Flight delays and dodgy South American airlines

This is one of those travelling adventures we are happy our families get to hear about when it is over and they know we are safe and sound – not when we are watching bits of plane rattle in ways they really shouldn’t.

From my last blog you will know we were stuck at the airport in Arequipa. Our plane was delayed – because it was broken. So broken they had to fly in a new one. So we sat around an airport with all the excitement factor of Canberra airport for about 9 hours. They did give us a meal voucher and we had a lunch of what is kind of the national Peruvian dish – stir fried beef, onion and capsicum served with chips and rice. It is pretty nice.

But that didn’t fill in much time, so we wandered the length of the airport a few times, bought and ate chocolate, bought books and read, but were generally bored.

Finally after 9pm, our new plane arrived. I use the word “new” in the sense that it was a different plane because there is nothing about our Sky airlines plane that could be described as new. It was so old the carpet was fraying, the seats basic, hard and missing the headrest covers so you hair stuck to the Velcro. The seats were so hard it was like sitting on a wooden bench – which vibrated – for 5 hours. We were in the last row, which meant that we also got frozen at each stop when they opened the back door.

Yes, I did say each stop – there were three. At the first one we got out and were quite quickly and efficiently processed through Chilean Customs and Immigration, the next one we just sat there and froze as they loaded food (yes they did give us actually quite decent food for dinner at 1.30am) and the third stop was Santiago where we could finally get out, into a cab and our hostel.

Take off and landing in our ancient plane was a shaky experience. On the first takeoff Anna and I agreed that we would just be thankful to make it to Santiago alive, although flying a very dodgy airline did complete the South American experience. The landings confirmed this, hard and bouncy would be a couple of pretty accurate adjectives. But we did make it and despite all the discomfort and tiredness, we shouldn’t complain, not after we found out what the Dutch girl sitting next to us had gone through.

When we checked in, we had our bags searched to the point that we had to completely unpack our packs (the woman doing my bag even opened and smelled my shampoo but I wonder if she just wanted to know what it smelled like). This happened to everyone, but the Dutch girl and a Mexican girl were both singled out for extra attention. She was told that due to Holland’s drug laws, she had to have extra searches and was taken off to the toilets where they made her strip, and even bend forward and open her buttocks for them to check for drugs! The poor thing was just shattered by the whole experience – especially as there was a drug sniffer dog there who hadn’t reacted to her at all!

So we were pretty happy that we hadn’t had to go through an experience like that.

Today we had a bit of a sleep in, then a wander about the city. It is quite cool, about 15 degrees and very smoggy so combined with our lack of sleep from the past few days we are not really feeling very touristy. Tomorrow is the last day then we head home – looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Dancing and Waiting

Our last 24 hours in Arequipa have been at opposite ends of the spectrum, from partying to sitting around.

Last night Anna and I were in the mood for a dance, so we headed out to try some Arequipa nightlife. We had been given lots of warnings to be careful of drink spiking and pick pockets but we had a fab time and only met really lovely people. We began with the best pizza we have had on the trip and a few pisco sours before heading to a few of the local clubs. We had a dance, spoke bad spanish to the locals and only got back to the hostel at 5.30am.

Feeling a bit delicate in the morning, we packed then carbo loaded before heading to the airport for our flight to Chile. Unfortunately there was a problem with the plane and it is delayed for 7 hours - so we are sitting in the airport for the next few hours.

Only a couple of days till we head home, but a new country to explore in that time. Peru has been great, but look out Chile here we come!

The crazy things you do when travelling

Over the last two days Anna and I spent about 20 hours in busses, so that we could spend about 30 minutes in the air. However, the flight was over the famous Nazca lines, so crazy as it may seem, all that bus travel really was worth it.

We took an overnight bus on Thursday night and managed to get Cama seats. These are the ones that open the flattest and are also much wider and cushier so we both slept really quite well. We arrived in Nazca at about 6am and made our way to the travel agent, luckily just across the street from the bus station. Originally our flight was scheduled for 8am but there was low lying fog, so we were moved to a 9am start.

We spent the next couple of hours sitting in the hostel next door before we got loaded into an amazing car to head out to the airport. It was one of those huge Ford monstrosities, gold with a lovely shag pile dash cover edged with gold tassel. It really made me think of that line from “Love Shack” that he has got him a car as big as a whale!

We got out to the airport after having to wait for people who were late and were rushed onto a plane as we were now late for our takeoff time. We were also delayed as each plane took 5 people and we were 5 groups of 2. Anna and I stood our ground and didn’t get split up, so we raced out to a tiny Cessna and headed up the runway.

Then we headed back down the runway. There was a problem with the radio. By the time it was fixed it we had missed our takeoff time and had to be rescheduled. The rescheduled time was 11.15am – not good as we needed to be back at the bus station just after 12! We were also starving as we hadn’t had breakfast – it isn’t recommended because so many people get airsick on the flights. But luckily they snuck us in just after 10am and we were soon in the air.

I can tell why so many people get airsick, they do lots of tight turns and tip the plane right on its side to let you see the lines but I’m glad they do because the view is amazing. The lines are both pictures and geometric figures. They were made by simply pushing the dark top layer of rocks to the side to reveal the pale clay below, but they are HUGE. The pictures are often over 50m long and the geometric figures stretch with precision for miles sometimes.

No one knows why they were made, there are lots of theories, star maps, maps to water sources (the Nazca valley is one of the driest deserts on earth) and of course alien landing strips, but why ever the people did it, they are truly one of the most amazing sights I’ve seen.

We got back to Nazca, had a really good lunch then were back on the bus to Arequipa. Being a day bus we got to see some of the countryside and it was spectacular. Most of the time while it was light we were travelling along the highway which runs on the narrow strip of land between the coast and the desert mountains. The land is dry, just dust and rocks rising sharply up into mountains which catch the sea mist at the top. It was really exciting seeing the Pacific Ocean from the other side as it crashed into Peru. The whole effect was fascinating.

The bus trip was fine except that we didn’t get fed which is unusual, but luckily we were well prepared with snacks, so we napped, watched a few films and arrived back at about midnight.

Now we will hopefully have a couple of quiet days before we head home. One of the movies on the bus was Australia and I’m feeling quite homesick for the accent now! Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

When laughing causes an asthma attack

On Monday night Anna and I farewelled Cusco and took an overnight bus to Arequipa. There we were lucky enough to get the last room in a great hostel and spent the day planning the last week of our trip. We also managed to visit a museum and see “the ice princess” a frozen inca sacrifice which was found on top of a volcano. She really is frozen rather than mummified by the cold temperature and dry atmosphere like the other ones we have seen and they had lots of artifacts on display which made it a really interesting visit.

Much of the rest of the day was spent focused on food. We treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast (ham and cheese rolls aren’t doing it for us any more), had lunch in a rooftop restaurant with views of the volcanoes which surround Arequipa and found a chocolate shop which made really great chocolate milkshakes – believe it or not the first of our trip! We even managed to order in some Chinese for dinner.

Arequipa is over 1,000 meters lower than Cusco and it made a real temperature difference. We spent the day wandering around in t-shirts which seems slightly surreal with a background of snowcapped mountains.

On Wednesday morning we jumped on another tour bus and headed off for a tour of Colca Canyon, which is one of the key reasons people go to Arequipa. It was then that we realized we have become a little tour jaded. After all our tours, we just couldn’t summon up much enthusiasm for more photos of llamas, alpacas, vicunas, desert and mountains. This made the roughly 6 hour bus trip fairly boring! Also as we rose significantly in altitude, the cold began to get us down.

But at last we arrived at Chiva. This small town is the gateway to the canyon and is basically there to serve that purpose – it is small, dusty, full of hostels and not much more. We had a good lunch, then a little free time in which Anna and I explored the town and confirmed its boring status. There were the usual markets which contain all the same things that we have seen time and time again, the girls in traditional dress holding an alpaca wanting to be paid for a photo and not much else. However, things did manage to get more interesting.

Being surrounded by volcanoes, Chiva also has hot springs and we headed down to them. An hour in 38 degree water and we (and our trek sore muscles) were feeling much happier. We headed back to town and went to dinner at a local restaurant complete with entertainment. There was a small traditional band, pan pipes, drums and various guitar like instruments and a pair of dancers. They demonstrated a range of traditional dances, each time getting people from the crowd to participate. The French couple on our table who had been sharing a jug of pisco sour with me and Anna were some of the first.

The final dance was one they do for Corpus Christi. Ever since we arrived in Cusco we have been seeing the strange knitted masks that they wear, think a balaclava crossed with the V for Vendetta mask only knitted and in bright colours. Anyway, the dance seemed to involve the couple taking turns lying on the floor while the other whipped them. It was pretty funny, then Anna got pulled up. I don’t think I have laughed so hard as that in ages as Anna took her turn whipping and being whipped by the strangely masked man to music. Poor Anna was laughing so hard she could barely stand. Then, just as she thought she had finished, he decided to pick her up over one shoulder. The ensuing chase as he tried to pick her up and Anna tried to pick him up, nimbly getting out of the way was so funny I had an asthma attack!

After a relatively decent night’s sleep we got up early (we are very much sick of the 5am starts) to head out to the canyon and see the condors. This was the real reason for our trip and after a couple of stops to admire the view – the canyon is spectacular but it was freezing – we made to the condor lookout. We had been told recently by someone that they went all that way and didn’t see any but we were lucky enough to see quite a few. In fact at one point there were 5 circling overhead.

Condors are seriously big birds, with wing spans of around 3m they can weigh up to 14kgs and have been known to live for 70 years! The immature birds are dark brown, but once they reach adulthood, they are black with white feathers on the back of their wings and around their necks. One of the immature birds was obviously a bit into the show and kept buzzing the crowd flying about 5 meters above causing gasps from those assembled below.

Obviously this is a major tourist attraction and there were lots of people there, including the New Zealand couple who we continue to run into on our trip. But apparently numbers are down hugely on previous years because of the economic crisis, so I guess that has been good for us.

We stayed for over an hour watching the condors wheel above, below and in front of us before walking along the canyon for awhile. It is massive, at its widest over 2km across and 4km deep. The vegetation is really nice, lots of cactuses along with many flowering plants. We have been a bit deprived of flowers on this trip seeing as it is winter so it was a really nice change. They also have these huge nectar eating insects which could almost be hummingbirds with the size of their noses. They love the colour blue so Anna spent a lot of time fending them off her entirely blue outfit.

The day ended with a long bus ride back to Arequipa. We may be a little over the whole tour thing but seeing the condors was a real highlight of the whole trip.

Exploring Inca Style

It has been a week or so since our last update, but it has been an action packed week where we fought illness as we hiked through the Andes and finally made it to Machu Picchu, so get set for a looong entry.

The week began with Amy unwell, so Anna and I set out to explore Cusco. That day we had lunch in not the nicest place we have eaten and Anna ended up with food poisoning. It could have been worse but she was still feeling rather delicate the following morning.

I went out and ran some errands, stocking up on things like chocolate for our trek then in the afternoon Anna was feeling ok so we headed out on a tour of some of the sights around the city. Cusco is the oldest constantly inhabited city in the Americas, so while the Spanish built enormously, the entire foundation of the city is Inca.

Our first stop was the Temple de Sol which was in Inca times the main temple dedicated to the worship of the sun. Of course there isn’t much left because the Spanish tended to build their own churches on top of sacred sites in an effort to bring the Incas to the catholic religion. But it must have been amazing in the day. When they arrived the Spanish spent 4 months working 24 hours a day to melt down all the gold and silver that had covered the temples there!

What is left of the original is just a few rooms, but include one where sacrifices were made. Our guide informed us of the three main ways human sacrifices were made. Firstly, the victims were chosen as very small children from the lower classes and raised specifically to be human sacrifices. Then as young teenagers they were generally sacrificed in one of three ways:

1. Coca leaves were made into a powder which the priests blew into their lungs until they suffocated.
2. They were fed a hallucinogenic drink then had their head bashed in with a rock.
3. Their chest was cut open and their still beating heart was pulled from their bodies.

All in all, fairly grim. But probably the grimmest bit was the three small holes in the wall. These were drains to take away the blood from the human and llama sacrifices. Only the upper classes witnessed the actual sacrifice, so the lower classes would gather outside to get hold of some of the blood which drained away for their own ceremonies!

From there we went to the main cathedral in Cusco. It is over the top opulence at its best, or worst as you may consider it. Interestingly most of the paintings were done by Incas who the Spanish taught to paint in the European style. As a result they often secretly incorporated ancient symbols into the works of art, so the Cathedral still contains Inca objects of worship.

Leaving the actual city behind we went to Saccsayhuaman (pronounced sexy-woman) which is the remains of a massive fortification which sits above Cusco. Only 10% is left as first the Spanish raided it for stone to build their buildings, then the locals did the same until it was protected only a few decades ago. It must have been amazing, but like so many Inca remains, there is very little left. Those stones that are left however are massive. Some weigh literally hundreds of tones and are at least three times my height – and that is just what you can see above the ground. They were quarried 16 km away so it is just amazing that they were able to move them.

We saw a few other ruins, less exciting than the first few, although still really interesting then headed to our briefing for our trek the next day. There we learnt more about what we were in for and met the group we would be trekking with. We were very lucky to be part of a really lovely group of people. There were 12 hikers from the US, Belgium, Germany, Peru and Canada. Ages were early 20’s to mid-30’s and everyone had a great attitude. A couple of the boys had a really hard time with the altitude but everyone worked together to get everyone through the trip. They were so nice I think we will be staying in touch with lots of them.

Briefing over, we headed back for one last dinner with Amy and an early night to bed. Early didn’t quite happen as packing took awhile but at 5am we were up and out the door and off on our trek. Originally we wanted to do the Inca trail, but it is heavily regulated with limited permits per day and we were unable to get any. As a result we did the Lares trek, another traditional Inca trail but not ending at Machu Picchu.

It was, without a doubt, the hardest physical challenge I have ever given myself. The first day, we crossed two mountain passes, the first a climb from 3,600m to 4,2000m and the second a climb from 3,700 to 4,100m. The next day was even harder as the mountain pass was 4,600m! The third day saw us descend for over 1,000m. Going down might sound easier but believe me it was just as hard on the body. The paths were either rocky, loose shale, or soft dirt causing you to slide as you walked. Often they were next to drops of hundreds of feet and crossed waterways, meaning you had to balance on slippery rocks.

All of that would seem enough of a challenge, but we had a few more to help us on our way.

For Anna, the challenge on the first day was that she was still recovering from food poisoning and hadn’t been able to eat very much, so really had to call on every ounce of reserved energy. On day two, she woke feeling much better, only an hour later to be almost crippled with the worst period cramps she has ever experienced. We don’t know if the food poisoning or altitude exacerbated them, but whatever, they were truly horrible and I consider it an amazing act of courage that she managed to walk the whole trail without resorting to getting on the horse which a couple of the boys had to.

For me, I had the usual asthma issues and a pretty sore ankle after we ended the first day walking in the dark and I twisted it, but the main issue was that our lead guide took a shine to me and wasn’t keen on taking no for an answer. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say, he got nicknamed the octopus and I ended up being incredibly wary of being alone – even being in our tent on my own was not necessarily a safe place. But I looked after myself and he didn’t get away with much more than a few forced kisses before being put out in the cold. Anna and I have made an official complaint to the tour company so hopefully it won’t happen to anyone else.

Despite or perhaps because of our various challenges we are incredibly proud of our achievements over those three days.

The tour team (with the exception of the octopus) was also really lovely. It was amazing how they could get ahead of us and get camp set up before we arrived. They made amazing meals, usually 2-3 courses including baking bread and freshly making pizza! My favorite was the wonderful quinoa porridge they made for breakfast, it truly kept me going all day.

At the end of day three we met up with Amy again (who couldn’t hike because of her chest infection) and took the train to Agnes Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located. We had hot showers – bliss after the last few days (despite the altitude it gets really hot during the day so we were all sorely in need of showers) and dinner before heading to bed early. The idea was to get a good night’s sleep before we got up at 4am to get to Machu Picchu for the sunrise.

That may have been the idea, but there was a massive fiesta in town which went ALL night. Loudspeakers, music, fireworks, it didn’t make for the best night’s sleep, although I have to say I was so tired I slept through most of it. The biggest problem was despite our early start, by the time we got to the bus, there were already hundreds of people in line as none of them had slept either.

Still we made it up the mountain in time to be there at sunrise. It was a stunning experience, sitting high above the city and watching as the sun first hit the sacred plaza, then the sun dial before slowly lighting the whole city. Despite all we had seen and all the hype, Machu Picchu was as amazing as can be expected. It is just a stunning piece of engineering, perched high on the mountain top, although possibly more amazing is the building on top of Wanapicchu.

Wanapicchu is the mountain, shaped like a thumb that you will have seen in the back of all the famous photos of the city. Each day 400 people are allowed to climb it, and despite my major fear of heights Anna convinced me to go up. It is a difficult climb, rock steps often carved directly into the side of the mountain with a drop on the other side and no safety rail except the odd piece of rope – and yes people have died falling off it. On top there are all sort of Inca buildings but I will admit to by then being pretty much prone by a major panic attack. I did all I could to control it but there was no way I was getting to some of the places Anna climbed.

For Anna it was a major highlight of the trip, for me it was terrifying. I’m proud I did it but I can say with 100% certainty that it is never, ever happening again!

We came down (which was an adventure in itself), found Amy and explored the city more. It was never completed as the Spanish arrived in Cusco while it was still being constructed and it was abandoned by the Incas then, however the Spanish never found it so it is incredibly intact. The buildings are magnificent, the stone work stunning and the views, well breathtaking.

But it was also very hot up there, high 20’s at least so eventually the heat combined with the last few day’s activities wore us down and we headed back to Agnes Callientes where we had some lunch and a wander before getting the train and bus back to Cusco.

Yesterday Amy headed home early in the morning and Anna and I spent the day catching up on some much needed sleep, before heading out for a dinner of guinea pig – yes Jessica, I did eat one. They were surprisingly big, a huge meal and very delicious. They had been seasoned with rosemary, salt and olive oil then oven baked till crispy. There was quite a lot of fat in some places but the meat was tender. If I had to compare it to anything it would probably be quail, both in the taste and the hands on eating method. It seemed quite odd to be digging in with fingers and teeth in quite a posh restaurant!

We ended the day meeting up with the Canadian couple from our trek for a few pisco sours (the national drink of Peru) at the pub, it was lovely.

Today was our last day in Cusco. We met up with one of our guides from the trek (not the octopus) and he took us on a bit of a tour of the city as well as taking us to a local restaurant which was hidden down a lane behind a building. It was great and a really excellent way to wrap up our time in this beautiful city.

We have enjoyed our time here immensely. I still find it hard to comprehend that we really did hike all that way and that I have finally been to Machu Picchu. The last week has been simply fantastic!

Blog Update

Sorry for the delay in blog posts, we have been hiking through the Andes! Lots of adventures to report, will get an entry up as soon as we can.

Waiting, waiting, waiting and wow - what a nice city

At the crack of dawn yesterday morning we loaded up the packs once again and headed out of La Paz – well to La Paz airport anyway. There we joined a queue, a long queue, where we waited, occasionally inching forward. They announced our flight was pre-boarding while we were still miles away from the front, but we were told to stay in the line. We noticed other people had departure cards, so Anna found them and we filled them out, along with another form the airline gave us. We finally managed to check in, pay out airport tax (you have to pay tax just about every time you travel anywhere in Bolivia) and made our way through immigration. There we got our bags searched for drugs (no comments please, everyone got searched), stood in more queues for immigration. It all took so long that there was barely time for a loo break before we boarded.

An hour later and we landed in Cusco – and were greeted with another slowly crawling queue for Peru’s immigration. We finally got to the front – where we were told that we had the wrong forms and they made us and one other woman stand to the side while they processed the whole rest of the plane first. Finally the immigration woman produced the correct form – which she had sitting there all along. We filled it out and finally got out of the airport.

Once past the frustration of getting here, Cusco is a really lovely city. The center is filled with beautiful old buildings and all sorts of great shops. We have chosen to stay in a hotel so that we are really relaxed ahead of the trek. It is also really good for Amy. She is really quite unwell and won’t be trekking with us (although she does get us to join us for the day to Macchu Pichu) so it is great that she has somewhere nice, warm and complete with room service and cable TV.

We headed out and found a nice lunch then found our tour office and paid for the tour etc. By then Amy was fading fast so Anna took her back to the hotel and I went for a bit of a wander through the streets of Cusco. It was really nice.

Today Amy spent a quiet day at the hotel, hopefully starting to get better, while I introduced Anna to the fantastic array of shopping opportunities I had discovered last night. We had a great time wandering, bargaining, etc. We also managed to stock up on Amy’s preferred medications. Unlike in our countries where a script is required, here you just head into the chemist and request your desired antibiotic etc. It is really quite useful when traveling.

Anna and I also found one of the many massage places and had fantastic hour long massages for 30 Soles (about $15). They certainly managed to get well stuck into the knots.

Anna and I are really enjoying the city and hope that Amy will soon be able to join us.

Visiting Copacabana – the original

Yesterday we hoped on a bus and headed to Copacabana. Now I know what you are thinking – haven’t you already been there, and isn’t it a beach in Brazil? Well actually, the famous beach, which inspired the famous nightclub, which inspired the famous song, was actually named after a tiny town on the shore of Lake Titicaca. The significance of the town is its close proximity to the Isle de Sol (Island of the Sun) where the Incas believed they originated. So for Anna’s birthday we decided to head down there.

Copacabana is a 4 hour bus ride from La Paz on the southern end of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is huge, seriously it is really, really big. In places it is over 300m deep and when you are on it, you cannot see the other shore, it really feels like the ocean. It is so big the road can’t go around it so we had an amusing stop where we had to get off the bus, catch a ferry over and watch our bus, precariously and somewhat lopsidedly, come over on a barge.

Amazingly, this huge lake is just the remnant of a really truly massive lake. Several million years ago, a lake existed that covered most of Bolivia. The salt flats we visited in Southern Bolivia were created after the lake dried up!

We finally arrived at a (mostly) picturesque small town and after finding a place to spend the night and getting some much needed lunch, we found we were too late for the public ferry to the Isle de Sol. We found a private boat and tried to be able to go to the north of the island which we had heard was the best bit but there wasn’t even time for that so they said would take us to see the ruins at the south. We put-putted our way for 1.5 hours out to the island to arrive at a shear wall of land, with a set of stairs going up. It was there that the boat driver demanded more money, but we managed to convey that we had paid his boss the whole amount and he seemed ok with it – we just hoped he would be waiting for us when it was time to go back.

We were told to go up and they would meet us further south at “the temple ruins”. We headed up the seemingly endless set of stairs, which somewhat discouragingly kept turning towards the right, when we knew we had to somehow get to the left.

After various encounters with people selling souvenirs, donkeys, llamas, etc, we found a guy who could speak both English and Spanish who found us directions. We headed back the way we had come and found the goat track we needed to follow. Actually it was a sheep, donkey and llama track as we discovered as we made our way along it. We continued through an incredibly dry, dusty and boring landscape (although the view across the lake to the snow capped mountains was pretty special) until we finally saw our boat far, far below.

Between us and the boat was the “ruin of the temple”. It was pathetic, particularly the day after we had been to Tiwanaku. It may be old, but it just looked like an unkempt stone building. To add insult to injury, they made us pay to see it! We didn’t want to see it but it was the only way to the boat!

Finally we got back down and headed back the 1.5 hour trip to Copacabana. A little discouraged by the day, we decided to celebrate Anna’s birthday in style. When looking for a place to stay we had found a lovely looking hotel. Rooms were a bit pricey for us, but we went there for dinner and it was a fantastic meal. All of us loved our food and drinks so it was a very nice way to end the day.

Unfortunately Amy woke up very ill this morning. The return bus was a 1.30pm, so we spent a quiet morning making our way up the souvenir/handicrafts street and sitting in the sun eating popcorn. The popcorn here is really different. Honestly, each piece is at least 4 times the size of what we are used to. Of course, this being South America they pop it with some kind of sweet topping, but it isn’t too overwhelming and we enjoyed it.

Sitting for awhile afforded a great opportunity to do some people watching. For a reason we couldn’t figure out, heaps of the cars were decorated with fresh gladioli tied to the side mirrors and front grill – Dame Edna would be proud. Cholitas (the name for the Bolivian women in the traditional attire) bustled in all directions. They all carry things on their backs in kinds of sacks made from large square pieces of cloth (which they try to sell to us gringos as tablecloths). The contents could be the shopping, a load of potatoes, or more often than not, a child. They seem so efficient at carrying things that way.

Finally the bus came and we headed back to La Paz. I made friends with a nice American girl, Hannah who was sitting next to me on the bus and we all went and got Thai takeaway for dinner and brought it back to the hostel. If we were in Australia we probably wouldn’t consider it fantastic Thai, but after 4.5 weeks with no Asian flavours we loved it. Yesterday we also found salt and vinegar Pringles so a few of our cravings have been brought under control.

Amy headed up to bed and Anna and I went out to get some cash for the next few days when we saw one of the funniest sights – an off duty clown. He had taken off the hat, wig and nose but was still in the costume, complete with big floppy shoes as he wandered down the street munching on a snack. It made our night.

Bolivia has had its ups and downs, we have been freezing and hot, seen spectacular and boring sights but we have enjoyed it. Tomorrow we head to Peru!

Discovering the Tiwanaki

Most of you have probably heard of the Inca civilization which built Macchu Pichu etc. What I didn’t realize before I got here was that the Incas were only really around for about 300 years. How then, did they develop such advanced astronomy, pottery, building techniques etc. They had those because the Incas emerged from the remnants of an amazing civilization that over its 6 epochs lasted around 3,000 years – the Tiwanaki.

Before I got to Bolivia I had never heard of the Tiwanaki, and it isn’t really surprising. Most early finds about them were recorded and published as having been Inca, hence the confusion. In our various visits to museums etc we had been hearing more and more about the Tiwanaki so today we decided to head out to Tiwanaku, 19km from Lake Titicaca which is believed to have been the centre of their empire which at its height reached from northern Peru to the north of Chile and Argentina and across into sub-tropical Bolivia.

We decided to go on a tour so we could properly understand the site which was a great idea because we had a fantastically knowledgeable guide. We jumped on a bus with about 25 other people mostly from Germany, Brazil and a couple of other Kiwis and took the 1.5 hour ride out to the site.

It is a HUGE site, although most of it is yet to be excavated. The main pyramid for example was 200mx200m making it second only in the world to the great pyramid at Giza. It was not as high, only 7 levels (a mystical number for the Tiwanaki) and so far indications indicate that it was used to calculate extremely accurate astronomical calculations. They have amazing calendars indicating their complete understanding of the solar year and their worship of the sun. It is believed that their skills in astronomy and mathematics far exceeded those of the Incas.

We started with a couple of museums. The first explained many of the pottery finds they have made on the site, as well as aspects of the culture including food and things like how the high born shaped their heads to have elongated skulls, similar to how several other cultures around the world also do. It was a really good start to understand the complexity of their skills and knowledge.

The second museum is under construction and will eventually house monuments from the diggings to preserve them against the weather etc. Right now you can only see one, but he is the largest monolith found so far. At over 6m tall, he was carved from a single piece of red sandstone. Unfortunately after his discovery he was taken to La Paz where he initially stood in a plaza and then in front of the football stadium. During that time, he suffered major damage from bullets during riots when people hid behind him to get away from the army and then also regularly had bottles smashed on him following home team losses at the football. The last 70 years have done more damage to him than the preceding hundreds of years since he was found.

From there we headed to the archeological site. As I mentioned they have only uncovered a fraction of what is there but you can see how impressive it must have been. What remains is probably only about 30% of the original. When the Spaniards arrived they tried to destroy the pagan culture (by then Tiwanaku had been taken over by the Incas who used it for ceremonial rather that astronomical purposes). They destroyed monoliths and carted away much of the stone to build their own city. If you can see a church in the background of some of the photos it was built with stone from the site. Where they couldn’t destroy monoliths due to the hardness of the stone, they carved in Christian symbols and then covered much of the site with soil. The rest of the site was covered over by a major flood later on.

As well as the pyramid, we saw a temple. It has all sorts of amazing features but one of the coolest is these holes carved in the walls which are shaped like a human ear. Someone speaking on the outside of the temple is hugely amplified into the temple. It also had two major gates, the moon gate which is still in the right position and a sun gate which has been moved as an English Lord in the late 1800s attempted to take it back to England but was disrupted when a war with Chile broke out.

Next to the temple is another construction, this one quite deep in the ground. It was here that the giant monolith was found and all around the edges are carvings of faces. It is believed that this has something to do with their belief in the underworld where the dead went.

After lunch we went to another site where due to lack of funds excavation has been abandoned. It contains stones which weigh hundreds of tones. The site is theorized as being a port as the lake would have been higher in those days.

Of course the massive weight of the stones, the distance they were transported and the amazing precision with which they are carved (some of the lines would be hard to achieve with modern machinery) have led to lots of speculation about extra-terrestrial assistance. Who knows, but however they built it, it is an amazing site and we had a really fascinating day discovering the Tiwanaki.

Back in the thermals

Today we had to bid farewell to the lovely warm temperatures of Rurrenabaque (as well as all that delicious oxygen) and return to La Paz.

Before we left we got a good breakfast at our hostel and due to the airline working on Bolivian time got the opportunity to have a small wander around town. Our gorgeous tour guide Ivan, came and met us on his day off to make sure we got to the airline office fine and also take us to the Bala tours office and give us a CD with more information about the birds and animals we had seen. I should explain that one of the reasons we chose Bala tours is that they work closely with the local indigenous communities of the region, providing ecologically sustainable jobs which is incredibly important in such an area of natural diversity.

Once we had our tickets, we read for awhile then the bus turned up. We got out to the airport and waited a little longer. Eventually the plane landed, disgorged its passengers and we headed on. Landing on the grass runway was one thing, taking off was a whole new experience. It really felt like we were never going to get off the ground as we bounced along, then when we did, we had the steepest accent I have ever experienced in a plane. Heading back through the mountains we hit some major turbulence and the plane went up, down and side to side. The landing was equally as exciting as we skidded a bit on the tarmac.

We collected our bags and headed back to the hostel. We have had a quiet afternoon ahead of a busy day tomorrow and to also to adjust to the altitude again. Tonight we are going to watch DVD’s. They are burnt copies but our passports were required to hire them from the hostel!

Mud between the toes – 7 July 2009

After another great night’s sleep in the jungle (although the creatures in the roof, not sure if they were bats or mice were quite noisy) we had a bit of a rude awakening as they had to fire up the generator to pull water up from the river for the showers and toilets. Loud mechanical noise just seems so alien in such a natural paradise.

After breakfast we were back in the canoe, but not for long. We headed a little way downstream then got out and after a short walk though waist length grass emerged on a road which runs between the flood plains. With pools of swampy water on either side, we were looking for anaconda.

Originally we thought we might have had to wade through the swamps ourselves but they are full of caiman and given it is the dry season, they are a bit agro, so the guides aren’t going to let you do that. The aim (and hope) is that you manage to see an anaconda as they come up to the road edge to sun themselves. It was really hot and humid walking along the road, and Amy wasn’t feeling great, so after about an hour we found her a shady tree and continued on. We went for about a further 20 minutes before turning back, collecting her and returning.

We saw a heap of stick-acondas, a few pipe-acondas but unfortunately no anacondas. It was a great walk though and we saw heaps of birds that we hadn’t seen previously as well as lots of caiman including a whole group of baby ones.

We headed back to the lodge, showered and were served the most massive lunch I have ever seen. Seriously, it rivaled Christmas! We got: fried chicken, beef schnitzel, beef stirfry, rice, mashed potato, boiled potato, salad, lasagna and when we couldn’t move, jelly. It was immediately followed by the evaluation forms for the tour which made us laugh!

We then relaxed as we waited for the time to come to head back to town. An older German lady had been staying there and in some confusion she seemed to take our jeep, but it was bad karma because just as she would have been in the canoe on the way to the car, the heavens opened and we had a true tropical downpour. She would have been soaked – just like the staff and guests playing soccer on the small pitch they have. One would have thought that they would have come in, but there was a bet with a bottle of coke as a prize so pride was on the line. In the end it was a draw and they were all absolutely covered in mud from head to toe.

The rain did stop and we had to leave. We were so sad, it has been really, truly relaxing and lovely, probably the most “holiday” part of the trip to date. We got back in the canoe and headed to the jeep. Now remember I mentioned when we arrived we came down a steep bank, well we now had to go up it and it was mud! The kind of mud slide that as a kid you would have loved to slide down on your belly into a river. Well we took off our shoes (luckily we were all in flip flops) and dug our toes in. Helped by the guides we all made it to the top but our feet had some pretty nice mud treatments!

We washed them and got in the car back to Rurrenabaque. It was real 4-wheel driving to get back, the roads were choppy and slick with sticky mud, I can’t imagine how they manage in the wet season. They are working on improving them which basically seems to involve tipping loads of river stones over the top which they grade and then the cars push in.

We made it to Rurrenabaque just after dark. You can tell it is the main centre from the paved roads. Some are concrete, others are river stones, painstakingly laid and mortared into place. Our hostel for the night, The Oriental, was lovely with a big courtyard full of mosaic paving and hibiscus flowers. We headed out almost straight away to find dinner and went to the place that Ivan had recommended, Camila’s. Food was good, cocktails were great and the restaurant cat came and joined us at the table to keep us company!

After that we decided we did want a bit of a night out so went a few doors down to the Monkey Bar, which couldn’t be much more different from the one in Canberra if they tried. From the thatched roof, carved wooden decorations and anaconda skin stretched across the roof, it was very cute. We had a few drinks, and they were playing some good music so had a bit of a boogie too – just the three of us! We really weren’t drunk but it is amazingly liberating to just dance your heart out when you know you are never going to see those people again!

Our three days in the Amazon have been amazing. Not only have the sights we have seen been wonderful, the people have been lovely and it has been so incredibly nice being warm again!!!! Our feet in particular have enjoyed a few days out of boots in flip flops, we wish we could stay for a week but tomorrow we are back to La Paz and the cold.

Swimming with Dolphins - 6 July 2009

We all slept incredibly well in our warm, jungle lodge last night and woke to a breakfast of fresh pancakes. After breaky, we headed back out on the river, this time heading upstream.

Over the next few hours we saw many caiman, birds of all sorts and lots of turtles from ones the size of a child’s palm to serving platter size (and I’m sure in the past they have been serving platters!). Quite often we saw them swimming along, their little heads poking up above the river, but more often we saw groups of them clustered on tree branches in the sun. It is hilarious to see them piled up, they can’t climb very far up the branch but there are obviously popular branches as turtle pile-ups occur.

There were also lots of pink river dolphins, but swimming was to be later on in the day, we were searching for monkeys! Not too long after we set out we found our first family of yellow squirrel monkeys. When I was a child, my family sponsored these at the Taronga Zoo, so it was a huge thrill to see them in the wild. They were incredibly cute, moving through the trees and even coming right down to the water to drink.

We continued on, still on the monkey hunt, and eventually stopped right in at the river bank so that we could have a loo break. However, there was also another family of squirrel monkeys in the trees at the same spot. They were very curious about us coming so very close to the bank – one even came on the boat! He ran right along the side inspecting us to see if we had any food on offer (which of course we didn’t, but apparently unscrupulous guides do feed them which is really bad for them).

As we headed back down river Anna managed to spot a solitary black howler monkey. Our guide was a bit disappointed not to have been able to show us more but such is life.

We arrived back at the swimming hole and there were a group of dolphins there, so I headed into the water. The water is a muddy brown colour so you can’t see very far into it and there were caiman all around the banks and piranha in the river, but I didn’t care, when else am I going to get the chance to swim with pink river dolphins in South America. I will admit to not feeling entirely comfortable however as I headed over the side!

Amy and Anna decided to bravely take photos of me from the boat!

The water was really nice and the dolphins came within a about 1.5 meters of me, although the water is so muddy I could only see them when they broke the surface, but it was a bit boring swimming about on my own and the girls were keen to get back for lunch so I only stayed in for about 5 minutes. The girls should have come in though because about 10 minutes later the heavens opened and the rain poured down so they were as wet as me. It got pretty cold as we headed back, but lunch was waiting so we were soon dry and warm again.

After a mid-afternoon snooze (for me and Amy, Anna read and wrote in her diary) we headed back out on the river to catch our dinner – piranha! Ivan took us to a couple of fishing spots before we started to catch fish. Amy caught the first and biggest piranha and in the end the tally was:

Amy – 2 piranha, 1 sardine (which was thrown back)
Anna – 2 piranha, 1 sardine and 1 tiger fish (both thrown back)
Lisa – 1 piranha, 1 sardine (thrown back)

I seemed to be much better at letting the fish eat all of the meat off the hook, rather than actually catching them which didn’t bother me at all – especially as they aren’t into the quick kill here, once Ivan took them off the hook (we weren’t allowed to touch them as they have such sharp teeth) they were just chucked in the bottom of the boat.

Dinner was spaghetti (really good) but we also got to each eat one of the piranha, crispy fried. They tasted really great but Amy couldn’t eat hers after catching it herself.

After dinner we headed back out on the river and went torchlight spotting of the caiman. It was fun spotting their red eyes glinting in the torchlight and we even managed to see some green spider eyes and a few fireflies.

Today has been just brilliant and so relaxing, I simultaneously can’t believe we have only been here for a day and a half and that tomorrow is the last day.

Once more in a t-shirt - 5 July 2009

I write this sitting on my bed, shrouded by soft folds of mosquito net, listening to crickets, bats, geckos - the sounds of the jungle, wearing a t-shirt. Yes I can even blog in the jungle! This morning we left La Paz and headed down several thousand meters to Rurrenbaque – the gateway to the Pampas region, one of the most accessible parts of the Amazon.

Just getting here was a bit of an ordeal however. Last night we got word that due to rain yesterday in Rurrenbaque, flights had been delayed, so our 8.40am flight was now at 9.40am. This caused a bit of concern as it would delay the tour and we knew we were on a public tour, so were concerned about holding others up. But the tour company said it was fine.

We decided to get to the airport reasonably early, just in case the flight changed back again, only to see on the board that our flight was only due to leave at 2.30pm!!! Luckily this was a remnant from the previous day’s delays, but our flight had been delayed again anyway. Over the next few hours we ate breakfast and waited, occasionally visiting the counter to find our flight had been pushed back even further. We also rang the tour operator who seemed ok with our delays but we were a bit concerned about the message getting through due to phones cutting out and language issues. The final concern was that we may end up not landing at Rurrenabaque, but a town nearby, it was all a bit of a stress.

Finally, however, at 11.40am, we boarded a tiny, 20 seater aircraft and headed off. It really was small, we could watch the pilots! There wer no seat numbers, you just cramed into one of the seats down the side of the plane and hoped for the best. We took off over La Paz, heading through the mountains – not over them, we flew between the snow covered peaks. I have to say, memories of the film “Alive” did spring to mind. Around 30 minutes later we descended through cloud, around now tree covered mountains and landed on the tiny grass runway of Rurrenabaque. It really did feel rather James Bond-esqe in the setting.

It reminded both Anna and me of Cairns, with the lush tropical forest, the mountains rising steeply behind the town and the humidity. The temperature is wonderful, mid to high 20’s, such a relief after the last few weeks of freezing cold. We were met by our tour guide Ivan (not even slightly Russian despite the name - he is actually from the indigenous tribe which traditionally live in that area) and got into a Pajero for the 4 hour trip to the lodge. Luckily we were the only people starting a tour today so we didn’t disadvantage any other travelers by being so late. Compared to some of the roads we have used recently it was a fine ride, although in keeping with recent experience we did blow a tire at one point.

We finally stopped by a river and headed down the very steep bank into a long canoe. It was a short ride up the river to our lodge but in that time we spotted numerous caiman and lots of birds. Despite the fact that it was 4pm, they served us a wonderful cooked lunch of a kind of beef stew with rice, then Ivan took us out on the river for some wildlife spotting before it got dark. With only about an hour available to us we saw caiman, many types of birds, turtles, capybara (world’s largest rodent, looks like a dog sized guinea pig) and pink river dolphins. It was incredibly exciting. It was getting dark as we headed home and we even managed to see a firefly or two which I loved.


Just after we returned we had a brief tropical downpour. The air smells amazing, so fresh and clean and scented with wonderful jungle flowers. After a great dinner (I can tell the food is going to be amazing for the next few days) we had showers which we shared with the local frogs. It is just river water, but cold showers when it is in the mid 20's and high humidity are fine.

I think we are all utterly enchanted by this place (and are so very happy to be warm again) it is going to be an amazing few days.

Getting Smashed in La Paz

When I last wrote we were about to get on a bus from Uyuni to La Paz. It was an 8 hour overnight bus ride and we were hoping to get some sleep. On first inspection, the seats seemed nice and roomy, so that it might be possible to sleep. We even got served a half decent meal.

Amy felt so comfortable, she took a sleeping tablet. This combined with the intense tiredness of the last few weeks made Amy somewhat delirious, actually it was like she was intensely drunk. As we started to leave she decided to go to the toilet (I do have permission to tell this story by the way). The bus began rocking and rolling and Amy’s first issue was staying on the toilet. The window was also open so she was also waving to people as they went by. Next issue arose as Amy tried to get re-dressed. She managed to get her undies on, started pulling up her thermals when a big bump bounced her against the door which she had forgotten to lock. She bounced out, basically into the astonished laps of a couple of guys in the backseat! Resurrecting her dignity she returned to us, raving slightly incoherently about the adventure that had been.

We expected at least Amy to be able to sleep after this, but then people started putting their seats back, causing everyone else to do the same and the space between the back of the chair and the next seat was not enough for a grown human leg, well at least a western grown human leg! Add to that the Bolivian roads. La Paz is the capital, Uyuni is the capital of a major province. The road linking them is constantly corrugated, to the point where your skin starts to itch like you have had a massage (not that it feels like a massage) and the bus has to be stopped every now and then to check for mechanical stability!

Anyway, we got to La Paz at about 5.30am and made it to our hostel. We were really lucky in that our room was ready so we went straight up and crashed out for all the morning. We emerged to eat some lunch, find an ATM, catch up on some email and have dinner, before crashing again.

Today we were up for a bit more action. After a slowish start we headed out to find a museum of gold antiquities. We headed up the hill. For those of you who don’t know anything about La Paz, it is built in an incredibly steep valley. The poorer you are, the higher you live (i.e. at the higher altitude) but everywhere you go, you go up and down stairs. It is really hard to describe just how vertical this city is, and being at 3,600m (given the steepness of the city I’m not sure where they take this measurement) it is hard work walking about.

We found the museum and there was a bit of confusion about how to get in, so first we went to a museum of musical instruments. It was actually really fascinating! It even had a mummy in it, and many instruments which fit the description “blow your own trumpet”!! We enjoyed it a lot, although the birds in their really cute little house in the courtyard (some kind of parrot) were a highlight.

From there we went though a couple of other random museums till we got to the metal museum which was great. The various crowns, pins, coins, earrings of the Inca and Tiwinaki (a tribe who were very predominant in this area prior to the Inca for hundreds of years) etc were fascinating and beautiful.

We headed to find some lunch and found a really cute place but it was only serving drinks so we each had a juice then headed to find some more food. We stopped on the way to find toilet paper and tissues and were headed to a bakery we had seen previously when I got hit by a truck.

At this point I should tell you a bit about Bolivian traffic. It runs to rules which are invisible to us, on roads with no line markings or few signs, however we have figured out when it is safe to cross roads. I was standing well inside the pavement when a truck mounted the pavement and I got hit in the back of the head with the side mirror. This spun me into the door handle which caught me square in the middle of the back before Anna pulled me out of the way before the sharp corner of the truck’s tray could get me. Amy reckons he took a good foot off the pavement so I was lucky not to get a foot run over.

I was initially a bit shaken but am fine. It is a mystery to all of us as to how he didn’t see us, as I am roughly twice the height of many people here. I kid you not, I keep walking past women who quite literally come up to my waist and most men don’t even make it to my shoulder.

Anyway, we found the bakery (see I really was fine, I was still focused on food) and got some lunch. We headed back to our hostel and could hear band music playing. We had been there a little while when I looked out the window and saw a procession going by a street up. We headed up to the fourth floor (you have no idea how exhausting it is sprinting two floors at altitude) but Anna and I decided we wanted a close up view, so we took off up the street. The procession was great, a brass band with heaps of groups of dancers. There were men in masks, ladies in full skirts, younger women in tiny outfits you would more expect to see in the Philippines. At each street the police cut off the traffic, it was all a bit chaotic but great. As far as we could work out it was a parade in support of the electrical workers union, but it is hard to figure it all out.

Amy had a bit of a nap in the afternoon, Anna and I have been planning our trip to Cuzco in a week or so, and have spent the afternoon in the bar which is very warm and comfortable (we haven’t been drinking all the time – really). Tomorrow we are off to the Amazon.

Blog Update

Hi All,

We have been offline as we toured around south western Bolivia, but I have kept blogging, even if I couldn´t post them. To catch up with the adventures start with the post ¨Horsing about town¨.

I hope you are all happy, health and enjoying our adventures.

Love,

Lisa :)

Salt Lakes Tour - Day 4

After getting to bed after 11pm, not having had a good night´s sleep since the tour started, we weren´t thrilled about the idea of getting up at 5am. But get up we did.

We were quickly in the car, and on the road. It was so cold that our breath froze on the inside of the car windows, so our driver and guide kept having to scrape the ice off the INSIDE of the windscreen!!!

We arrived in the middle of the salt flats about 5 minutes before sunrise and boy was it hard getting out of the car (Anna and Amy didn´t) but I´m really glad I did. It was simply stunning. Hopefully when I get a chance to add some photos to the blogs (we have been only able to use Internet cafes recently) you will get some idea, but really, despite being so cold it felt like my toes were going to fall off, it was a wonderful experience.

The salt flats are the largest in the world, to give you some idea of scale, you could fit Hong Kong in them 10 times over. We went from the spot we had watched the sun rise to an island in the middle of the salt flats which is covered in giant cactuses, some over 900 years old. We walked to the top, then came down for breakfast.

After food, we headed out into the middle of the white and took some fab photos which play with perspective. They really are great, come back in a few days and hopefully I will have them up.

Our final stop was a small town where I bought my first Alpaca item, a scarf, for the equivellent of $A7. It is lovely, and importantly, warm! We had lunch then made the final trip to Uyuni. We are getting a bus to La Paz from here tonight, so to fill in time we found a hostel and had showers - our first since we left Tupiza. It was one of the grottiest showers I have ever been in (thank god for thongs - jandles for you in NZ) but the water was warm and it is wonderful to feel clean, rather than dust crusted.

The tour was great. At the beginning Archie told us it was Adventure Tourisim, to be positive and to be flexible. We have lived by each of those and at times have been freezing and frustrated but overall, it has been a really great 4 days.

Salt Lakes Tour - Day 3

We had to be up and ready by 8am even though it was unlikely the car would arrive before 10am, so after we had packed and eaten breakfast, we headed out into the sun to try to get warm. Best estimates put last night at something less than minus 10 degrees.

The kids of the area quickly swarmed around and we played games with them. First we taught them ¨Twinkle Twinkle Little Star¨and then Ïncy Wincy Spider¨then we played hopscotch (which they already knew), had piggy back races and kicked around an empty bottle. It was then that Anna suggested we play Duck, duck, goose - but they had their own version, llama, llama, alpaca! It was so cute, we had a brilliant time. Anna, Amy and I ended up sitting in the sun with the smallest ones on our laps while Nida and Matt played a kind of skittles game with the kids.

As you might have guessed from all these activities, 10am had come and gone with no sign of the car. Archie told us it looked like we would have to spend another night there, so we had lunch, unsuccessfully tried to light the fire with damp dried moss (which is what they burn) and anything else to hand, then rugged up to read in bed.

At 3pm the car arrived, having been fixed overnight, and Archie told us we were going on. We quickly packed up and first stop was the red lagoon. This is where the flamingos breed in Summer, but even being winter, there were flamingos to be seen. The red colour of the lake is due to the plankton in the water which is what the flamingos eat, and also what gives them their red colour. It was really exciting to see them, although it was incredibly windy and pretty cold by then.

We continued on past a few more lagoons, including one where we got quite close to young flamingos (they were still grey) and saw several volcanos etc. The scenery is rather spectacular, although Anna couldn´t help comparing the sight of lagoons and volcanos to New Zealand and found she really rather prefers home.

The original plan had been to take a road which would be a bit easier on the newly repaired car, however it was much longer and it was getting late so we went the tricky route. This meant at one stage we had to walk down a rocky hillside in the dark, went through a small salt flat and ghost town in the dark, and generally missed out on seeing a big chunk of countryside.

We couldn´t make it all the way to the accomodation originally destined for us, so we got into our alternate accomodation at about 9.30pm. They served us up a fantastic meal - at about 10.30pm - but by then we were all too tired and cold to enjoy it. Add to that, we have to get up at 5am tomorrow to see the sun rise over the salt flats and we are not really happy campers.

It was lovely playing with the kids this morning and they especially loved it because the tourists never stay around long enough to do that, and the flamingos were great but the rest of the day has been a bit of a let down.

Salt Lakes Tour – Day Two

At dinner last night (a huge meal of soup followed by llama schnitzel, potatoes and salad), Archie our guide broke the news that not only was it likely to be minus 10 overnight, we had to get up at 5am. Thrilled by this news we went straight to bed – and all lay there awake. In the middle of the night, Amy made a midnight dash to the toilet. Anna followed with warm jackets etc and she was ok. We think it was an altitude related issue.

We had a bit of a delayed start due to the alarm not going off, but dressed quickly due to the cold. After breakfast we jumped in the truck (knee blankets in hand) and headed off. First stop was the ruins of a Spanish settlement founded in 16th century. It was absolutely freezing!!!! But really interesting, it was founded there to mine silver and the ruins were great. In them we saw these cute creatures. Related to the chinchilla, they look like big rabbits with long tails.

As soon as we could we got back in the truck. I was so cold my fingers were incredibly painful.
Next up was the white lagoon, the first of a series of lagoons, the stinky lagoon, the soap lagoon and the green lagoon. They are all named after the properties they get from the various minerals in the lake. In summer this is where the flamingos come, but of course being winter there are none around. What there are is vicunas they are like small llamas and have incredibly soft wool, but they are protected here in the national parks.

We were heading towards lunch and most of us were nodding off when we came to a screaming stop. Anna heard something and though we had blown a tire but when we got out we discovered the front axel had broken! We were incredibly lucky that they driver (Marty – we love him) could stop us safely, it must have been so close to flipping and given none of us were wearing seatbelts, I was in the middle and there wasn’t even a seatbelt to be had, we would have been in big trouble.

Luckily the tours travel in a kind of convoy and we were in the middle so it wasn’t long till another truck came by. Our guide jumped in their truck and headed to the next town to get help. We helped Marty jack up the truck by carting big rocks over in the driving wind.
Archie was soon back with another truck which we loaded with our stuff. Marty has jerry rigged the truck and is getting it fixed at a borax refinery tonight and will pick us up tomorrow.

We headed to lunch which was at a hot spring. Matt, Nida and Amy got into swimmers and dived in but Anna and I couldn’t face getting changed in the freezing cold so we just dangled our legs. Anna unfortunately also managed to dangle her track pants so needed a change of pants as well!

After lunch we continued on to the various lagoons, saw the Dali desert which resembles the rocks in his paintings Melting Clocks and The Metamorphosis of Narcissus then saw some boiling mud. As most of us have been to Rotorua it wasn’t too impressive.

Finally we arrived at our accommodation for the night. It is a big domintary type building, although our group has its own room. Tonight we have been told it could get to minus 25 – mmmm, looking forward to that. Luckily Archie can make empty 2L water bottles into hot water bottles so we should be ok, but I’m already blowing steam as I type this in the room.

We have a later start tomorrow as Marty is coming back for us in the repaired truck so at least we will be spared getting up super early. Still having a brilliant time though.

Salt Lakes Tour – Day 1

We had a few issues getting our tour paid for, so were slightly concerned this morning about if we were on it or not, but sure enough we were. There had also been some issues about having an English speaking guide and they wanted us to pay extra but we were able to prove they had never told us of extra costs, so we have one without payment. We paid, collected our packs which were loaded on top of a 4 wheel drive and met the other people coming on our tour, Matt and Nida. They are both from Perth (Nida from Germany originally) and are really lovely.

We set off out of Tupiza and up into the hills. It was pretty cramped in the back of the truck but we were fine. Just outside of Tupiza we came across a really lovely sight, a caravan of donkeys being driven down to town. They were beautifully decorated, with little tassels on their ears and big lumps of salt on their backs. The caravan was at the end of a 3 month journey from the salt flats in the highlands, they bring the salt down to Tupiza, along with herbs that come from the highlands to sell, then make the journey back. It was a real treat seeing them.

Our first stop was this hugely high point where you could see the Valley of the Moon. It was amazingly weathered, a stunning sight!

From there we continued along really high mountain passes, we have spent most of the day at over 3,500m and are staying at 4,220m tonight. Our highest spot was 4,500m!

We stopped for lunch in a small town. It is all mud brick and thatch roof but solar powered (PV of course but I took a photo for you Dad). As we arrived they were sending out a herd of goats. After they had left, another herd, this time of kids (baby goats, not children) accompanied by a puppy were sent out. They were training it to herd goats, very cute!!!

We had lunch, tamales, which are made of a kind of corn meal dough wrapped around llama meat flavoured with chili and pepper. They are steamed inside corn husks and taste fantastic. We also had rolls filled with cheese, ham and salad. It was great.

After lunch we played soccer with some of the local kids. Dad you will be pleased to know that your lessons paid off and after a couple of practice air kicks, I managed to stop the ball and kick it back quite effectively. While we were playing the oldest little boy suddenly stopped and took off at a run. The kid goats had got on the roof of one of the houses (they are sort of built into the hillside) and were eating the thatch. He chased them off but it was incredibly cute.

We continued on, but not long later we blew a tire. I heard it go and we pulled over. While we were waiting the radio was left on so Anna and I did a bit of ceroc in the desert. It is hard though, dancing on rock and lose soil at altitude.

Our next stop was when we came around a corner and saw a ute which had its back tire out over a ravine. It was mid afternoon and they had been there since last night which must have been freezing. Another tour was just behind us so the drivers, guides and all the guys from the tours got in and helped them lift it out. The women of the tours contributed by clapping and taking photos, we were a big help. They got clear, but hopefully they continued ok because they had kept themselves warm last night by drinking.

We drove on for several hours through some great landscapes. It was beautiful, but very cold. Even in the sun (which is really hot when you are in the car) there are big ice sheets in the creeks. At one of the river flats there were some girls selling things made out of llama wool. Amy and I each got a beanie with ear flaps and Anna got a headband/ear warmer. They also had ostrich feather gloves which were really soft and interesting but we doubted we could get them home through quarantine.

Finally we arrived at our accommodation for the night. It is a little local place, room is ok but it will be absolutely freezing, thank god for thermals and sleeping bags. We have donned our thermals, had a lovely cup of tea (getting to the end of our Twinnings English Breakfast) and are awaiting dinner while the guides fix the tire. It has been a great day.

Horsing about town

Amy woke up with a migraine today. We think it had been brewing for awhile but the altitude change probably didn’t help. As a result, after breakfast she went back to bed.

Anna and I headed over to our tour operator for the salt lakes tour which is starting tomorrow to finalise things. We have to go back later tonight to pay as they were still waiting on the last people to confirm and the price changes depending on numbers. While there we also changed some of our US dollars into Boliviarios. Tupiza is really a small town and there are no ATMs at all or any banks open on a Sunday!

We then headed off on our horse ride. It was a real pity Amy missed out because it was great fun, just me, Anna, our guide who looked maybe 12 years old and our horses. Anna’s horse was nice and placid, mine was a bit of a bolter! Also according to Anna who was mostly behind me, my horse was a farter. Unlike trail rides in Australia or NZ there were no waivers to sign, no helmets to wear (when I can put up photos you will see we did get great leather gaucho hats) and the minute we were off the road we were cantering. Given the length of time it has been since I’ve been on a horse I thought I managed ok, although it wasn’t very graceful and I will admit to holding on the saddle a bit!

Our tour took us up to some major landmarks, the devils gate and the Inca canyon. Both are pretty spectacular rock formations but after the amazing landscape around Salta they weren’t that brilliant. At the canyon we got off our horses and walked up for a bit to take photos and do a quick strip off of thermals away from prying eyes as the day had got nice and warm. It was lovely. We met another tour group including a girl who had decided she didn’t like her horse and wanted to walk back. Now we had been riding for about 1.5 hours at this point and the tracks we took were intersected with many varied other options so Anna and I didn’t think she was making a wise decision, but we have seen her in town so she did make it.

We left the canyon, this time with my horse third and started another canter. The path was wide so my horse decided this was his opportunity to bolt to the front! It was a pretty wild ride but I stayed on, kind of got him under control (I think he was just happy to be at the front) and everyone caught up. From then on he looked for any opportunity to get away so I had an interesting time keeping him on the straight and narrow.

The trail got a bit more interesting from there. We had a couple of small jumps over eroded channels, up and down some steep trails and through quite dense scrub. The bushes are covered with long thorns and there are lots of cactuses, both the tall, many armed ones as well as low groundcover ones. Unfortunately there is lots and lots and lots of rubbish everywhere. Just think of one of our national parks filled with old garbage and stray dogs. Towards the end of the ride we came across an old, traditionally dressed woman driving a huge herd of goats. It was really cute as they wandered along eating anything and everything and with tiny little kids crying out for their mums.

In that section, we passed a couple of dogs who barked as us. As we headed up onto the road however, they tore after Anna’s horse barking and biting at him. Anna kept him under control really well as our guide raced back to hold them off. We picked up some speed to get away but they were really tenacious, chasing after us and trying to get to the horses with our guide in between for blocks. It was a fairly exciting end to a really fun morning.

By the time we got back Amy was feeling lots better so we had a nice lunch and then a wander about the town. We were pretty tired by then, so we ended up sitting on the curb in the sun opposite our hostel watching two very cute little dogs managing their patch of turf from a door stoop. Since then we have had showers as last night all the pipes froze so we are not planning on being able to have showers in the morning before we head off to the salt lakes.