Okay, so i realise its been a while but..
After biking down Death Road I went to Oruro for Karnival - Bolivian stylee. It was everything i imagined and more - loads of colour, music, eye-kandi, dancing and boozed-up people. My schedule went something like this: hit the streets by 10am and stay out till 7pm. Sleep. Wake up at midnight and stay out till 4am. Sleep. The karnival went on non-stop for three solid days/nights and was fuelled by plenty of water balloons and foam..it was war in the stands and after a while no-one cared to look at the procession - projectiles came from left, right and centre.
I thought that was the end of it when i jumped on a bus to Sucre but i was wrong. Sucre´s fiestas carried on till Tuesday and nearly every shop was closed. I couldnt deal with it and locked myself in a cafe for a whole day - on the door there was a sign written in Spanish that said ´No Drunks, No Wet People´ and somehow all the travellers found this place. Sucre was probably my favourite town in Bolivia and i took a few Spanish lessons there and got my first haircut since leaving home! Also went to my first karoke bar in SOuth America - try to imagine me singing Spanish love songs and you get the idea.
Next was Uyuni and the Salt Flats/Lagunas. One of the best trips i´ve done. Amazing. Full-stop. This is where pics come in handy but you´ll have to wait till i get home..
Uyuni was my last stop in Bolivia and last friday i took a train to the Villazon-La Quiaca border, Argentina. Turns out that all the other Bolivia-Argentina border crossings were closed because of floods in Bolivia so everyone went to the same one. Total anarchy. Took me over 4 hours to officially cross the boundary and then i couldnt get on a bus out simply because there were too many people and not enough buses. Had to stay a night there.
First real stop in Argentina was Iruya - a small hamlet tucked away in the Andes. I think Batchworth Lane has more buildings than this entire community. It must have been the size of the field at the bottom of my hill, opposite the tennis courts. Add: 45degree elevation and about 4000m. DId a 7hour hike, following a river through the valley, to another town that is only accessible by foot, San Isidro. Had lunch with some Argies there and then went back to Iruya. The following morning I was away... Went to another little village called Pumamarca with intentions of staying there a few nights as it was on my way south and i´d heard some good things about it from people i met in Iruya. When i arrived, however, i was not impressed. It was a nice little place but that was it. Nada to do and quite touristy. So, i got on my third bus of the day and arrived to Jujuy where i am currently writing this little number. Just because somewhere is nice, most travellers assume you must spend time there - er, no. After being there two hours I was off, out...goneski! I think my problem is that i´ve been to a lot of ´nice´places and some just seem average now. Wait a minute..thats not my problem.
Another day, another demonstration. All throughout my trip in South America ive seen massive amounts of people walking down main roads with flags, banners, drums beating and horns blowing. Jujuy is no different and in these two days ive seen 2different clans. Yesterday it was a bunch of men, 18-30yr old, invading the bus terminal and shouting some stuff. Today, a bit more civilised with women and children involved.
Tonight im off to Cordoba. Really looking forward to it cause im going to spend time with some Argentinian friends that studied with me at Nottingham. My only issue with Argentinians (so far) is that the Spanish they speak is nothing like ive heard before. Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia were similar and i was doing good but here its a different ball game. My ear is undergoing some serious fine-tuning at the moment.
O yeah, contrary to popular belief, its not all sun sun sun here. Last night after eating, i got drenched in a thunderstorm and ended up running all the way home
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Junglist movement and Biking down Death Road
Ive tried about four times now (on different days) and still i cant get pictures up - somethings up and i cant be bothered to waste more time on it. So that means this could be the end of me blogging days...
Since we last met, ive spent 5 days in the jungle - absolutely amazing (got the pics to prove it!) and yesterday went down the ´world´s most dangerous road´ on a mountain bike - a lot of fun and the rain/crappy visibilty/cold didnt help. 3 buses went off edge last year (over a 100 died in total) and only a few months ago they opened up a new road to replace the Death Road. Thing is some idiot drivers still take the dangerous road because the toll charge is $1 (about) less.
Tomorrow im off to Oruro for Karnival...all the kids here in La Paz are gearing up for it by soaking everyone with water bazookas - i need to buy some water bombs before leaving and get my own back!
So, this could well be the last time....................Nos vemos!
Since we last met, ive spent 5 days in the jungle - absolutely amazing (got the pics to prove it!) and yesterday went down the ´world´s most dangerous road´ on a mountain bike - a lot of fun and the rain/crappy visibilty/cold didnt help. 3 buses went off edge last year (over a 100 died in total) and only a few months ago they opened up a new road to replace the Death Road. Thing is some idiot drivers still take the dangerous road because the toll charge is $1 (about) less.
Tomorrow im off to Oruro for Karnival...all the kids here in La Paz are gearing up for it by soaking everyone with water bazookas - i need to buy some water bombs before leaving and get my own back!
So, this could well be the last time....................Nos vemos!
Monday, February 05, 2007
La Paz
Am in the capital of Bolivia now and once again i had to sleep for ages...topped 4000m now. This city is very different to the other cities i´ve been to. Firstly, its a lot more indigenous and secondly its definately ´behind´ the others...not a bad thing.
So far all i have to say is this: if you want to buy anything in La Paz, you buy it on the street. Not taken any pics yet so you´ll have to settle for the pics on the way here from Copacabana.
hasta la vuelta
So far all i have to say is this: if you want to buy anything in La Paz, you buy it on the street. Not taken any pics yet so you´ll have to settle for the pics on the way here from Copacabana.
hasta la vuelta
Copacabana
Peru-Bolivia border crossing was the most lax crossing i´ve ever encountered...i swear you could have walked through with 10elephants and no-one would have stopped you..well maybe not 10 but at least 2.
Found somewhere to stay overlooking Lake Titicaca which was cool and i must have slept for more than 16hours on and off on 1stFeb. I´m telling you, your body needs to adjust to being 3800m+ above sea level and i did it by sleeping....lots! So, Friday 2nd Feb was a big day for the people of Copacabana and it showed....lots and lots of drunk men and women! The fiestas started on thurs but i didnt get involved that much (too busy sleeping) but i did hear the music start up again at 0400 on fri! They partied hard and it showed..
The music faded away as the bands got more drunk (and couldnt be bothered to play anymore) and we ended up in this random little hippie joint. (So many Argentinians here by the way; all with massive mullets selling bracelets/ear-rings/other hippy stuff on the street). Stepped inside and there was a guy dressed up in a baby´s nappy performing weird ´art´...acting they called it?!? I couldnt stay silent and watch this dude make baby noises, roll about on the floor and shout random stuff so I had to leave. I accidently locked out Tyler and Paul and they had to sleep in another room in our hotel. The next morning the manager was brewing at me saying that i had to pay for the extra room and blah blah blah.. the thing is the muppet didnt even have a spare key for the room (or any of the rooms!!!) to let them in and I gave him a piece of my mind - how can a hotel not have spare keys? Anyway, then he threatened to call the police and blah blah blah and i was like okay, take 40Bs (about 2.60 sterling, initially he wanted 100Bs) and buy yourself some spare keys. Picked up my backpack and left.
Bring on La Paz!
Found somewhere to stay overlooking Lake Titicaca which was cool and i must have slept for more than 16hours on and off on 1stFeb. I´m telling you, your body needs to adjust to being 3800m+ above sea level and i did it by sleeping....lots! So, Friday 2nd Feb was a big day for the people of Copacabana and it showed....lots and lots of drunk men and women! The fiestas started on thurs but i didnt get involved that much (too busy sleeping) but i did hear the music start up again at 0400 on fri! They partied hard and it showed..
The music faded away as the bands got more drunk (and couldnt be bothered to play anymore) and we ended up in this random little hippie joint. (So many Argentinians here by the way; all with massive mullets selling bracelets/ear-rings/other hippy stuff on the street). Stepped inside and there was a guy dressed up in a baby´s nappy performing weird ´art´...acting they called it?!? I couldnt stay silent and watch this dude make baby noises, roll about on the floor and shout random stuff so I had to leave. I accidently locked out Tyler and Paul and they had to sleep in another room in our hotel. The next morning the manager was brewing at me saying that i had to pay for the extra room and blah blah blah.. the thing is the muppet didnt even have a spare key for the room (or any of the rooms!!!) to let them in and I gave him a piece of my mind - how can a hotel not have spare keys? Anyway, then he threatened to call the police and blah blah blah and i was like okay, take 40Bs (about 2.60 sterling, initially he wanted 100Bs) and buy yourself some spare keys. Picked up my backpack and left.
Bring on La Paz!
pissed dude trying to perform religious ceremony on me....first he dips his cross in my beer..then he flicks the cross across the road..mumbles a lot..then wants money from me..I think not!
line of men. line of women. generally how they got their groove on over the weekend
the festival was called Virgen de la Candelaria and it takes place on the 2nd of Feb every year. There were bus companies called 2nd Feb, streets, various shops..
me and tyler
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Cuzco and Machupicchu - End of Peru
Cuzco is situated at 3310m and its by far the most popular place for gringos - a lot of partying to be done. My first day here was spent sorting out a trip to Machupicchu and the secoind day i rested before starting my trip. The most common way to get there is on the four day Inka Trial but becuase I hadnt booked anything i was looking at a 6day wait - er, no thanks. So I settled for an alternative route which invloved some biking and trekking - was great fun!! My group had 4 brasilian lads and 2 americans and at the end of the first day we met three argentinian girls who tagged along with us for the remainder..
Day 1 - left Cuzco at 0800 and travelled by bus towards the sacred valley of the Incas. We got of 6hours later in a village called San Luis and started the downhill bike ride to Santa Maria. Forgotten how much fun riding a bike is!!!Spent the night in Santa Maria where we met couple of other people doing the same thing as us.
Day 2 - 8 hour trek towards Santa Teresa. Lunch in village called Quellomayo. Thermal baths at the end of the day in Cocalmayo before hitching a ride to Santa Teresa. It was one of the argies bday that day so we all went out.
Day 3 - Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes. Walked along a train track for most of it...was a pretty chilled day, nothing too intense.
Day 4 - Machupicchu. Got up at 0400 and started climbing the mountain at 0430...made it there in less than hour and we were sitting about waiting for our guided tour of ruins in the freezing cold and pouring rain. It is the rainy season at the moment and we had good run of luck with the weather up unitl then...it was absolutely pouring down in Machupicchu!! The coulds covered nearly everything and we only had two good moments where we could see it all. To be honest, i didnt really listen to much of the guide even though he was taking us around the site for 2 hours. I was too busy trying to stay warm! As soon as the tour finished we left. I wanted to climb Huayna Picchu (from there you get a really good view of Machupicchu) but it wasnt worth it with the weather we had - plus my boots were soaked to the core and my feet were going to drop off. Got back down to Aguas Calientes and chilled before the train and bus ride back to Cuzco. Had a really good night out with the group on the last day.
The trip was worth it just for the previous days if not for Machupicchu - everyday was different and my group was a good laugh and we all got on really well...gonna meet up with the girls in Argentina and Flavio in Sao Paulo. Yesterday did not do much and said farewell to the Brasilian boys. Today i just walked about with the Argentinians and Paul.
Me, Tyler and Paul are taking the nightbus to Copacabana in Bolivia tonight.
Day 1 - left Cuzco at 0800 and travelled by bus towards the sacred valley of the Incas. We got of 6hours later in a village called San Luis and started the downhill bike ride to Santa Maria. Forgotten how much fun riding a bike is!!!Spent the night in Santa Maria where we met couple of other people doing the same thing as us.
Day 2 - 8 hour trek towards Santa Teresa. Lunch in village called Quellomayo. Thermal baths at the end of the day in Cocalmayo before hitching a ride to Santa Teresa. It was one of the argies bday that day so we all went out.
Day 3 - Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes. Walked along a train track for most of it...was a pretty chilled day, nothing too intense.
Day 4 - Machupicchu. Got up at 0400 and started climbing the mountain at 0430...made it there in less than hour and we were sitting about waiting for our guided tour of ruins in the freezing cold and pouring rain. It is the rainy season at the moment and we had good run of luck with the weather up unitl then...it was absolutely pouring down in Machupicchu!! The coulds covered nearly everything and we only had two good moments where we could see it all. To be honest, i didnt really listen to much of the guide even though he was taking us around the site for 2 hours. I was too busy trying to stay warm! As soon as the tour finished we left. I wanted to climb Huayna Picchu (from there you get a really good view of Machupicchu) but it wasnt worth it with the weather we had - plus my boots were soaked to the core and my feet were going to drop off. Got back down to Aguas Calientes and chilled before the train and bus ride back to Cuzco. Had a really good night out with the group on the last day.
The trip was worth it just for the previous days if not for Machupicchu - everyday was different and my group was a good laugh and we all got on really well...gonna meet up with the girls in Argentina and Flavio in Sao Paulo. Yesterday did not do much and said farewell to the Brasilian boys. Today i just walked about with the Argentinians and Paul.
Me, Tyler and Paul are taking the nightbus to Copacabana in Bolivia tonight.
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