My trip

I am sure anyone who is reading this is well aware of one of my main motivations for travelling to South America. To catch up with Spike. I had originally planned a trip to teach/volunteer in South East Asia, as I have a TEFL certificate (not to say I am not still interested in the possibility of doing that – I am still planning on at least 3 months in South East Asia). So I thought it was about time I shared how I have been dealing with joining the boys on their trip over the last six weeks.

My time here in South America and the general journey had been set for me, as once I decided to come the boys (Spike and Dave) had well and truly set the time frame for South America. They had flights into Lima and two and a half months later out of Rio. This has left me a little bit floundering trying to find my place and where I fit in the decision making and coming to make parts of the journey ‘mine’ as well as ‘tagging along’ on their trip.

The journey evolves over time and I am slowly becoming more involved in the decision making. Starting to feel more confident to share my thoughts on desired destinations along the way towards Rio.

Spike and I spent a few days by ourselves at the beginning of my trip and then a week just recently when Dave took a different journey to us. We travel quiet slowly and relaxed when there is the two of us and I am more inclined to be involved helping choose where to go or what to do. It is a slow process finding my feet.

Interesting things are happening in Bolivia at the moment. The Dutch guy who runs this camping ground we are now in has warned us that the fuel price was doubled overnight a couple of days ago by the government and as a result prices for everything had gone up significantly and apparently a strike is on the way. Could be an interesting few days.

The weather has hit home good. So much rain = not much fun camping. This morning there was also a visitor between the tent and fly. A scorpion.

Breakfast at the hostel (before we decided to go camping!). Got to love it when breki is included.

Christmas in Samipata

Went up another big Jesus in Cochabamba. It wasn’t as impressive as San Cristobel, by far. But we did get to walk up the inside of it.

A trip to Samipata was in order Christmas time. It is a lovely quiet (and very beautiful) place with a population of 3000, but with everything you could really need. A fantastic market with all the essentials, pharmacy, restaurants and even a karaoke bar. Our first hotel was run by an interesting Dutch character. Pretty grumpy and convinced we were going to cause trouble from the minute we arrived. Not only that, but he is one of those people who think they are ecologically high and mighty. Although, in reality, their knowledge is limited... and he smokes.... such an unpolluting act :l

Christmas day contained an early morning wake and a bunch of chocolate from Spike (Him, Dave and I made a consumables only deal for gifts). It included pretzel M&M’s, which were similar to crunchy ones, but have the salty/sweetness of chocolate covered pretzels. Delish.

We had a BBQ in a park on Christmas afternoon. We borrowed a grill from where we have been staying and brought some carbon. It was good fun. Made it feel a bit more like Christmas and made the food that much more tasty as it was a long process to get to eating! An old lady came past while the boys were trying to get the coals started and she started collected sticks for us, it was really cute.

I tried to call mum on Christmas eve (NZ xmas), the line was really bad though. She was surprised I think, which was nice. Another frustrating fact of Bolivia. But it is worth it to be out of the city and in Samipata. I haven’t heard from Dad and Lisa is a while, hopefully they are getting my emails.

Spike also got a bunch of fireworks, as this town has gone crazy for them. Apparently they are for sale up until the new year. I brought him a few for Christmas. It was fun trying to ask the kids helping sell them about what the different ones did. Especially a little roster one with the fuse out its bum...a little boy made some impressive sound effects to explain this one to me. There was one really awesome rocket. By far the best home firework I have ever seen. Awesome explosion.

Salar de Uyuni

There is an interesting thing which appears to go on in the backpacker world. It is a world where the more you suffer, the more kudos you earn. Take for example the LONG horrible bus rides. These are something which you often hear fellow backpackers bragging about, or frowning upon those who take flights or trains. These long bus rides give the backpacker kudos among others and somehow seems to present a more ‘real’ or ‘better’ experience in many other backpackers eyes.  Personally I don’t really get it. The bus rides suck. There is no shame in taking a flight and not losing a full day of travel on some horrible bus ride where you don’t do anything (obviously you are not more connected with local culture by sleeping on a bus for 12 hours). 

I got what I am assuming is a Spider bite on the third night in La Paz. It got a bit nasty, but is finally starting to clear up. It is weird, like nothing I have had before. It itched and burned for that first week.

I tried to buy a bra here in Cochabamba, as I somehow seem to have lost one (and one of only three is significant). But what a mission. Needless to say I have given up for now due to the quality, language barriers and sizing. 

NZ flag on the salt flats

We went on a three day tour of the Salt Flats (Solar de Uyuni).  So much nothingness. Desert, salt, mountains. So much brown. In contrast to places we stopped along the way, lagoons, llamas and flamingos. Of course we got some of the silly salt flat photos, like eating people and such (you can check them out on facebook), which are pretty cool.We signed up in La paz when we missed out on the bus the other day. In hindsight we should have hunted down the reference given to us by Stephanie on the mountain biking. Anyway. As commonly happens on these tours (so we hear) we were promised an English speaking guide, no more than 6 tourists in the jeep and a cook. In reality we had a guide who was also our cook, didn’t speak English and 7 people in our jeep. The sign at the place even clearly said English speaking guides.  By the time we had figured this all out we were well on our way.

The first night we stayed at the salt hotel. There was a crazy lady running the place who was up and cackling away in the kitchen by 4am. A little girl also lived there. Her life must have been full of tourists coming and going. We had a running race which ended badly, with her falling over and me trying to comfort her without any Spanish. The rest of the group were quick to escape inside when she tripped. She was ok though, with a little wash and some reassurance. 

The food on the trip nothing short of sucked. I guess after the Machu trip I expected a lot from tours, but this was nothing short of terrible. Rice which had been sitting in the jeep for five hours and stale bread for example. 

Our travelling companions were pretty cool. I won’t go into too much detail here though....Minus to say Mario, the driver, was pretty rude and grumpy. 

We went right over to the Chilean border where we dropped off four of the team who were heading through and picked up a family of three (with a sick husband) and the LONG, 8 hour journey back to Uyuni begun. By the time we got here we had been travelling close to 30 hours. YAWN. Physically travelling is my least favourite part about travelling. Mario was so tired we did have a 20min stop in the mining town San Cristobel mining. There is an interesting story to go with this. The mines are owned by an America company who when they started mining had to relocate the locals build a whole new town for them. However, in the next six months the company will be nationalised under the current president. It would be interesting to see what happens to wages and the state of the town in the next few years.

On a random note. I gave my slippery shoes to one of the ladies at the hostel in cusco... all going to plan I should be slipping over a lot less soon!!!

Traffic Zebras and the Death Road

On the death road (on the way back to La Paz)

When you have a few little things to do it is amazing how long it takes. A few days ago when we arrived in La Paz there was some general research to be done. This, and jobs, took most of the day and the list didn’t really get much shorter. Everything takes longer than it would at home.

                                                       

I am not sure if I mentioned that not only did I get my camera stolen, but then Spike lent me his little one and I broke it (it got wet mountain biking in Peru). I am getting a new one though. It has been ordered in NZ and is getting delivered in time for Gilbert to bring over (hopefully). Legend. (They turned out to be crazy expensive and rather average here).

I have never seen as many ‘riot cops’ as I have in La Paz. There are a lot of protests. Everyday. So the cops stroll around with their plastic boards. All we have seen as been pretty casual though. Students and older ladies protesting and never causing any trouble more than a few fireworks. It is no wonder the police are generally so relaxed.

One of my favourite things in La Paz has been the traffic Zebras. Mainly girls dressed in Zebra outfits holding signs and directing the traffic. Awesome. There is a photo on my facebook page of me with them, just couldn’t resist. They are so full of energy and bounce around all day directing traffic and being friendly with kids. 

The famous death road. A must for anyone visiting La Paz. Yes, people sometimes die on the road, but the real reason it has earned this title is that it was built by prisoners of war from Paraguay. I must admit, I was pretty nervous to begin with as I wouldn’t exactly call myself a mountain bike fan. But by the end I was having so much fun it was guttering to stop. You travel up for about an hour from La Paz to over 4700metres. It is pretty cold (but nothing like out mountain biking experience in Peru) and end up under 2000metres. We met some awesome people on our tour and have the low down for our next stop (Salt flats) which is handy. Choosing a company to ride with is a bit of a gamble. Balancing up price, reputation and what will be required. In the end we went for a middle/upper price with a well known company. Well worth every cent too. Full suspension on the bikes (which was needed!) and after the hours of riding down I am almost proud to say I have pretty good dose of ‘bike butt’ going on today.

The views were incredible on the ride. Once I gained some confidence (a couple of hours in) it was a real buzz flying down the hills with such amazing views. We rode through water falls and rivers and the cliffs were never ending. I didn’t fall off (amazingly) but did manage to fall down the stairs in the bathroom/showers after the ride. I was thinking it had been a while since I had fallen over.

We had yet another awesome jungle lunch and the host (a Hungarian man) took us around his plantation too. Showing and talking about the fruits and things he grows. Such an incredible environment to live in. He had almost everything and was so passionate.

We had to do something a bit different, so when presented by our guides with the option of driving up the death road on the 3.5 hour journey back to La Paz it was a no brainer. It was this drive when we really got to appreciate the scenery and the sheer drops below and landslides on the paths. Needless to say one of the girls in the van was a little nervous! Luckily I am fine with heights and have travelled many cliffslide roads at home (ok, I admit, nothing like THIS! But still!).

I saw my first group of chickens with feathers on their legs. It was pretty weird I must admit. I didn’t know chickens could get feathery legs. I wonder if it is some chicken version of the human equivalent of a sasquatch. Something all the other chickens don’t believe until they see their incredibly feathery counterparts.

We hoped to get out of La Paz the night we arrived back from mountain biking. Only we hadn’t booked any tickets and discovered the bus was full. Luckily the tour agent was a friendly guy and took us walking up the street, where we found an amazing deal for only 60Bs between us. It is always nice when someone goes above and beyond. The people in South America are generally very friendly and helpful.

Off to catch the bus to Uyuni.

Boat Bonanza

View from hostel on Isl de Sol

I am on the world’s slowest boat right now. Pottering between the main land and a floating Island on Lake Titicaca. It takes about an hour and a half. You could Kayak faster than this boat is going. It’s not an entirely bad thing for me and my travel sickness, but is pretty frustrating. 

 A cold seems to feel so much longer when you are travelling. Getting sick seems to be that much more frustrating and awkward. It holds up your plans and makes things a struggle and not so enjoyable. As is breathing at high altitude is easy when you’re healthy. 

It is the rainy season. That means unpredictable weather from one second to the next. At altitude thunder sounds like bombs going off. It gave me a fright the first time I heard it. I imagine it is sort of what it might sound like to live in a war zone. I guess you are that much closer to the action at height. You can hear a storm coming so much clearer than at home. It is pretty amazing. Have been out visiting Isl de Sol and I lay in bed at about 4am counting the time between the thunder and the lightening listening to it coming closer and closer. When it rains it does it properly. It comes down fast and heavy. And cold. You don’t want to get caught outside. But by dawn it had passed and the sun was shining again.

Spraying the car with bubbles

In Copacabana there is a car blessing twice daily. People decorate their cars with flowers and park them up outside a church where priests come and bless the cars (inside and out) with water and all the family. Then they throw rose petals on the car and pour champagne over it – like a boat.  Something you don’t see very day. 

I also learnt that one of the staples for Bolivian soups, Quinoa, is a superfood. It is a grain like thing they put in vege soups (the soups are generally delicious by the way). This was a great discovery for me being vego. It is high in protein, has all the essential amino acids (the same as milk) and very high in fibre. I am also enjoying the fact I have found a chocolate bar for only 1B (about 20 cents NZ). Especially seen as though I think I have lost a bit of weight since arriving 25 days ago. There is no need to worry about exercise as you get plenty exploring.Espe3cially at altitude. Although I have lost the toned stomach I was so proud of before I left (you know what I am talking about mum) :P More chocolate to be consumed I think. Although, so far, for South America being the home of Chocolate, there hasn’t been a heck of a lot around for me to piglet on.

Quinoa

There are a lot of locals who float around cafes and restaurants singing, dancing or playing an instrument in the hopes that one or two rather average sounds will warrant them some of the money you so tightly budgeted out for the day. Every now and then you get the odd person/group worth a few. We had a lady sing the other day who didn’t even ask for money. They used the stereo in the restaurant to record her. She was really good. The meal on the other hand was a completely different story. 

 In the end the inital boat back sucked. It way way overloaded and took far longer than it should have. No one looked happy (all feeling rather sea sick) by the time we docked. Oh the upside, after this experience we jumped in a collectivo to La Paz and took a boat (and our bus a barge) across Lake Titicaca, you can kind of see in the photo.

Our bus is on the barge

On a side note. I have developed a very large appreciation for Banos (toliets) that provide toliet paper. If I am getting flash on it then and soap.... and seats!!! Dry hands are something that just never happens.

My first overland boarder crossing

Bananas taste amazing here. They have sort of a more real, slightly sweeter flavour. The best ones are the fully rip ones (not the slightly green ones, from their long travel to NZ) and brown on the skins doesn’t mean bruised it means just right. The fruit is so yummy.

When you take minivans (collectivos) the drivers seem to always stop and make deliveries on the way. It is kind of cool. When we went up for the mountain biking we stopped about 5 times for various deliveries. I don’t know if its personal deliveries or they get paid for it. All the same it is a good use of resources.

Me at the border

I had my first overland border crossing today. I was all prepared for along boring process (and super excited as well). But it went really smoothly and was a lot of fun actually (once we got to the Bolivia side). Once kicked out of Peru and past no mans, land immigration in Bolivia was a good laugh. Pretty much straight away the four guards worked out I have almost no Spanish and started up conversations with the boys. Dave and I were first in and they asked Dave is I was his girlfriend and if he had bit me! (I have sores on my arms still from falling down the stairs. They asked my age and it was about then I realised I need to get a bit better at understanding and better at my numbers. Once we were done (I still don’t have full knowledge of the conversation between Dave and the guard) it was Spikes turn. I later found out he also got asked if I was his girlfriend (responded to with an approval of Muy Bein) and also if he bit me. I think they had had some pretty funny kiwis through in the past as they seems pretty happy to joke around from as soon as they had seen our passports. I have a photo to go with this blog of me at the Bolivian border crossing which I will put up when I get it off Spikes camera (he’s in bed with a nasty flu today).

I managed to work out how to get a takeaway juice for Spike this morning with the help of my phrasebook. I asked the street jugos senor if I could take the glass to my sick friend and he was sweet with it. Really nice guy. It was a small glass of pure orange juice and only cost 3Bs (check out the exchange rate and be amazed)

Can't wait for bed time

I wrote almost a full blog entry and my computer crashed and I lost it. RGGHH. So this is a make do of what I can remember and other things from the last couple of days which I hadn’t included before (so by losing the first copy some new stuff has been gained too!). Everything has some silver lining :p

Our light shade in Munay Tika - awesome

I really loved staying at Munay Tika in Cusco. It was the kind of hostel where they felt like your make shift family. There was not too many rooms or people around and only one lady spoke fluent English and she wasn’t around much. The ‘crazy lady’, of mother of the hostel would potter around doing laundry, making breakfast, cleaning the rooms and having her familiar over for lunch. She can’t speak more than a few words of English and me a few of Spanish. Regardless we seemed to understand each other pretty well most of the time and she would rattle away in Spanish to me while I cooked. 

It was sad to leave. Crazy lady gave me a big hug and we were wished the best. And of course to recommend them to our amigos in Puno and our next few stops. They were really good though, as our bus didn’t leave until 10pm and they let us cook and hang out in the hostel until then. 

A couple more things I missed when talking about the jungle tramp. There was this stage couple in our group, a Peruvian girl and a slightly older (than the rest of the group) Scandinavian guy. I had come to the conclusion that she was a paid travelling companion for him. I flicked this idea out to the Copenhagen’s over our pre-train beers and they had been thinking the exact same thing. It is weird what some people do during their travels. They were so unengaged with the rest of the group too. Something else worth noting was the crazy Germans after the second day of the trip. We had all been out for dinner, where they had ever so kindly been filling my glass over and over with beer. They had also got the whole group a Inca Tequila shot each – not very tasty I should mention. Anyway, they stayed out and went to some Inka Disco thing (after the rest of us has decided with trekking again the following two days a night out was not the best idea). Upon returning to the hostel some dogs were barking and one of them was standing on the balcony howling at the dogs and the dogs were howling back. It was insanely funny. Especially when German #2 started telling German #1 (the howling one) to shut up. In English. 

We took Tour Peru bus from Cusco to Puno, it was an overnight trip which meant an early arrival in Puno. The reason I am mentioning this is because when we boarded they did a standard announcement and also repeated it in English. The highlight being that the toilet was “for pee pee only”. Even many of the locals on the bus laughed at this one. We had to pay a tax at the bus station too, which is something I haven’t had to do before then and just like all the buses I have taken they do a sort of security audit. We have been filmed and such for other buses, but for this one a guy came walking through the bus shoving his digital camera about 5cm from our faces. And without a word of warning.

The robbery saga still continues too. I went and scanned in my police report at the worlds smelliest internet cafe in order to email it to Southern Cross. Turns out after a lot of searching online and a touch and go Skype call, that you can’t email them and I have to post in all the details to them. Including proof I had money in my wallet. What a load of rubbish. Seems like it will be at least a couple of months before anything is sorted.

It is damn cold here in Puno. Time for bed too.

On a side note. Best and worst showers to date.

Best: Nazca – almost as good as NZ!

Worst: Huachchina – dribbing and cold. (I HATE cold showers so much. I have decided this is one of my hostel ‘must haves’ where possible)

Welcome to the Jungle

An hour late he finally turned up to pick us up for our Jungle Trek to Machu Pichu. Luckily the hostel is awesome and put on breakfast for us early.

It started off frustrating. Discovering that the lady who we had booked with had provided what we discovered over time to be a vast amount of incorrect information about the trip. Starting with gear. We had sleeping bags and the works, leaving Spike with a full pack when the rest of our group only had day packs. She also told us we were up for 5 hours mountain biking, which is not the case as the roads have changed and it is only 2 hours.

After the mini van journey up to over 4200m we hit the bikes. In the pouring raining and FREEZING cold. Don't worry Juan, our guide assured us, an hour down the hill and we will be likely to hit sun. That could not have been further from the truth. The weather was SO terrible that after an hour and a half Juan called it quits. Something which doesn't seem to happen in Peru. The rules don't seem to apply here normally. Giving you somewhat an idea of how bad the weather really was. This lead to my first stripping experience on the hike. Jumping back into the van in a frenzy to get out of possibly the coldest clothes I have even been in and find more (convenently burried at the bottom of the pack of course). Looking back on it all now it is amazing to think we did it, but I must admit it was not a fun experience.

The weather changed the guide regular ruote somewhat. One of trips highlights for me. Our crazy (but awesome) guides. Some off roading up crazy hills, driving past poilce stops (as roads had slips on them) and our guides stopping to clear rocks from the many slips, the first day had almost come to an end.

This leads me to my next not so great experience. I think I wrote about falling over in a hotel the other day. Well I did it again. Santa Maria was our first stop on the trek. It was oneof those little towns which really seem to reply on the passing tourists, with a population on 120. The hostel our crew was staying at was full, so we were directed down the road to another one where I proceeded to arse down the stairs. Leaving me with some inpressive bruises on my back, butt and arms. A fantastic way to start a hike.

This hostel had the most amazing ceiling I have ever seen. So many pieces of steal, wood and reinforcing steal.

At first the jungle smelt like what I can only compare to a field of onion plants. Pretty weird. There is wild fuirt everywhere, mangos, avos, bananas....

I have been travelling over two weeks now. We headed out at 6am for day one of the hiking. It wasn't hard to get up and going. Although, after the weather the first day I was a little nervous about the level of difficultly of the trek. On a side note, the meals along the way were amazing. There is always soup and a main. It seems to be the way it is done here. There is nothing like eating fantastic food in the middle of the jungle and resting in hamock. Half of the group were vegetarian too. For once I ddin't feel like the only one like at home.

We got to walk part of the orginal Inka trail (now days the 'Inka trail' trek doesn't walk to orgainal route). The views along the way were amazing (as they were throughout the trip) and Juan told us a lot about the history and fruit and cocoa along the way. Tried some organic chococlate at a monkey house too. (I must say this was probably my least favourite spot along the way, the monkey was on a leash thing and the dogs were sick and skinny). I did wear a sak though....

From one of the first photos taken on the trip, it was clear the group was going to be a lot of fun. Two Swedish chicks (Swedish speed walkers as they were known), two Danish chicks (Copenhagan), two Germans (Germans) and a couple of others. When the attention was required of myself or Spike (or more correctly, when someone wanted to hassle us... (namely Copenhagans), obviously we took on the title of Kiwis (or "insert insult here" kiwis).

Jungle mozzies are evil things. No amount of 80% deet seemed to keep them away. On my right thigh alone I had over 20 bites, puffy and with blood spots. Not so lovely. The jungle paint Juan put on our faces the first day is meant to help. It comes from a fruit.

Natural hotsprings on the rivers edge in a canon were pretty impressive. Another thing the lady who booked us in didn't tell us about. After a bit of couching from the crew I took the plunge though in a singlet and undies (silly me only took one bra on the tramp). I also had on white undies. Getting out was an interesting experience and trying to change out of the wet clothes lead to a bit more nudity.

A 4am start to insure tickets to Wanyupichu (one of the mountains to climb) and we were on our way to Machu Pichu. Everyone was battling by this fourth and final day. Blisters, bites, exhaustion... The mountains were the most spectacular part. So high and steep. Machu was crazy expensive though. Thankful that we were warned and took a supply of water up with us.

The hostel for the final night in Aguas Calientes was a god send, with Peru's version of hot water (water which goes hot then cold as it pleases). One of the most beautiful settings I have even seen for a town with surrounding mountains. Not somewhere to stay for any length of timethough sadly, as it is SO touristy. Good for getting a bargin in the low season (now). Us Kiwis and the Copenhagnas had a good barter going with two rival resutrants (barginning is fun when they speak English). The winner was 8 soles for a L of beer and free Nachos. Not a bad score. Have to make sure they won't charge you the tax though (another strange thing about this town). This was followed by a group of us hunting down more beer just in time for a tipsy train ride with the Copanhagans (I can't spell) and a two hour mini van trip back (Really good fresh avo with corn chicks is delishish by the way). I don't think I need to point out who shattered I am was I write this. Another whirl wind blog entry.

This morning came the dreaded trip to the bank to pay for the report and back to the tourist police station this morning (where mistakes needed to be corrected in the report, by the least smilie lady in the world). Its days like today where you are tired and just want to relax, but there are so many errands to do that bring you down.