Done pretty well on this trip in relation to possessions...but I did a very stupid thing in Salta...I left the only shoes I own in the taxi..so I'm down to a pair of Havaianas, just glad I have got all of the hard trekking I'm going to do out of the way. The worst part about it was they were probably the best shoes I've ever had, definitely going to pick up another pair of Merrill's.
Had a great time in Salta, only there for 2 days, and didn't actually get much done in the place, but we had a massive barbie on the last night, ended up hitting a club...with decent music..no gayass Regatone..which was played in all the bars in Bolivia..great soundsystem and good looking people. Mendoza is even more normal then Salta...massive wide open streets, beautiful people everywhere..everyone looks very European and the place has lots of shoe shops for me.
The 17 hour bus ride from Salta was one of the easiest bus journeys I've ever done. Managed to get a decent night sleep..so much room and the seat was extremely comfortable. We have a great hostel here, pool, table tennis and a chilled out feel. Looking forward to hitting some wineries tomorrow.
Monday 26 November 2007
Saturday 24 November 2007
Leaving the 3rd world behind...a weird feeling...
In Argentina after spending 23 crazy days in Bolivia, definately up there with one of the most disorganised countries I've ever been to. All the roads are either dirt, falling apart or so narrow that hardly one vehicle can head down it...but it's a strange feeling when you come back to normality after Bolivia. We arrived yesterday in Salta at 7.30pm, after catching the bus from Tupiza at 4.30am. The bus journey was only meant to be about 10 hours..but after the change of bus at the border, the border check, and catching the bus from the first town in Argie, we somehow ended up stretching the trip, and after tearing it up in Tupiza...and not getting any sleep, it wasn't the ideal senario.
We somehow managed to venture out and make it to a restaurant, needed to have a decent meal after those 23 days...had some good food in Bolivia (and plenty of shit as well!), but the steak last night was amazing.
Today was a day where you know it's not always great travelling with another 9 people. We basically took a whole day cruising around, and not getting much done. We managed to befriend a stray dog who ended up following us around for a good 2 hours, and then he finally left us when we had some food for him, much to our disappointment. I'm off to Mendoza tomorrow with a few of the guys, got another big bus journey ahead, but in Argentian comfort!
We somehow managed to venture out and make it to a restaurant, needed to have a decent meal after those 23 days...had some good food in Bolivia (and plenty of shit as well!), but the steak last night was amazing.
Today was a day where you know it's not always great travelling with another 9 people. We basically took a whole day cruising around, and not getting much done. We managed to befriend a stray dog who ended up following us around for a good 2 hours, and then he finally left us when we had some food for him, much to our disappointment. I'm off to Mendoza tomorrow with a few of the guys, got another big bus journey ahead, but in Argentian comfort!
A night out in Tupezi
What a big night we had in Tupezi. It was Jules' birthday, so what a better place to spend your birthday then a pizzeria and a crappy karaoke bar in a town like to Tupezi.
We actually made her night, we managed to find a place that sold a pooh pinata and since she was suffering with a broken arm from a paragliding mishap, all 9 of us made crappy arm bandages out of toilet paper and sticky tape.
From there we had tea at a Pizzeria in town, which I should of eaten, but instead decided to take on a Peppered steak...bad move. It was tough as an old boot..the gravy had 4 peppercorns and the gravy definitely wasn't up to expectation. Anyway from there we moved to a karaoke bar where we first played the 'Cereal Box' game. The object of the game is to pick up the box with your teeth without touching any part of your body against the ground. Once the box has been picked up, you tear a piece of the box. It sounds easy enough, but when you get to the bottom..it ain't so easy! That's what happened to me...I found out that I'm actually good at something else besides remember sporting information and facts from the last 20 years. Once the game was finished we moved on to singing some tunes..there were many English ones to sing, but we did find 'Who Shot the Sheriff'...we just weren't expecting to see a bunch of girls parading around topless with firemen hoses. I think some of the Bolivians will be choosing a few English songs to sing from now on. After that we ended up sinking a few more bottles of rum and dancing with the Bolivians in the place until our bus left at 4.30am...what a crazy night!
We actually made her night, we managed to find a place that sold a pooh pinata and since she was suffering with a broken arm from a paragliding mishap, all 9 of us made crappy arm bandages out of toilet paper and sticky tape.
From there we had tea at a Pizzeria in town, which I should of eaten, but instead decided to take on a Peppered steak...bad move. It was tough as an old boot..the gravy had 4 peppercorns and the gravy definitely wasn't up to expectation. Anyway from there we moved to a karaoke bar where we first played the 'Cereal Box' game. The object of the game is to pick up the box with your teeth without touching any part of your body against the ground. Once the box has been picked up, you tear a piece of the box. It sounds easy enough, but when you get to the bottom..it ain't so easy! That's what happened to me...I found out that I'm actually good at something else besides remember sporting information and facts from the last 20 years. Once the game was finished we moved on to singing some tunes..there were many English ones to sing, but we did find 'Who Shot the Sheriff'...we just weren't expecting to see a bunch of girls parading around topless with firemen hoses. I think some of the Bolivians will be choosing a few English songs to sing from now on. After that we ended up sinking a few more bottles of rum and dancing with the Bolivians in the place until our bus left at 4.30am...what a crazy night!
Biking and horse riding in Tupezi
We decided to spend the day in Tupezi doing a triathlon, which consisted of some bike riding, horse riding and a bit of a spin in a 4 wheeled drive. The bike riding was fine, even though they weren't the greatest bikes in the world...mine had no suspension at all which was the best for ripping downhill. The spin was OK as well, but me and horses don't mix. I'm glad I did it, but I will say now, it will have to be a very special occasion for me to venture on one of those again. I didn't have that much trouble..they were very placid horses that were use to doing nothing much when it comes to riding, but the couple of times that it move more than a walk, and the once when it moved from a trot to a cantor scared the shit out of me. The worst part about it was that it wasn't me that was controlling the horses..(he boys that were our guides they must of been 12 at most), as soon as the boys made a kissing sound the horses all took that as a sign to change speeds. By the end I really didn't like that sound anymore.
Thursday 15 November 2007
Rurrenabaque
Well this is going to be bloody hard, it's been quiet a few days since my last post, but after spending 5 nights in Rurrenabaque, the Internet..and electricity aren't a given like most places.
Left La Paz for Rurrenabaque last Thursday..and it was a tough decision..should I catch the bus..which is meant to be very hairy in some places...and the bus ride takes about 20 hours if your lucky. The other option was a 40 minute flight..it sounds easy enough, but not when you take into account the plane is a 16 seater Cessna..a single engine plane..and the only plane that seems to have fatalities in Australia..and we are talking about Bolivia!
Anyway, Nick, Jess and I didn't nearly make the flight..and maybe in another country, we definitely would not of. Nick and Jess thought the flight left at 4.30pm, instead of 4.15pm, but there ended up being a massive traffic jam near the airport..so we decided to walk the remaining bit on foot. The only problem was that every single person we asked pointed us towards the other airport..TAM...but after some nifty taxi driver though the TAM section, we got to the correct airport at 3.45pm. We need not of rushed..there seemed no rush from the check-in desk when we arrived.
The flight wasn't to bad, a few shaky moments, the plane felt like it was just a piece of tin over some parts. The scenery was amazing though, it felt like you could stick you hand out and touch the snow capped Andes as we passed the mountain range.
The 5 day in Rurr was pretty cool. After being in La Paz, which is a crazy big city, it was great to be in small town...very chilled out place.
We spent 3 days in the Pampas...which is basically a waterway where you can get to see loads more animals than the jungle. It's was cool to cruise down on the boat..we got to see loads of Alligators and Turtles, we saw one group of Spider Monkeys as well, but would of love to have seen more monkeys. On the second day we marched though long muddy grass for 1 1/2 hours each way to look for an Anaconda. We did eventually see one which was cool, but the effort didn't really match the reward. What was more rewarding was fishing for piranhas later in the arvo. I have never caught a fish before, and I managed to catch 3 piranhas...even though you would hardly be impressed by my catches..they were no bigger than any goldfish I've had before..and they certainly didn't have teeth like I was expecting.
On the last day we went swimming with pink dolphins...but even though there were quiet a few where we were swimming..the water was so brown..and they weren't your Flipper kind of Dolphins..a bit shy. The boat trip back was pretty funny in some respects, I nearly caught a big piranha..but it wasn't due to my fishing technics..the bugger flew out of the water as we were cruising along and fish slapped me in the face. haha
The last two days was spent in Jungle, a 3 hour boat ride from Rurrenabaque. It was a cool experience, got to see one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. We went for a few jungle walks, the night one was far and away the best...all we had for light was our head lamps...and some of the insects we saw even gave me the schivers. We also visited a jungle community, but it was hardly what I expected. They are pretty poor, but we only met some kids and one older guy, who gladly took our 50 Bolivianos each. The community did give me a chance to take a few happy snaps of some of the worst looking animals I have ever seen. Chickens with hardly any feathers, and it seemed every dog looked like it had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Besides this, I had the best fish I have ever tasted in Rurr a couple of times. God knows what the fish was, but it was soaked in this delicious garlic sauce. I have never been much of a fish eater, but if it all tasted like this..I would be chowing it all the time.
The last interesting thing we did in Rurr was catch motorbikes to the airport after missing the bus. It wasn't such a problem, only a 10 min ride, but we did this with all our belongings, I had my big backpack, a little backpack on my front, and my shoes in my hands..another interesting experience in Bolivia!
Left La Paz for Rurrenabaque last Thursday..and it was a tough decision..should I catch the bus..which is meant to be very hairy in some places...and the bus ride takes about 20 hours if your lucky. The other option was a 40 minute flight..it sounds easy enough, but not when you take into account the plane is a 16 seater Cessna..a single engine plane..and the only plane that seems to have fatalities in Australia..and we are talking about Bolivia!
Anyway, Nick, Jess and I didn't nearly make the flight..and maybe in another country, we definitely would not of. Nick and Jess thought the flight left at 4.30pm, instead of 4.15pm, but there ended up being a massive traffic jam near the airport..so we decided to walk the remaining bit on foot. The only problem was that every single person we asked pointed us towards the other airport..TAM...but after some nifty taxi driver though the TAM section, we got to the correct airport at 3.45pm. We need not of rushed..there seemed no rush from the check-in desk when we arrived.
The flight wasn't to bad, a few shaky moments, the plane felt like it was just a piece of tin over some parts. The scenery was amazing though, it felt like you could stick you hand out and touch the snow capped Andes as we passed the mountain range.
The 5 day in Rurr was pretty cool. After being in La Paz, which is a crazy big city, it was great to be in small town...very chilled out place.
We spent 3 days in the Pampas...which is basically a waterway where you can get to see loads more animals than the jungle. It's was cool to cruise down on the boat..we got to see loads of Alligators and Turtles, we saw one group of Spider Monkeys as well, but would of love to have seen more monkeys. On the second day we marched though long muddy grass for 1 1/2 hours each way to look for an Anaconda. We did eventually see one which was cool, but the effort didn't really match the reward. What was more rewarding was fishing for piranhas later in the arvo. I have never caught a fish before, and I managed to catch 3 piranhas...even though you would hardly be impressed by my catches..they were no bigger than any goldfish I've had before..and they certainly didn't have teeth like I was expecting.
On the last day we went swimming with pink dolphins...but even though there were quiet a few where we were swimming..the water was so brown..and they weren't your Flipper kind of Dolphins..a bit shy. The boat trip back was pretty funny in some respects, I nearly caught a big piranha..but it wasn't due to my fishing technics..the bugger flew out of the water as we were cruising along and fish slapped me in the face. haha
The last two days was spent in Jungle, a 3 hour boat ride from Rurrenabaque. It was a cool experience, got to see one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. We went for a few jungle walks, the night one was far and away the best...all we had for light was our head lamps...and some of the insects we saw even gave me the schivers. We also visited a jungle community, but it was hardly what I expected. They are pretty poor, but we only met some kids and one older guy, who gladly took our 50 Bolivianos each. The community did give me a chance to take a few happy snaps of some of the worst looking animals I have ever seen. Chickens with hardly any feathers, and it seemed every dog looked like it had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Besides this, I had the best fish I have ever tasted in Rurr a couple of times. God knows what the fish was, but it was soaked in this delicious garlic sauce. I have never been much of a fish eater, but if it all tasted like this..I would be chowing it all the time.
The last interesting thing we did in Rurr was catch motorbikes to the airport after missing the bus. It wasn't such a problem, only a 10 min ride, but we did this with all our belongings, I had my big backpack, a little backpack on my front, and my shoes in my hands..another interesting experience in Bolivia!
Wednesday 7 November 2007
Mountain Biking on the World's most Dangerous Road
I've heard quiet a bit about this journey since I've arrived in South America, and since I love to ride, I thought that I'd give it a go. I haven't done any mountain biking before, but surely it has to be pretty similar to road...yeah right.
We left La Paz at 7.30am and headed up to La Cumbre, which is about 1 1/2 hr away from La Paz, and is 4700m above sea level. After getting all our gear prepared and the bikes sorted we were ready to go by about 10pm. The first section was fairly straight forward, we had to travel a few kms to get to the hairy bit, this was on a sealed road that you not use to see in Bolivia. So I managed to built up some serious speed by getting into a crouching position.
Everything was going swimmingly until we reached a small section where the sealed road turned into gravel, and this is where I did my best somersault in years. Actually it wasn't that dramatic, but I did come off at a fair whack, and wasn't feeling the best for awhile after. Actually about a minute after it happen, my eyes when all funny and it felt like I was looking through broken glass. Thank god it only lasted for about 10 minutes, because it really was freaking me out! After this will had a few uphill moments to test our fitness, but the real fun was just around the corner.
The North Yungas Road is named the World most Dangerous Road due to the 100s of people that use to die each year on the road, it isn't used as much by vehicles anymore due to a new road being built. It still has fatalities, but this is reserved by Mountain bikers now, I think about 11 people have died over the last 10 years, and some poor Israeli lost their life in March this year.
I'm actually surprised more people haven't kicked the bucket, because it really is a bloody scary experience. The 64km ride has so many parts where less than a metre to the left you have a 100m drop. The road isn't sealed either, it's made up of lots of rocks, so your bouncing up all over the place. I think I was a bit shaking from the earlier experience, a fall here could of meant much more than a few scratches.
Anyway looking back on it it was a fun experience, but it was great to get to the end without more bruises to the body.
We left La Paz at 7.30am and headed up to La Cumbre, which is about 1 1/2 hr away from La Paz, and is 4700m above sea level. After getting all our gear prepared and the bikes sorted we were ready to go by about 10pm. The first section was fairly straight forward, we had to travel a few kms to get to the hairy bit, this was on a sealed road that you not use to see in Bolivia. So I managed to built up some serious speed by getting into a crouching position.
Everything was going swimmingly until we reached a small section where the sealed road turned into gravel, and this is where I did my best somersault in years. Actually it wasn't that dramatic, but I did come off at a fair whack, and wasn't feeling the best for awhile after. Actually about a minute after it happen, my eyes when all funny and it felt like I was looking through broken glass. Thank god it only lasted for about 10 minutes, because it really was freaking me out! After this will had a few uphill moments to test our fitness, but the real fun was just around the corner.
The North Yungas Road is named the World most Dangerous Road due to the 100s of people that use to die each year on the road, it isn't used as much by vehicles anymore due to a new road being built. It still has fatalities, but this is reserved by Mountain bikers now, I think about 11 people have died over the last 10 years, and some poor Israeli lost their life in March this year.
I'm actually surprised more people haven't kicked the bucket, because it really is a bloody scary experience. The 64km ride has so many parts where less than a metre to the left you have a 100m drop. The road isn't sealed either, it's made up of lots of rocks, so your bouncing up all over the place. I think I was a bit shaking from the earlier experience, a fall here could of meant much more than a few scratches.
Anyway looking back on it it was a fun experience, but it was great to get to the end without more bruises to the body.
Coca Museum and the Bolivian Zoo
The Coca Museum in La Paz is a pretty cool place. It give a run down how this leave has been such a big part of not only Bolivia, but also Peru over a 1000 years. It also explained the process how to make cocaine, and how certain countries have put pressure on the Bolivian government for the eradication of this leave, even though it's the demand for the drug, not growing the leave that's the problem. Over 100 countries have access to make cocaine-derived (so they have access to tons of coca leaves for production) drugs, but these countries don't include either Bolivia or Peru. The US consumes 50% of the world's cocaine, but only has just over 5% of the world's population.
Besides this, to kill some time, Mark and I ventured to La Paz's Zoo, which is about 1/2 hour away on public transport. This was an experience in itself, 100's of buses stream down the main street, and they stop anywhere when someone wants to get on. This can create chaos on the road, with vehicles weaving in and out to stop.
The Zoo was what you can expect from a 3rd world country. People were feeding the monkeys junk food, cats were kept in little cages, the the big birds didn't have it much better. The flightless birds had it best...a big lake..no worries in the world. At least the bus ride took us past a place they call the badlands..which is similar to the badlands that I saw in the States...pretty cool funky rock formations.
Besides this, to kill some time, Mark and I ventured to La Paz's Zoo, which is about 1/2 hour away on public transport. This was an experience in itself, 100's of buses stream down the main street, and they stop anywhere when someone wants to get on. This can create chaos on the road, with vehicles weaving in and out to stop.
The Zoo was what you can expect from a 3rd world country. People were feeding the monkeys junk food, cats were kept in little cages, the the big birds didn't have it much better. The flightless birds had it best...a big lake..no worries in the world. At least the bus ride took us past a place they call the badlands..which is similar to the badlands that I saw in the States...pretty cool funky rock formations.
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