Business Class!

I had never flown business class before, but an upgrade from ‘coach’ to ‘u’ class was just what we got on the second leg of our flight. Sadly it was only an hour 10 from BA to Cordoba. But all the same it was great fun. THE way to travel, without a doubt. Lots of room, nice seats, great food and service. Thanks expedia.

The Spanish here in Argentina is slightly different, both in dialect and accent. It is much harder for me to understand. I am even playing guessing games with a lot of the numbers I thought I had down pat in Bolivia.

Steak time - luckily he had shaved!

Spike and I headed out the night before last on the hunt of a big steak for him. We got recommendations from the hostel for the locations for the best (and most expensive) steaks. Needless to say we were significantly under dressed for the restaurant. The waiter was incredibly nice all the same, bringing us free bread and water. Spikes steak was ‘the third best he has ever had’ so that’s pretty up there. Only beaten by two T bones at home. It was a good evening, where we first realised we don’t really like Melbec (which is the Argentinean speciality). 

Last night there was Brazilian music in the hostel. It was a duet and they were fantastic. The chick had the most amazing voice. They also had maracas, a guitar, flute and chime. Who knows why they had Brazilian music in Argentina. But hey. 

I went to a cathedral yesterday. I must admit, I always feel moved when I visit places of any kind of religious significance. It was the most beautiful cathedral and lots of people were praying.

It was pretty exciting to get into BA airport and see that they had Maccas and were selling Mc Flurrys. One of my faves. I know they have them at home at the moment and I was super jealous. Not anymore :p

Now that it is the New Year I have been considering (as I do every New Year) what my resolutions will be for 2011. I always find this task harder than anticipated and I always end the year wondering about the next round of resolutions to be set and what the hell I set the year before to achieve for the year which is coming to a close. I have come to a conclusion that New Years resolutions are somewhat a waste of time for me as I just forget and I should just constantly set resolutions. Possibly the concept of a new years resolution is a way for people to feel better at the end of the year, when we feel like we haven’t achieved a lot and the time has just whizzed us by... “but don’t worry, next year I will achieve more”.

Travelling makes you so sceptical of people. Take for example when we arrived in Oruro at 3am and wanted to take a bus straight to Cochabama. There was a chick on our bus who woke us up, waiting for us to get our luggage. Helped us find the bus station, attempted (and then succeed) in buying us bus tickets and navigated us to the correct bus. She was just generally a very kind person, but on the road so many bad things happen to tourists that we are forever second guessing people and their intensions. It is really rather sad. 

Plaza

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

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.