was dispatched by the driver to find a particular sized piece of wood, when said size was not available he proceeded to try and split a bigger piece by placing it on the floor and hurling large rocks from a great height onto this poor branch...sadly to not much avail but at lest he was trying.
Once in Uyuni we realised that all of the guidebooks were correct, you don´t want to stick around!! It is not that it is particularly dangerous or nasty but, well, there just isn´t anything to do...as we found out. Cath had not been too well so we decided to take a day for her to recuperate and booked a tour out for the following day leaving us some time to chill...and boy was it cold. After finding out the the electricity going off in the middle of the day was quite normal and in fact something that most of the town was prepared for (by closing everything) there was only one thing for it and like Granny and Grandpa we hopped into bed with as many layers of clothes on as we could find!! There is not much more to say about Uyuni, we played some cards and had a couple of decent pizzas.
The mayor of Uyuni gets ready for a big night out
Yes, this place has a certain charm
The real draw of this dusty little town is the nearby salt flats and nature reserve that has all kinds of geological quirks. First we had to prepare for our border crossing and so went to the local migration office and got our post-dated exit stamps, three days later we would hop over the border into Chile.
The first stop on our tour proper was the train graveyard where a lot of the locomotives that powered the mineral export from Bolivia are now resting. It is like looking at a car park in a deprived part of UK and seeing a couple of Ford Sierras on blocks, but on a much larger scale!! There are about 15 shells in a barren expanse on the outskirts of this run down town, each bearing the scars of years of weather and neglect. Some great photo opportunities later we hopped back in our Toyota Landcruiser (vehicle of choice around these parts) with our 4 fellow passengers and headed for the salt.
Dead Train
The intrepid 6
The Salar de Uyuni (Salt of Uyuni literally) is the bed of a giant lake that was formed by the Andes poking up in the middle of what was then the Pacific Ocean, the water that was trapped dried and formed a crust of salt that is now 5m thick in most places and can therefore be walked, driven and built on. It is a strange experience when you first approach it, sunglasses are an absolute must as "snow" blindness is a real danger as is sunburn, it is so vast as to negate perspective to point of ridicule - allowing the creation of some amusing photo opportunities. After driving for about an hour and visit to the usual museum / gift shop we headed out first to see a salt hotel (more a rough bungalow created from salt blocks) and the freakish Isla de Pescadores where we stopped for lunch and to admire the rather suggestive hordes of cacti.
Salt "Hotel"
Cactusland
Massive nothingness
Some people trying very hard to get that photo - yes it is a caveman and spiderman!!
Ours was a little more sedate...but ahhhh!!
Onwards during the afternoon towards our saltside accommodation in one of the many salt hotels popping up, they are quite basic but in this hostile environment where temperatures get down to -15 and worse it is a welcome warm shelter for the night...and chance to catch up with some of the other groups over some old episodes of Heroes!!
Enjoying our warming dinner - and lollipops!
Day 2 started with the familiar Bolivian breakfast of hockey puck bread rolls and jam and coca tea with the added luxury of some scrambled eggs, boy were we treated!! The day itself was a study in the variation of landscapes available and lot´s of jumping out of the cruiser for snaps, we started on the flat white expanse of salt before moving to the loose rocky roads through the many peaks ending up in the desert-like sands leading into oases of blue, green and red lagoons where flamingos frolicked in their hundreds. I will cop out slightly as I don't have words to describe some of the things we encountered but hopefully some of the pictures will nearly do the landscape justice...but you really need to see some of this stuff!!!
This one is active!!
Gorgeous
Vicuña bottoms and scenery - they are related to Llamas
Flamingoes
7 coloured mountain
-
Stone tree
Red lagoon
Snacking Llama
We all went to bed quite early that night with a swig of rum to send us off, this was firstly as it was again much warmer inside the 2 sleeping bags, rugs and duvet but also as we had a 4.30am start to get to geysers in time for their early morning blast. Despite the fact that we were all in varying stages of hypothermia we all bundled into the wagon and caught a few last minutes of kip before arriving at the lunar landscape that welcomes visitors to the highly active geothermal area around the Uyuni geysers. We all hopped out for the slightly staged photo where some clever soul had tapped into a vein allowing an impressive stream of steam to shoot 30ft in the air and then had some time to wander in the fog of the more natural hot pools and vents (I guess we were spoiled in NZ with our trip to Rotarua...or it could have been the temperature and hour but we didn´t spend too long looking around.) Given that it was now still only just after 5.30 next stop was breakfast, where our guide came up trumps with some freshly made cake (yes spongey goodness!!) topped with dulce de luce (spreadable caramel, we may have mentioned this before but YUM.) After filling our bellies we hopped in a hot pool to bring our body temperature up from 0 to a more pleasant 37 degrees!! It was so cold that when we got out our hair froze solid as we hadn´t dried it well enough in time!!
Getting ready for bed in the Salar Hilton
Steam
The natural environment
The only time we will get away with wearing a hat in the bath!!
Some more lagoons and spaced out landscapes raced by as we made the dash for the border post and waiting bus to take us down into San Pedro de Attacama, tourist haven and first stop in our last new country of the trip...we are definitely feeling the downward slope towards home now.
End of the line
This was one of the best trips we have taken in a very inhospitable but none-the-less stunning (to use my fave SA word) environments we have visited. Trying to take a photo of the 360 degree awe that awaits around some corners is impossble and you just have to stand and go "wow." The people that make their living in this corner of the world, whether it be from Llama herding, salt mining or the growing amount of tourism have my utmost respect for their determination and cheerfulness as everyone is always ready for a chat and joke.
I am sad to see the end of Bolivia, it has been a challenge in places but we have experienced so much and enjoyed almost every minute...barring a couple of journeys and sleepless nights!!
Once in Uyuni we realised that all of the guidebooks were correct, you don´t want to stick around!! It is not that it is particularly dangerous or nasty but, well, there just isn´t anything to do...as we found out. Cath had not been too well so we decided to take a day for her to recuperate and booked a tour out for the following day leaving us some time to chill...and boy was it cold. After finding out the the electricity going off in the middle of the day was quite normal and in fact something that most of the town was prepared for (by closing everything) there was only one thing for it and like Granny and Grandpa we hopped into bed with as many layers of clothes on as we could find!! There is not much more to say about Uyuni, we played some cards and had a couple of decent pizzas.
The mayor of Uyuni gets ready for a big night out
Yes, this place has a certain charm
The real draw of this dusty little town is the nearby salt flats and nature reserve that has all kinds of geological quirks. First we had to prepare for our border crossing and so went to the local migration office and got our post-dated exit stamps, three days later we would hop over the border into Chile.
The first stop on our tour proper was the train graveyard where a lot of the locomotives that powered the mineral export from Bolivia are now resting. It is like looking at a car park in a deprived part of UK and seeing a couple of Ford Sierras on blocks, but on a much larger scale!! There are about 15 shells in a barren expanse on the outskirts of this run down town, each bearing the scars of years of weather and neglect. Some great photo opportunities later we hopped back in our Toyota Landcruiser (vehicle of choice around these parts) with our 4 fellow passengers and headed for the salt.
Dead Train
The intrepid 6
The Salar de Uyuni (Salt of Uyuni literally) is the bed of a giant lake that was formed by the Andes poking up in the middle of what was then the Pacific Ocean, the water that was trapped dried and formed a crust of salt that is now 5m thick in most places and can therefore be walked, driven and built on. It is a strange experience when you first approach it, sunglasses are an absolute must as "snow" blindness is a real danger as is sunburn, it is so vast as to negate perspective to point of ridicule - allowing the creation of some amusing photo opportunities. After driving for about an hour and visit to the usual museum / gift shop we headed out first to see a salt hotel (more a rough bungalow created from salt blocks) and the freakish Isla de Pescadores where we stopped for lunch and to admire the rather suggestive hordes of cacti.
Salt "Hotel"
Cactusland
Massive nothingness
Some people trying very hard to get that photo - yes it is a caveman and spiderman!!
Ours was a little more sedate...but ahhhh!!
Onwards during the afternoon towards our saltside accommodation in one of the many salt hotels popping up, they are quite basic but in this hostile environment where temperatures get down to -15 and worse it is a welcome warm shelter for the night...and chance to catch up with some of the other groups over some old episodes of Heroes!!
Enjoying our warming dinner - and lollipops!
Day 2 started with the familiar Bolivian breakfast of hockey puck bread rolls and jam and coca tea with the added luxury of some scrambled eggs, boy were we treated!! The day itself was a study in the variation of landscapes available and lot´s of jumping out of the cruiser for snaps, we started on the flat white expanse of salt before moving to the loose rocky roads through the many peaks ending up in the desert-like sands leading into oases of blue, green and red lagoons where flamingos frolicked in their hundreds. I will cop out slightly as I don't have words to describe some of the things we encountered but hopefully some of the pictures will nearly do the landscape justice...but you really need to see some of this stuff!!!
This one is active!!
Gorgeous
Vicuña bottoms and scenery - they are related to Llamas
Flamingoes
7 coloured mountain
-
Stone tree
Red lagoon
Snacking Llama
We all went to bed quite early that night with a swig of rum to send us off, this was firstly as it was again much warmer inside the 2 sleeping bags, rugs and duvet but also as we had a 4.30am start to get to geysers in time for their early morning blast. Despite the fact that we were all in varying stages of hypothermia we all bundled into the wagon and caught a few last minutes of kip before arriving at the lunar landscape that welcomes visitors to the highly active geothermal area around the Uyuni geysers. We all hopped out for the slightly staged photo where some clever soul had tapped into a vein allowing an impressive stream of steam to shoot 30ft in the air and then had some time to wander in the fog of the more natural hot pools and vents (I guess we were spoiled in NZ with our trip to Rotarua...or it could have been the temperature and hour but we didn´t spend too long looking around.) Given that it was now still only just after 5.30 next stop was breakfast, where our guide came up trumps with some freshly made cake (yes spongey goodness!!) topped with dulce de luce (spreadable caramel, we may have mentioned this before but YUM.) After filling our bellies we hopped in a hot pool to bring our body temperature up from 0 to a more pleasant 37 degrees!! It was so cold that when we got out our hair froze solid as we hadn´t dried it well enough in time!!
Getting ready for bed in the Salar Hilton
Steam
The natural environment
The only time we will get away with wearing a hat in the bath!!
Some more lagoons and spaced out landscapes raced by as we made the dash for the border post and waiting bus to take us down into San Pedro de Attacama, tourist haven and first stop in our last new country of the trip...we are definitely feeling the downward slope towards home now.
End of the line
This was one of the best trips we have taken in a very inhospitable but none-the-less stunning (to use my fave SA word) environments we have visited. Trying to take a photo of the 360 degree awe that awaits around some corners is impossble and you just have to stand and go "wow." The people that make their living in this corner of the world, whether it be from Llama herding, salt mining or the growing amount of tourism have my utmost respect for their determination and cheerfulness as everyone is always ready for a chat and joke.
I am sad to see the end of Bolivia, it has been a challenge in places but we have experienced so much and enjoyed almost every minute...barring a couple of journeys and sleepless nights!!
Sunday 6 July 2008
Potosi...the highest city in the world
In Potosi (highest town at 4100m) you can hardly walk up the stairs without getting out of puff. It is another very typical Bolivian town...lots of churches and old buildings. Scratch the surface, however, and a very interesting history is revealed. Once the largest & wealthiest city in the world - bigger that London or Paris in its day, Potosi produced most of the silver for money for the western world. A massive mountain (called Cerro Ricco) stands as a reminder to all in the town of their wealthy past. The hill has hundreds of kms of mines running deep into the ground and documentation of terribly cruel mining practises from the Spanish Conuistadores are well known. The interesting thing however is that although today almost all the silver has gone, the same mining practises are used and many people die in the quest for the metal. So linked was the Spanish Conquest to the mining of silver, that all the churches in the town face the mountain!
A tour of the mine is a very popular tourist attraction, but they do not recommend it for asthmatics or people with breathing issues. We had both (I had a terrible cold & cough) so we decided to give that one a skip. We did head off to the city mint instead. Fascinating history of Bolivia's relationship with Spain and how the role silver played.
Our first night in Potosi was the festival of San Juan (more fireworks and people getting drunk) as the Aymaran version of New Year. This went by fairly unnoticed, except for a few very hungover or drunk tour operators the next day! One guy was trying to sell us a very expensive Salar tour, but all he could do was slur a few sentences together about his boss...long blink (reveal very red eyes)...something about 'don't kill me'...another long blink...and then thankfully his phone rang and we made a swift exit!
Potosi was my turn to have the Bolivia belly...on top of a cold. Needless to say I was a very unhappy camper! Stupidly thinking I would be okay for the 6 hour bus to Uyuni, we stuck to our travel plan and sought out Diana Tour Bus for the journey! Lets just say that any 6 hour bus journey for GBP1 is unlikely to go well!
Dear old Diana Tours. Not only did I soon discover I was not fit for a 6 hour journey, but the bus was not fit for the journey either! Dirty, dusty, packed (they kept stopping to collect locals and their large bags to fill the isles) and smelly...and that is a complement! Worst thing were the women who got on and then stared at you in a 'please can I have your seat' kind of way - not today dear! Lucky for me a kind Israeli traveller offered to swap seats so that Simon and I could sit together. Not lucky for Simon as I had to sleep on his shoulder the whole way! The roads were TERRIBLE. The bumpiest dirt roads I have ever seen, but the bus driver thought he had some kind of 4x4 in his control and bounced right over them. Car sick. Me. Never! This kind of motion sickness deserves a whole class of its own!
2 hours into the journey I heard a loud crunch under the bus where I sat. 4 hours into the journey they decide to stop and have a look at it...a broken axial & suspension (I could have told them that) Much tutting and pointing under the bus, a repair job consisting of someones belt and some bits of wood and an hour later we were off again at the same breakneck speed. Oh to be in Uyuni and in bed! Feeling very sorry for myself we found the cheapest place in town to crash and crash we did. Funny thing is, Uyuni is the smallest, coldest 1 horse town I have ever seen, but I was ecstatic to be there.
A tour of the mine is a very popular tourist attraction, but they do not recommend it for asthmatics or people with breathing issues. We had both (I had a terrible cold & cough) so we decided to give that one a skip. We did head off to the city mint instead. Fascinating history of Bolivia's relationship with Spain and how the role silver played.
Our first night in Potosi was the festival of San Juan (more fireworks and people getting drunk) as the Aymaran version of New Year. This went by fairly unnoticed, except for a few very hungover or drunk tour operators the next day! One guy was trying to sell us a very expensive Salar tour, but all he could do was slur a few sentences together about his boss...long blink (reveal very red eyes)...something about 'don't kill me'...another long blink...and then thankfully his phone rang and we made a swift exit!
Potosi was my turn to have the Bolivia belly...on top of a cold. Needless to say I was a very unhappy camper! Stupidly thinking I would be okay for the 6 hour bus to Uyuni, we stuck to our travel plan and sought out Diana Tour Bus for the journey! Lets just say that any 6 hour bus journey for GBP1 is unlikely to go well!
Dear old Diana Tours. Not only did I soon discover I was not fit for a 6 hour journey, but the bus was not fit for the journey either! Dirty, dusty, packed (they kept stopping to collect locals and their large bags to fill the isles) and smelly...and that is a complement! Worst thing were the women who got on and then stared at you in a 'please can I have your seat' kind of way - not today dear! Lucky for me a kind Israeli traveller offered to swap seats so that Simon and I could sit together. Not lucky for Simon as I had to sleep on his shoulder the whole way! The roads were TERRIBLE. The bumpiest dirt roads I have ever seen, but the bus driver thought he had some kind of 4x4 in his control and bounced right over them. Car sick. Me. Never! This kind of motion sickness deserves a whole class of its own!
2 hours into the journey I heard a loud crunch under the bus where I sat. 4 hours into the journey they decide to stop and have a look at it...a broken axial & suspension (I could have told them that) Much tutting and pointing under the bus, a repair job consisting of someones belt and some bits of wood and an hour later we were off again at the same breakneck speed. Oh to be in Uyuni and in bed! Feeling very sorry for myself we found the cheapest place in town to crash and crash we did. Funny thing is, Uyuni is the smallest, coldest 1 horse town I have ever seen, but I was ecstatic to be there.
Sucre...the real capital, but don't mention that in La Paz!
So after a few action filled days in La Paz (and a few chilled ones to get over Simon's little bug!) we reverted to 'flash packers' and flew to Sucre. We were very happy with our decision to fly as the bus journey would have been 20 hours on some of Bolivia's worst roads and we found out afterwards that along the route there were roadblocks! Taking off from La Paz is amusing as the airport is at 4000m, so once you are in the air the plane flies suspiciously low over the Andes all the way down to Sucre (a mere 2800m).
The nice thing about being at a lower altitude is that the sunshine is warm and not just light! Sucre is the administrative capital of Bolivia and a very pretty little town. They have a law that all buildings need to be white-washed once a year, but I think this only applies to the central buildings because as you leave town there are nothing but dirt walls. This does make for a very clean, tidy and pretty touristy part of town which we explored at leisure - to be honest, there is hardly anything to do here!
We discovered the very picturesque San Francisco Cathedral and on a recommendation went about trying to get in and have a look. You have to know to visit the Santa Teresa school next door and ask to visit the now closed church, but the faf of doing so was well worth it. Not only was the woman who showed us around on a private tour for two hours very knowledgeable and full of interesting facts about Sucre, but the views from the roof were simply stunning. No better place to see Sucre from.
The rest of our time was spent watching Euro 2008 football (I read my book while Simon was glued to the TV) eating local specialities (this included ordering a soup which was shamelessly a Knorr pack mushroom soup! - I was outraged) and finally catching our first film in 6 months... nothing up-to-date, but a film none-the-less. While staying in Sucre we discovered that Potosi, our next destination, was surrounded by miners roadblocks and the town was running out of food as no supplies had got through in 10 days! Great we thought...the only way out of Sucre was back via the route we had flown to avoid, or wait (which was what everyone seemed to do) After some very scary stories about buses going to Potosi being torched etc, we waited until the worst was over and headed off.
The journey was in fact uneventful as the miners had called off the strike 2 days before our departure (after storming the tax office and burning things!) and they were now in 10 days of negotiations. We took the 10 day window to visit Potosi and get out!!! We did however see lots of evidence of their roadblocks (burnt buses etc) along the 3 hour journey and I was glad to be there safely.
The nice thing about being at a lower altitude is that the sunshine is warm and not just light! Sucre is the administrative capital of Bolivia and a very pretty little town. They have a law that all buildings need to be white-washed once a year, but I think this only applies to the central buildings because as you leave town there are nothing but dirt walls. This does make for a very clean, tidy and pretty touristy part of town which we explored at leisure - to be honest, there is hardly anything to do here!
We discovered the very picturesque San Francisco Cathedral and on a recommendation went about trying to get in and have a look. You have to know to visit the Santa Teresa school next door and ask to visit the now closed church, but the faf of doing so was well worth it. Not only was the woman who showed us around on a private tour for two hours very knowledgeable and full of interesting facts about Sucre, but the views from the roof were simply stunning. No better place to see Sucre from.
The rest of our time was spent watching Euro 2008 football (I read my book while Simon was glued to the TV) eating local specialities (this included ordering a soup which was shamelessly a Knorr pack mushroom soup! - I was outraged) and finally catching our first film in 6 months... nothing up-to-date, but a film none-the-less. While staying in Sucre we discovered that Potosi, our next destination, was surrounded by miners roadblocks and the town was running out of food as no supplies had got through in 10 days! Great we thought...the only way out of Sucre was back via the route we had flown to avoid, or wait (which was what everyone seemed to do) After some very scary stories about buses going to Potosi being torched etc, we waited until the worst was over and headed off.
The journey was in fact uneventful as the miners had called off the strike 2 days before our departure (after storming the tax office and burning things!) and they were now in 10 days of negotiations. We took the 10 day window to visit Potosi and get out!!! We did however see lots of evidence of their roadblocks (burnt buses etc) along the 3 hour journey and I was glad to be there safely.
Tuesday 1 July 2008
La Paz - Bolivia get´s better and better
Arriving in La Paz by bus (or indeed any form of road transport) is quite an experience as despite the city being mostly at around 3500-4000m in altitude it sits in a canyon created by thr Choqueyapu River that is now mostly covered over through the city itself. The bus that we were on (along with quite a few other gringos, most notably a guy who had lost at poker / drinking the night before and had paid a "haircut forfeit") approached from the desolate altiplano where you see nothing for miles except small mud bricks houses, donkeys and dogs. The first signs you are entering a large centre of population comes with the satellite town of El Alto where the hustle and bustle of those arriving from the countryside creates a giant collectivo (minibus taxis with various mispelt stickers emblazoned on them - Johnnys Cab, Speed Deemon etc) stop a mile long. Also in El Alto is the highest commercial airport in the world, a facility we made the most of on our departure, replacing an 18hr bus journey with a 45 minute flight. Once our driver had made his way through the chaos we were treated to our first view of La Paz, it is like someone has taken a normal city and pulled up the Northern and Southern outskirts by their edges in order to pour everything out of the Eastern end! High up on the sides of the canyon is a patchwork of part finished houses, a result of the law that no tax is paid until the completion of building meaning complete stories having no windows or houses finishing just below where the roof should be. In the base of the canyon sits most of the tourist areas, commerce and administration meaning most things worth seeing are within walking distance...needless to say that those that can afford also live at this slightly lower altitude.
Fearing a gasping walk with our backpacks (4000m plus 15 - 20kgs can really take it out of your lungs) we were delighted when the bus pulled up 2 streets away from our hostel right amongst the llama foetuses, charms and potions of the Witches Market.
Our good friends Dan and Dom had warned us about how La Paz can pull you in and keep you for a little longer than you intend and we realised why pretty much straight away why, it has a great combination of everything a traveller might need...some great food, good watering holes, plenty of things to see and do and some pretty friendly locals. In the end we only stayed a day longer than planned but felt as though we did the city justice.
Our biggest day out was to go and ride the "Most Dangerous Road in the World", not before a quick call to my sister to check our insurance policy covered such stupidity. This road is a 70km stretch of dirt that runs down into the town of Coroico got it´s name as a result of the fact that an estimated 200-300 people perished trying to navigate the twists and turns. This is a result of the lack of grip on a "road" that is just over 3m wide and has a drop of up to 600m on one side and a solid rock wall on the other. Normal road rules don´t apply with those coming downhill having to take the outside line in order to stop the speeding head-on crashes that caused most tragedies. Nowadays a slightly more modern (although equally badly paved in places) bypass means that the road is mostly the domain of tour groups like ours.
We tried not to dwell on the horror stories we heard about the ride, some companies cut corners with bike safety and group size meaning there have sadly been some 13 deaths of tourists. We also listened very carefully at our briefing and before each of the 9 sections - with enticing titles such as Collarbone Alley.
At the start of the ride we gave on offering to Pachamama (goddess earth) in the form of some neat alcohol on our front wheel followed by a small amount for ourselves (no doubt for courage.) We get used to our bikes during a short tarmac section at the top testing brakes and suspension as there is no room for error once we hit the dust and rocks that await. Each section is approximately 15 - 20 minutes long after which we all regroup and excitedly chat about how we nearly "stacked it" or just made it past "that" rock. I must admit to getting in the support bus for the short uphill section but my logic was that we were riding down the road, the tour comapny were called Gravity and my lungs were going to be saved for gasping at the views!!
After a very tiring day (I haven´t concentrated so hard since trying to finish the Rubiks Cube) we settled down for a slap up meal and a beer before the nerve jangling ride home in the bus.
A slightly more sedate outing was to the ancient pre-Inca site of Tihuanacu, a city that is thought to have once been one of the most important in South America with anywhere between half and one million inhabitants at it´s height that rather impressively lasted from 1200BC to 1000AD when it was misteriously abandoned (some theories given by our guide were loss of faith in the local religion, invasion, large scale crop failure or his favourite of meteor strike.) This was a good day finding out a bit more about the local indigenous population and how they suffered at the hands of the Conquistadors - for example they were forced to take down huge stone bricks from this important temple complex and carry them around a mile to the nearest settlement in order to build a church which they were then forced to attend.
Around these tours we did quite a bit of walking, visiting some pretty squares a decent little art gallery and some cute coffee shops as well as quite an eclectic mix of restaurants. On our first night we went looking for some uncomplicated local food...and stumbled on one of the best curry houses we have been to, Cath couldn´t resist the Llama Tikka Masala and I plumped for what turned out to be quite an impressively hot Chicken dish,a great start! After a couple of days of Bolivia belly (which we attribute to a dodgy breakfast) and a diet of Gatorade and water I was ready for solid food again and so it was off to the much recommended Sol Y Luna which turned out to a specialist Dutch restaurant...soup and meatballs and a great almuerzo saved the day. Not wanting to lose the international flavour we decided to splash out opting for a place called Vienna with appropriate specialities...I sadly opted for the seafood special (forgetting that Austria is landlocked!!) prompting a slight relapse but Cath enjoyed her saurkraut and sausage. Just to round things off, on our last night we popped into Olivers Travels...a 100% fake English pub that none-the-less served proper PG Tips tea and delivered a mighty Bangers and Mash that saw us on our way to our next destination!!
Fearing a gasping walk with our backpacks (4000m plus 15 - 20kgs can really take it out of your lungs) we were delighted when the bus pulled up 2 streets away from our hostel right amongst the llama foetuses, charms and potions of the Witches Market.
Our good friends Dan and Dom had warned us about how La Paz can pull you in and keep you for a little longer than you intend and we realised why pretty much straight away why, it has a great combination of everything a traveller might need...some great food, good watering holes, plenty of things to see and do and some pretty friendly locals. In the end we only stayed a day longer than planned but felt as though we did the city justice.
Our biggest day out was to go and ride the "Most Dangerous Road in the World", not before a quick call to my sister to check our insurance policy covered such stupidity. This road is a 70km stretch of dirt that runs down into the town of Coroico got it´s name as a result of the fact that an estimated 200-300 people perished trying to navigate the twists and turns. This is a result of the lack of grip on a "road" that is just over 3m wide and has a drop of up to 600m on one side and a solid rock wall on the other. Normal road rules don´t apply with those coming downhill having to take the outside line in order to stop the speeding head-on crashes that caused most tragedies. Nowadays a slightly more modern (although equally badly paved in places) bypass means that the road is mostly the domain of tour groups like ours.
We tried not to dwell on the horror stories we heard about the ride, some companies cut corners with bike safety and group size meaning there have sadly been some 13 deaths of tourists. We also listened very carefully at our briefing and before each of the 9 sections - with enticing titles such as Collarbone Alley.
At the start of the ride we gave on offering to Pachamama (goddess earth) in the form of some neat alcohol on our front wheel followed by a small amount for ourselves (no doubt for courage.) We get used to our bikes during a short tarmac section at the top testing brakes and suspension as there is no room for error once we hit the dust and rocks that await. Each section is approximately 15 - 20 minutes long after which we all regroup and excitedly chat about how we nearly "stacked it" or just made it past "that" rock. I must admit to getting in the support bus for the short uphill section but my logic was that we were riding down the road, the tour comapny were called Gravity and my lungs were going to be saved for gasping at the views!!
After a very tiring day (I haven´t concentrated so hard since trying to finish the Rubiks Cube) we settled down for a slap up meal and a beer before the nerve jangling ride home in the bus.
A slightly more sedate outing was to the ancient pre-Inca site of Tihuanacu, a city that is thought to have once been one of the most important in South America with anywhere between half and one million inhabitants at it´s height that rather impressively lasted from 1200BC to 1000AD when it was misteriously abandoned (some theories given by our guide were loss of faith in the local religion, invasion, large scale crop failure or his favourite of meteor strike.) This was a good day finding out a bit more about the local indigenous population and how they suffered at the hands of the Conquistadors - for example they were forced to take down huge stone bricks from this important temple complex and carry them around a mile to the nearest settlement in order to build a church which they were then forced to attend.
Around these tours we did quite a bit of walking, visiting some pretty squares a decent little art gallery and some cute coffee shops as well as quite an eclectic mix of restaurants. On our first night we went looking for some uncomplicated local food...and stumbled on one of the best curry houses we have been to, Cath couldn´t resist the Llama Tikka Masala and I plumped for what turned out to be quite an impressively hot Chicken dish,a great start! After a couple of days of Bolivia belly (which we attribute to a dodgy breakfast) and a diet of Gatorade and water I was ready for solid food again and so it was off to the much recommended Sol Y Luna which turned out to a specialist Dutch restaurant...soup and meatballs and a great almuerzo saved the day. Not wanting to lose the international flavour we decided to splash out opting for a place called Vienna with appropriate specialities...I sadly opted for the seafood special (forgetting that Austria is landlocked!!) prompting a slight relapse but Cath enjoyed her saurkraut and sausage. Just to round things off, on our last night we popped into Olivers Travels...a 100% fake English pub that none-the-less served proper PG Tips tea and delivered a mighty Bangers and Mash that saw us on our way to our next destination!!
Sunday 22 June 2008
To the Copa, Copa-ca-ba-na...sing along!
What a lovely surpirse this little village on the lake was. We found these amazing, funky suites (complete with indoor hammoks and kitchen) that had massive windows displaying Lake Titicaca. Las Olas - remember that name - and stay there if you every have the opportunity. They a expensive by Bolivian standards, but we quickly realised how cheap Bolivia was, starting on our first night with a gorgeous meal at the towns best restaurant, La Cupula. Grilled Trout, salad, wine...the works, and all for only 6GBP! So good it was that we went back the next day, but this time we had a chocolate fondu and red wine for dinner (we are on holiday, we can do what we like)
We spent the first day in Copacabana relaxing, reading in the hammoks and exploring, which meant our second day was destined to be a lot more energetic! We headed off early to the dock and booked a boat to Isla de Sol (advertised as 90min journey, but more like 2 hour trip) on the slowest boat in the world. Think 20hp motor on a boat of 80 people! Any normal boat would make the journey in 30min! The island itself was very baren, but lovely and we followed a long walk along the ridgeline from the north to the south. Now I calmly use the word ridgeline there...remember we are at 4000m above sealevel - this was not an easy 3 hour hike up and down some really mighty hills...my lungs will never be the same again. The locals have cottoned on to all these tourists walking along their island and we were periodically stopped and asked to pay a toll for walking along their part of the path/island/dirt-track! We had been warned about this and insisted the first chap gave us a ticket for our payment, which we produced each time we were stopped by the next man (much to his disappointment and arguing that it was not valid for his section of the path...we only paid once!)
The reward for reaching the south of the island was a very dry sandwich, some Inca stairs and another slow boatride back! Oh joy! This time surrounded by local ladies knitting and falling asleep in a knit-one-sleep-one style...very funny.
End of Peru (Puno) and into Bolivia (only just)
Getting very brave with the whole rock-up-and-go approach to travelling, we headed to the Cusco bus station very early to get bus tickets to Puno. And we were SO right! Saving 80Soles (11 pounds) by not going through an agent! We did however make one big mistake and assumed that (like Asia) they would stop 5 times during the 6 hour journey for us to get something to eat. Needless to say all we ate that day was 2 Oreo cookies and half a Twix each. Even ran out of water! Not doing that again. I was also nearly left behind when I made a mad dash for the baños at one of the brief stops and had to chase the bus down the dust road as it drove off without me (Simon assures me he was trying to get them to stop)
We didn´t really want to go to Puno, but crossing the Bolivian boarder you can´t really avoid it as all buses transit through there. So we decided a night in a basic hostel and a morning at the floating villages (that is all Puno has to offer) was a good way to spend our time before heading into Bolivia. We managed to find a rather cool little hostel called Inca´s Rest. Owned and run by a crazy man from Uruguay who made a joke out of everything which was rather refreshing after a long bus journey. We suffered as many jokes as we could to be polite and then headed off in the direction of dinner...Oreo cookies can only last a girl so long.
Our trip to Puno was not going to be a complete waste of time and early the next morning we headed off to the floating villages. This was in fact a very interesting morning and rather amazed at how a whole community survive on a floating reed island. They (the Uros tribe, which pre-date the Incas) moved to the middle of the lake to avoid the Spanish colonist rule and in turn created a whole new life floating out there. We visited Tribuna (the largest of about 40 islands) where the islands are made and re-made from the totora reeds which provide home for their residents. The totora reed bed has dense roots to support the top layer, which rots and must be replaced regularly by stacking more reeds on top of the layer beneath. We managed to stay on top and not put our foot through the island, but did feel a little like we had been shipped out there to buy souvenirs.
On our bus trip from Cusco I had asked the couple next to us if I could read their Lonely Planet guidebook. I came across a section on crossing into Bolivia and notice a box that said ´some countries (including South Africans) require visas in advance´. Don´t panic I thought, I can get one at the border and they are regularly changing the law, so this may not even apply now. I then read that there was a Bolivian consulate in Puno and that they were open until 2pm...so I just popped-in to check after the floating island tour. Oh GREAT, here I go again with another visa requirement! And it was a good thing we popped in to check, as the very nice little man at the consulate said I definitely needed one in advance, please produce the following forms, certificates and info and they will think about issuing one!!! (for free I might add) Simon and I ran around like mad things getting copies of passports, vaccination certificates, itinerary, hotel bookings in Bolivia etc. (you have no idea how difficult it is to find either a printer or a photocopier in Peru!) We only took 30min to get all the paperwork done, but when I handed the form in at 1pm and said I had a bus to catch at 3pm, the very helpful little man gave me ´oh no´big eyes! It is amazing how well my very bad Spanish worked and he did it for me in 15min...for which he got lots of blowing kisses and a handshake (better than having to pay an official at the boarder I thought)
Again executing our turn-up-and-pay strategy for buses, we managed to get a very smart (brand new) Mec Benz taxi for the 3 hour trip across the boarder for only 15Soles each! Oh we are good. Although we almost didn´t make it! Peru is 1 hour behind Bolivia and the boarder closes at 7pm on the Bolivian side. This didn´t seem to bother the Peruvian roadworks man who calmly said we would have to wait 2 hours while they closed the only road to the boarder!!! Driver vs Roadworks man arguing ensued and we then headed off behind a grader for 3kms in order to make it on time. And no problems with the visa...he was a little surprised (disappointed) I had got one and reluctantly stamped my passport. The Americans in our taxi had to pay $100 per person for their visas - ouch!
Arriving safely in Copacabana for the evening we were ecstatic to be in Bolivia. Oh what drama for one day!
Ups and downs to Machu Picchu
And so we set off on our alternative expedition to see the wonders of the Incas. After our previous few nights in the pub with the boys we decided to have an early(ish) night and were ready and waiting when our guide Washington (he said we could call him Washy) came to collect us bright and early.
We started out with a short cab ride to the local bus station where we boarded one of the most agriculturally smelling buses we have been on so far. We also met up with Gary, the lucky chap who was the only other person in our group...ominously though his name was Gary Fitt, and he lived up to it throughout. After a 3hr ride up to the start point we clambered off the bus and started the important job of finishing our snack pack and finding somewhere to have a pee...easier for the boys than Cath!!
The first portion of the trek was not actually walking, we were mountain biking down into a small town called Santa Maria @ 2000m from a mountain pass @ 3500m. This was supposed to have taken 4hrs but due to some issues with the equipment, gears giving up the ghost after an hour (for the few uphills) and brakes that would have been better suited for a kids trike, we finally rattled in exhausted and dusty much later than planned. After a shower and a beer or two we were ready for bed, no romance here as the three of us were sharing a room...not that we got much sleep as it turned out that the "homestay" that was promised turned out to be a motel cleverly disguised as a truck stop and all night petrol station. Please forgive the negative tone of this part, we were not happy campers and there is not much glossing I can put on the day!!
Our second day started out in a similar tone to the first, this was the main trek part and our guide decided to set a break-neck pace in order to catch his mate up who had started a few minutes ahead of us. This meant very red faces and panting from Cath and I (Gary seemed to take it in his stride but I have already told you his surname) until we reached the other group. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Washy´s chum was Percy (I know) who was guiding another couple closer to our pace. Over the next few hours we climbed and dropped and mounted and valleyed and tramped and trekked to our hearts desires, there was some very punishing uphill sections that left you with no breath for the stunning views at the top of each pass. A few stops for water and snacks sandwiched the yummiest almuerzo (South American set lunch) we have tasted on this continent, some avocado straight from the tree and a post lunch siesta in hammocks...ahh hammocks!! The day´s walk ended with a soothing dip in some hotpools but not before we crossed the surging River Urubamba on a contraption that involved you pulling yourself across in a small metal box supported about 30ft up.
We had climbed from where you can´t see the river anymore
Mountain Cath
Then we went round this one
Finally along this riverbed!
A few beers flowed that evening to celebrate the fact that we made it past through our hardest day, we also found the local nightclub in the town we were staying...I won´t make any patronising comments about the quality of the venue but the DJ had 2 cd players on top of each other and his gran sat behind him!!
Our last day of walking was rather surreal, we had to walk along the rail tracks that took us to Aguas Calientes (hot waters in Spanish) but we found to our dismay that Peruvian rail workers don´t space sleepers evenly meaning that our strides altered with each step, very off putting. Thankfully Washy had promised us some fishing and a decent trout lunch halfway up so we bravely marched on...do you reckon this was a large country estate with freshly tied flies? When we reached the trout farm there was a small delay as it was the owner´s birthday (or so we were told) and they had to clear the hosting area of the beer bottles. We then got ourselves psyched up for a spot of sport...off to the lake...um, no...concrete trout pools. We climbed on the walls and were given a giant net with which to delicately locate our lunch. Trying to balance whilst laughing and trying to take photos meant that it took a while before we caught anything but once we did we were on a roll, even having to throw a couple of tiddlers back in. Once cooked they did taste quite good...you know there is a however...however we did have to dodge the mossies attracted by the pigs and other assorted farm animals who became more and more curious about our visit as it progressed.
Lunch!!
After lunch a short trek bought us to our destination with enough time to check into our hostel and have a look around the town and pop off a few emails..."just a quick note from Machu Picchu.." We met up with Washy for an amusingly average dinner and to say our goodbyes as we were to get a new guide for the next day, it is here that I can change the tone of this post, almost! As you can guess we were not particularly impressed with the service provided by the guiding company so far as to be honest they were rubbish, our guide Washy did his best (even walking through a fever on the last day and a shot in the bum as a result) but this was the price we paid for not being able to sort everything out months beforehand and paying about 3 times as much (but you definitely get what you pay for here!!) And we did have a lot of fun and met some very cool people, much of the amusement came from comparing horror stories with other groups!!
Now I can gush...Machu Picchu was a highlight of our whole trip, we decided against the pre-dawn 1000 step challenge seeing as they now had some fancy shuttle buses leaving just in time to get to the top. We had got up and hurriedly dressed at 5am to ensure a view of the sunrise, we were in and climbed to the corner of the mountain where everyone get´s "that" photo in plenty of time to get a quick history from our guide, if you are interested then here´s the wiki - link
Here comes the sun
It really is a magical site and a magical sight to see the sunlight come over an adjacent mountain slowly illuminating the buildings and terraces and unlike our experience in Angkor Wat it is big enough to "hide" the amount of people there so we got some photos that looked as though we were amongst a few select visitors. One of the added extras that some people chose is to climb the pointy mountain, Huayna Picchu, that you see in the background of the iconic pictures. Only 400 people are allowed to climb this each day due to the small path up and down as well as the lack of room at the top, well not ever wanting to miss out on stuff Cath and I got in the queue and were lucky to be nos 180 and 181 up. It took about 50 minutes of hard climbing and a bit of rock scrambling to get there but the views back across the site and surroundings took what little breath we had in our lungs. The route down was no less precarious but we made it safely and took great pleasure in the faces of the people coming in the other direction and gave a few nearly-there´s where needed!!
Top of the world!
WooHoo!!
This was quite a distance out - Peru, health and safety...I think not!!
Gary, Gary and...um Cath
We reached the bottom at around 10am where we bumped into Dan and the boys who had done the real trek, they looked awful but told us they were pleased that they had made it over Dead Woman´s Pass and we spent a good while swapping stories and chatting on the grass taking in the day on top of the world!!
We started out with a short cab ride to the local bus station where we boarded one of the most agriculturally smelling buses we have been on so far. We also met up with Gary, the lucky chap who was the only other person in our group...ominously though his name was Gary Fitt, and he lived up to it throughout. After a 3hr ride up to the start point we clambered off the bus and started the important job of finishing our snack pack and finding somewhere to have a pee...easier for the boys than Cath!!
The first portion of the trek was not actually walking, we were mountain biking down into a small town called Santa Maria @ 2000m from a mountain pass @ 3500m. This was supposed to have taken 4hrs but due to some issues with the equipment, gears giving up the ghost after an hour (for the few uphills) and brakes that would have been better suited for a kids trike, we finally rattled in exhausted and dusty much later than planned. After a shower and a beer or two we were ready for bed, no romance here as the three of us were sharing a room...not that we got much sleep as it turned out that the "homestay" that was promised turned out to be a motel cleverly disguised as a truck stop and all night petrol station. Please forgive the negative tone of this part, we were not happy campers and there is not much glossing I can put on the day!!
Our second day started out in a similar tone to the first, this was the main trek part and our guide decided to set a break-neck pace in order to catch his mate up who had started a few minutes ahead of us. This meant very red faces and panting from Cath and I (Gary seemed to take it in his stride but I have already told you his surname) until we reached the other group. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Washy´s chum was Percy (I know) who was guiding another couple closer to our pace. Over the next few hours we climbed and dropped and mounted and valleyed and tramped and trekked to our hearts desires, there was some very punishing uphill sections that left you with no breath for the stunning views at the top of each pass. A few stops for water and snacks sandwiched the yummiest almuerzo (South American set lunch) we have tasted on this continent, some avocado straight from the tree and a post lunch siesta in hammocks...ahh hammocks!! The day´s walk ended with a soothing dip in some hotpools but not before we crossed the surging River Urubamba on a contraption that involved you pulling yourself across in a small metal box supported about 30ft up.
We had climbed from where you can´t see the river anymore
Mountain Cath
Then we went round this one
Finally along this riverbed!
A few beers flowed that evening to celebrate the fact that we made it past through our hardest day, we also found the local nightclub in the town we were staying...I won´t make any patronising comments about the quality of the venue but the DJ had 2 cd players on top of each other and his gran sat behind him!!
Our last day of walking was rather surreal, we had to walk along the rail tracks that took us to Aguas Calientes (hot waters in Spanish) but we found to our dismay that Peruvian rail workers don´t space sleepers evenly meaning that our strides altered with each step, very off putting. Thankfully Washy had promised us some fishing and a decent trout lunch halfway up so we bravely marched on...do you reckon this was a large country estate with freshly tied flies? When we reached the trout farm there was a small delay as it was the owner´s birthday (or so we were told) and they had to clear the hosting area of the beer bottles. We then got ourselves psyched up for a spot of sport...off to the lake...um, no...concrete trout pools. We climbed on the walls and were given a giant net with which to delicately locate our lunch. Trying to balance whilst laughing and trying to take photos meant that it took a while before we caught anything but once we did we were on a roll, even having to throw a couple of tiddlers back in. Once cooked they did taste quite good...you know there is a however...however we did have to dodge the mossies attracted by the pigs and other assorted farm animals who became more and more curious about our visit as it progressed.
Lunch!!
After lunch a short trek bought us to our destination with enough time to check into our hostel and have a look around the town and pop off a few emails..."just a quick note from Machu Picchu.." We met up with Washy for an amusingly average dinner and to say our goodbyes as we were to get a new guide for the next day, it is here that I can change the tone of this post, almost! As you can guess we were not particularly impressed with the service provided by the guiding company so far as to be honest they were rubbish, our guide Washy did his best (even walking through a fever on the last day and a shot in the bum as a result) but this was the price we paid for not being able to sort everything out months beforehand and paying about 3 times as much (but you definitely get what you pay for here!!) And we did have a lot of fun and met some very cool people, much of the amusement came from comparing horror stories with other groups!!
Now I can gush...Machu Picchu was a highlight of our whole trip, we decided against the pre-dawn 1000 step challenge seeing as they now had some fancy shuttle buses leaving just in time to get to the top. We had got up and hurriedly dressed at 5am to ensure a view of the sunrise, we were in and climbed to the corner of the mountain where everyone get´s "that" photo in plenty of time to get a quick history from our guide, if you are interested then here´s the wiki - link
Here comes the sun
It really is a magical site and a magical sight to see the sunlight come over an adjacent mountain slowly illuminating the buildings and terraces and unlike our experience in Angkor Wat it is big enough to "hide" the amount of people there so we got some photos that looked as though we were amongst a few select visitors. One of the added extras that some people chose is to climb the pointy mountain, Huayna Picchu, that you see in the background of the iconic pictures. Only 400 people are allowed to climb this each day due to the small path up and down as well as the lack of room at the top, well not ever wanting to miss out on stuff Cath and I got in the queue and were lucky to be nos 180 and 181 up. It took about 50 minutes of hard climbing and a bit of rock scrambling to get there but the views back across the site and surroundings took what little breath we had in our lungs. The route down was no less precarious but we made it safely and took great pleasure in the faces of the people coming in the other direction and gave a few nearly-there´s where needed!!
Top of the world!
WooHoo!!
This was quite a distance out - Peru, health and safety...I think not!!
Gary, Gary and...um Cath
We reached the bottom at around 10am where we bumped into Dan and the boys who had done the real trek, they looked awful but told us they were pleased that they had made it over Dead Woman´s Pass and we spent a good while swapping stories and chatting on the grass taking in the day on top of the world!!
Peru...well Cusco to be exact
After a rather lovely time in the Galapagos we had run out of time for any more Ecuador adventures, Peru and some Inca ruins awaited us. I also put my foot down with all these long South American bus journeys (2 hours is enough for me) and we opted to fly via Lima to Cusco. Good thing too as it would have been 30 hours by bus to Lima and then another 24 to Cusco (not my idea of a honeymoon) The problem with any flight to Cuso is that they all leave at 5am from Lima, so this meant a late night flight to Lima and then napping in the airport. This was by no means as bad as our Thailand experience and we met lots of people doing exactly what we were. I stayed awake and looked like I wanted another beer, while Simon dominated the only comfortable couch in the restaurant for a nap.
Lovely Cusco
Cusco was a lovely change from Quito. A very charming city with clean cobbled streets and cute little cafes and bars. Lots and lots of locals selling alpaca everything from hats to socks and everything in between. I am not surprised we instantly felt at home here, it is after all the tourist capital of South America and the quality and cost of things is an instant indicator. We opted to stay in the old town area called San Blas (the area with the most charm, but it is also up the hill and at 3500m you really feel it on the walk home) My first welcome to Cusco was being chased by a local and her two llamas. I had stopped to take a picture of the square and she was within the shot...she immediately ran over to me to demand money for taking pictures of her llamas. I refused (not really knowing that this is customary for this area) to which she insisted more. I walked away and she initiated pursuit with the two beasts in tow. Not an easy escape running up a hill with my backpack at altitude, but I never made that mistake again!
We stayed in a rather charming hostel called Casa de la Gringa - in the honeymoon suite! Best described as basic accommodation in the annex with a view of the street...the very noisy street! For some reason this particular quiet lane was patrolled at 3am by policemen who thought it was appropriate to blow their whistles to let us know they were there! Just as this had finished, the milk/bread man walked up the street ringing his bell to invite sales...and then the day began. Our comedy purchase of earplugs before we left the UK were put to good use here!
One of the biggest attractions of Cusco for us was meeting up with Mr Daniel Morris and his sidekick Dom. Coincidence meant we (travelling in opposite directions through SA) landed here at the same time. As you can imagine, this called for celebrations and a fair few beers were consumed that night. Dan was naturally on top form and he and Simon got all the mandatory Everton chatting out the way early. We had a largish drinking evening at the Irish Pub (those Irish are everywhere) reputedly the highest Irish Pub in the world. I cannot confirm the validity of the height claim, but I can confirm the best Shepherds pie I have had in a very, very long time.
When in Cusco an Inca trekking one must go, but with a 6month booking requirement, we didn´t do THE Inca trail. We managed to find what I thought was a good deal for an ´alternative.´ No sleeping in tents and biking the first of the 4 days! Oh how wrong I was! As we were all off doing some form of walking/ biking the next day, a much quieter night was had the second night. Definitely the first time I have seen Dan do the yawn-put-the-beer-down ´I have packing to do´at 9pm!
...back from Inca Trekking however this was not the Dan. What a massive night! I am still not sure he has recovered from all that partying. We on the other hand left the boys to it at about 8.30pm and headed off to Km0 for some really good Thai food and much needed packing time. So nice to have a backpack full of clean clothes, but that never lasts long as we are always off getting dirty on another trek soon. Cusco is rather cool and we should really have spent a few more days here, but at this rate we will never get to Bariloche to meet Andrew by the 14th July, so on we must go.
Wednesday 11 June 2008
BOOBIES!!
After another day chilling at the Secret Garden we were ready for our close up with nature that was the Galapagos Islands tour. This was the "big thing" in South America that we ahd been getting excited about for a few weeks...and the animals didn´t let us down!!
We started the experience in a rather nice hotel in Quito where Cath and I both bathed in asses milk...well it was actually the free bottles of bubbles but luxury none-the-less. We got an early night and in the monrning were whisked off to the great islands, but not before being accosted by a school full of kids friom Quito whose teacher had suggested they practice their English. This would have been fine for a few minutes but they swarmed around us (there were about 30) for an hour and a half before our flights were called...guess where they were going!!! Yup, high fives all the way down the aisle as we boarded and lot´s of excited oohs and ahhs as we took off and landed.
I won´t go through each days events as so much happened but touch on some real favourites...and then I have some other stories to bore you with when we get home!!
A good trek to start off with was on our first day on Santa Cruz island where we walked out to Tortuga Bay (Tortuga means turtle but only as this is where they lay their eggs!) We cought our first excited glimpse of Marine Iguanas fishing and sunning themselves, some Pelicans who despite their gangly nature on land are rather graceful when cruising the sand dunes and some Sally Lightfoot Crabs which Cath spent the whole trip trying to photograph.
Pensive
Our first Marine Iguana
The absolute best (and Cath is nodding frantically) was swimming with Sea Lions, we were initially sceptical as we hadn´t seen much on that particular day apart from some birds and were not in a hopeful mood as the weather was looking bleak over lunch. Once we had put our togs on though the clouds parted and we dove off of the back of our boat and followed the directions of our crew to some rocks. Mum was first to check us out, she came up and blew bubbles at Cath which we took as a form of approval as there then followed 5 pups who tumbled and turned all around us. I tried to copy some of their moves, think underwater Justin Timberlake, and was rewarded with a couple of close encounters as they started copying me!! All in all this was magical and we spent a good 45minutes mucking about before being called back for our next voyage...not before Cath joined the crew in jumping off of the 7m high roof of the boat!!
Non-swimming pup
When you go to any of the souvenir shops on any of the islands you cannot get away from the t-shirts with any number of Boobie gags!! Blue Footed Boobies are one of the unique (sub) species that evolved on some of the Galapagos Islands and as their name suggests they have bright blue feet that the males use in a dance to prove their worth to future mates...a bit like a night down the Roxy!! They also collect sticks to build nests but instead of creating the conventional nest type shape they simply move the sticks around the floor in a bit of a half hearted effort.
Dancing Boobie
How blue?
The Frigate bird also uses a bright colouration to attract mates with the males puffing out their red breasts and shaking thier wings about in an exuberant display for the females. Sadly once used this pouch then retracts leaving them looking like old men with wrinkly double chins.
Puff Daddy
We paid a visit to the Chalres Darwin centre where the most famous resident, Lonesome George, remains as the last of his kind of Giant Tortoise. Despite numerous attempts to get him to mate he seems to be destined to be the last in his line, a sobering thought when you think that the reason for this was the trade in tortoise shells and oil when the islands were first discovered. When we visited there were even 2 lady tortioses in his pen to try and get produce some little Georges...but they seemed more interested in each other than the old fella.
Not George but nearly
As a backdrop to all of this was the hugely varied landscapes that the siesmic activity continues to throw up. We sailed from pancake flat islands, to volcanic cones, moonscapes and dense forests with each being a perfect environment for the endemic speices that now inhabit them.
Cactus o´clock
Moonscape
We also met some cool people who helped us get over the next travel hiccup when the plane we were due to take back to Quito was ruled unfit to fly, meaning a 5 hour delay and much homemade fun!
Kym´s impromtu performance
Oh yeah and there were finches everywhere!!! They looked like the LBJ´s that you see in UK but were a source of great interest for everyone.
We started the experience in a rather nice hotel in Quito where Cath and I both bathed in asses milk...well it was actually the free bottles of bubbles but luxury none-the-less. We got an early night and in the monrning were whisked off to the great islands, but not before being accosted by a school full of kids friom Quito whose teacher had suggested they practice their English. This would have been fine for a few minutes but they swarmed around us (there were about 30) for an hour and a half before our flights were called...guess where they were going!!! Yup, high fives all the way down the aisle as we boarded and lot´s of excited oohs and ahhs as we took off and landed.
I won´t go through each days events as so much happened but touch on some real favourites...and then I have some other stories to bore you with when we get home!!
A good trek to start off with was on our first day on Santa Cruz island where we walked out to Tortuga Bay (Tortuga means turtle but only as this is where they lay their eggs!) We cought our first excited glimpse of Marine Iguanas fishing and sunning themselves, some Pelicans who despite their gangly nature on land are rather graceful when cruising the sand dunes and some Sally Lightfoot Crabs which Cath spent the whole trip trying to photograph.
Pensive
Our first Marine Iguana
The absolute best (and Cath is nodding frantically) was swimming with Sea Lions, we were initially sceptical as we hadn´t seen much on that particular day apart from some birds and were not in a hopeful mood as the weather was looking bleak over lunch. Once we had put our togs on though the clouds parted and we dove off of the back of our boat and followed the directions of our crew to some rocks. Mum was first to check us out, she came up and blew bubbles at Cath which we took as a form of approval as there then followed 5 pups who tumbled and turned all around us. I tried to copy some of their moves, think underwater Justin Timberlake, and was rewarded with a couple of close encounters as they started copying me!! All in all this was magical and we spent a good 45minutes mucking about before being called back for our next voyage...not before Cath joined the crew in jumping off of the 7m high roof of the boat!!
Non-swimming pup
When you go to any of the souvenir shops on any of the islands you cannot get away from the t-shirts with any number of Boobie gags!! Blue Footed Boobies are one of the unique (sub) species that evolved on some of the Galapagos Islands and as their name suggests they have bright blue feet that the males use in a dance to prove their worth to future mates...a bit like a night down the Roxy!! They also collect sticks to build nests but instead of creating the conventional nest type shape they simply move the sticks around the floor in a bit of a half hearted effort.
Dancing Boobie
How blue?
The Frigate bird also uses a bright colouration to attract mates with the males puffing out their red breasts and shaking thier wings about in an exuberant display for the females. Sadly once used this pouch then retracts leaving them looking like old men with wrinkly double chins.
Puff Daddy
We paid a visit to the Chalres Darwin centre where the most famous resident, Lonesome George, remains as the last of his kind of Giant Tortoise. Despite numerous attempts to get him to mate he seems to be destined to be the last in his line, a sobering thought when you think that the reason for this was the trade in tortoise shells and oil when the islands were first discovered. When we visited there were even 2 lady tortioses in his pen to try and get produce some little Georges...but they seemed more interested in each other than the old fella.
Not George but nearly
As a backdrop to all of this was the hugely varied landscapes that the siesmic activity continues to throw up. We sailed from pancake flat islands, to volcanic cones, moonscapes and dense forests with each being a perfect environment for the endemic speices that now inhabit them.
Cactus o´clock
Moonscape
We also met some cool people who helped us get over the next travel hiccup when the plane we were due to take back to Quito was ruled unfit to fly, meaning a 5 hour delay and much homemade fun!
Kym´s impromtu performance
Oh yeah and there were finches everywhere!!! They looked like the LBJ´s that you see in UK but were a source of great interest for everyone.
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