It's 2011

It has been a while since I have written, as we have been taking some time to relax in Samaipata. Camping was fun, minus the rain and the pain from sleeping on the ground. I didn’t really make it sound too appealing did I. But it really was. There was still a lot of fine weather and the location was amazing, the people who ran the place were friendly and we had a lot of space. And of course the facilities were well beyond anything I had ever had camping in the past – flushing toilets (and toilet paper!), hot showers and a small kitchen.

One down fall was I was bitten by ants. I sat on the concrete in shorts and ended up with the most painful insect bites/rash I have ever had. It burnt and stung all day – no matter how much hydrocortonzine I put on it or antihistamines I took. Luckily they were pretty much 100% better by the next morning. So not so bad after all. 

Campsite at Samaipata

I also fell over again. It had been raining pretty heavy and the road into town (a 15min walk) is a very muddy track. On the walk home on new years eve, armed with supplies (fresh veges, water, wine and the likes) I took a spill onto my ass. I stunk from the mud (lots of animals walk down the road) and twisted my wrist. All was ok once I had showered and popped open a bottle of bubbly (15Bs sounded cheap for a bottle of bubbles... it tasted just like grape juice and turned out to be only 4%, which explains the price.

The water in Samaipata was nothing short of disgusting. Not that you can drink the water anywhere in South America – but it is another thing when it comes out of the tap a yellowy brown colour. At least you had the visual reminder not to drink it. 

The boys (Sam & Matt) arrived on the 29^th, which lead to all the boys having a big night cooking and drinking around the fire. This also meant I got my camera with Gliberts (Matt) arrival. It is really awesome to have a camera again. I just need to spend some time playing with it so I can get my head around all the settings. 

Our tent

New years eve started out with some bubbles around a camp fire, a power outage (throughout the whole town – we suspect it can’t handle the number of stereos and the fact that all the shops were open at once – you could never tell what would be open and when, they seemed to open and close as they pleased) and then a trip into the village to celebrate the new year with some people from Santa Cruz in the park. Needless to say a few members of our group were rather festive for the evening.

We said goodbye on the 1^st and headed into Santa Cruz for a flight on the 2^nd to Cordoba, Argentina. I am sitting on the plane to BA right now writing this. It is kind of funny. Flights to BA cost the same, yet this flight goes via BA anyway. It just means we get to see more of the country this way. Oh, and it also takes longer. But even 8 hours of travelling is a lot less than two days of buses to Cordoba or 3 to BA. 

The drug check at Santa Cruz airport was pretty funny. They just had a quick look through our bags. Needless to say this had me considering how easy it really would be for people to drug smuggle in South America and that maybe the officials are well aware of this and maybe it even benefits the economy somehow? Who knows. Of course of bags were still scanned, so maybe not so easy after all. 

I also have come to realise how amazing South Americans are at travelling. They are efficient in the fact that maybe don’t have cars (collectives and buses are very popular). But mainly how well they sleep. The roads are (especially in Bolivia) nothing short of terrible. Most are dust, mud and horrendously bumpy. All the locals seem to have no trouble sleeping, on any types of roads, in any type of vehicle, at any time of the day. It is really impressive. 

I have another aspect to add to travel kudos which I discussed earlier. There is a large amount of travel kudos to be gained from partying and drinking the hardest. Being the latest home, doing the most crazy thing, drinking the weirdest drink or partying with locals. 

Gilbert and Spike on NY in the park