shop, drop and roll

when we got to santiago .. there was one rule.
absolutely no tourist behaviour at all.

so we went shopping.

santiago is VERY western.
and we rode the metro there, went to the movies, sat in a coffee shop, bought stuff ...........

including a new camera for nell.

Salar de Uyuni

from wikipedia :

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km² (4,085 square miles).
It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,650 meters high.
Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake.
When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.
Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani's cooperative. They work from dawn to dusk and most of them do not take a lunch break in order to take advantage of time, getting energy by chewing coca leaves.
Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species of South American flamingos: the Chilean, James's and Andean flamingos.

to get to the Salar de Uyuni, i had to go south.
i took an overnight bus from la paz to potosi and spent a day there and then the next morning got on another bus to uyuni.
theres not a lot to do in uyuni - and my tour left the next day. so i played a little poker online (and there began my addiction).

the day of the tour - i woke up in my big queen bed ($3NZD) and it was sunny !
i used a tour company called Andean Salt Expeditions - who i would not recommend. but as i was the only one doing a one day tour, i was put in with another group.

the salt mountains. the salt is left to dry for 3 months before being processed.



fish island. its FULL of cactus.

my tour group - 3 crazy funny as shit irish chicks and 3 american girls who did all the translating from our non-english speaking guide.


salt blocks drying at the salt hotel.

the flamingoes.

the train cemetery - eerie and i am unsure why this is such a tourist attraction. but it is strangely beautiful.

uyuni town. full of markets and not a lot else.

Tarzan!

So Amy, Jason and I stayed in Coroico for the night after the ¨Death Ride¨ at a place called Esmeralda Hotel. Nice place. Nice view. Nice price. $7 each.




The next afternoon we headed off to Rurrenabaque on a bus that was not quite what I was used to. It was comfortable enough, until the aisles started filling up with people and sleeping children. So much for using the aisle as leg room.
The road was also just the other half of Death Road. Winding, high and narrow.



We arrived in Rurrenabaque 17.5 hours after we left Coroico. Tired, stiff and, most of us, bitten by nasty little buggers.

We managed to get a tour leaving that morning with Fletcha tours. 2 nights, 1 day in the jungle followed by 3 nights, 2 days in the Pampas - all for $20 a day, $100 in total. In between we would have to stay a night in Rurrenabaque.
Claire, an American girl from Texas that we met on the bus, would be joining us.

Four Polish people, two couples, a columbian and a Venezuelan joined us with their own guide. We took the tour company´s boat out to their camp in the Jungle, 3 hours of scenic river.



The accomodation was basic, but the beds had mosquito nets and I managed to score and extra super thin matress to go under my existing super thin mattress.

Our guide, Jory, took us for a walk through the jungle immediately. We didn´t see any big animals, though we did see Capybara, giant guinea pig - poos on the way.



We did see leaf cutter ants though. Very cool. Massively long lines of them all streaming to the same place. Looked exactly like it does on TV. Only better.

We walked all the way to the top of a hill and when we got up thyere, Jory told us to look down. We were on a cliff face inhabited by thousands of Parakeets and a few Macaws. When we made a loud noise at the top, the birds would fly in a huge circle making a hell of a racket.



We then walked back down, in the slippery mud - it really does rain in the rainforest - and headed for the bottom of the cliff we were standing on to view it from a different angle.

The following morning it was raining. We were told we had to wait for it to stop before we could walk to the community - who we were to pay 50 Boliviana´s to for their conservation efforts, or so we were told.
It didn´t stop raining between breakfast and lunch, so we played shithead.

After lunch the guides decided we could take the boat around the the community instead. It stopped raining just as we were walking toward the boat.
The other walk to the community revealed a little more then they would have liked. We came across a huge area of burned forest. Recent, some of it was still smoking.
The four of us refused to pay for what we saw. Conservation efforts? They were burning the forest to grow crops that they could sell in the town.
We ended up having to pay the money, but refused to visit the comminuty. Our little protest.

After our night off in Rurrenabaque, we headed by 4x4, a bumpy and long 3 hour ride, to the edge of the Pampas region. There we got on a boat to take a 3 hour slow cruise to the lodgings. The four Polish people were on this tour with us as well.

On this very first ride we saw almost everything we were told we were going to see, and more.

A giant Guinea Pig. Giant. Huge. The size of a small bear, I would say.

Birds of Paradise

Alligators and Turtles. Lots of them.

Squirrel Monkeys and Howler monkeys.



Pink Dolphins!
I wasn´t sure if everyone was pulling my leg, because I had never heard about them, but there they were. Plain as day. Sort of. This picture is of one that is a juvenile, which are purple/grey, but they are pink. I´ve seen them with me own eyes.

And plenty of birds, including Herons and Kingfishers.

The only things left to see, on our list, were Anacondas and Tucans.

That evening, before dinner, we went to the sunset bar, around the corner, and had an ice cold beer while we watched the sunset over the Pampas from their viewing balcony.

The next moring we came out of breakfast to find one of the guides feeding bread to the biggest Caiman I can imagine. It was at least 4m long. And eating bread.

Theat afternoon we went for our trek through the Pampas. At times the water would be over the Gumboots they gave us. Very hard work slogging over all that, especially since it was the hottest day yet.

Halfway across the long section, we came across a Caiman that had died of dehydration while trying to get to better waters. It was HUGE. Bigger than the one we had seen that morning. Scary stuff. No picture of it though, sorry.

The slog through the pampas/swamp/marsh was worth it though. We came across two Cobras - no one told us there were Cobras! - and two largish Anacondas.



After a well deserved power nap back as base, we all went for a swim witht he pink dolphins. Well, Claire,, Jory and I did, everyone else chickened out. It was great fun, mainly because of the adrenaline pumping.
There are Alligators in these waters you know!

A different sunset bar was the setting for our second Pampas sunset, and Amy took this spectacular shot.

The next day we went Piraña fishing, and caught quite a few. Then we headed back to town after lunch. On the way we saw more of the same spectacular animals, but the highlight was this family of Giant Guinea Pigs.

Two more things:
1. If you go to the Jungle or Pampas, take deet. The highest percentage you can find.
The mossies in the Pampas bit us on our thighs and asses right through our mossie-proof pants.

2. Since I still didn´t have a camera, all these pictures are curtesy of Amy and Jason. Thanks guys.

another bruise for the collection

its kinda hard to take a photo of your own underarm ... but this is my other souvenier from the Worlds Most Dangerous Road ...

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

Mountain Biking Day came around fast.
I was excited !!
Our guide was rather late to meet us but we set off with a hiss and a roar.

We got up to the top of the mountain pass and after getting into our gear and playing around with our bikes, we splashed something on our bikes, the ground and down our throats and oh my god it was foul. But apparently it was the done thing.

22km of downhill on the tarmac and that was so much fun. Being a "fat bastard" as Lynn our guide put it, I got to go really really fast.

I didnt do the 7km of uphill (only about 500m) - why pay $75.00 for a bus if you arent going to use it ??

And then we were on "The Road".
Big saefty talk from Lynn and lots of checking of bikes by Cristian.

Of course I was the one that had the spill. But its not on video - thank God !
and yup I landed on the leg and now have a bruised and grazed elbow to match.

Before you knew it, we were at the bottom.
Free beer, tons of food and time to watch what we had just achieved.

Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking rocked !!
Most fun had going down ....



worlds most dangerous road - november 2007

I have posted all the photos on webshots as I can add the videos too - and I am sure Nell will have her side to tell as well.

After we finished, Nell headed off to the jungle with Jason and Amy and I am chilling in Potosi waiting for my bus to the Uyuni Salt Lakes.

El Castillo - the Princesses in the Castle

Once upon a time just a few days ago, the two International Princesses reknown for trouble went exploring in the Bolivian Yungas. A subtropical area known for its beauty and serenity and therefore attractive to the two who were no longer happy being amongst the masses.
The journey had been long and arduous - as the high mountain pass was cold and they had feared somewhat for the sanity of their driver Henry (Ensie in his native tongue)

Once through the mountain pass, the road had turned to rocks of varying sizes and stability. The road had also appeared to shrink whilst on one side dropping instantly to the treacherously fast and deep river.

They happened upon El Castillo del Loro in the Southern Yungas. A castle built by a previous President of the Bolivian nation nearly 80 years ago.

The Princesses were greeted by men with large umbrellas for as is common in the subtropical regions of the world, twas precipitating madly.
The Princesses were shown to their suite - a suite befitting their station - the suite of the President himself. Built high aloft the tower with a near 360 degree view of the area they shalt inhabit for the next few days.

The keepers of the castle immediately sprang to attend to the Princesses and food and drink was served. As the Princesses are of the most intelligent kind, card and word games appeared and entertainment occured throughout the evening time.

The Princesses were served of the finest local quality and they dined until they were satisfied.

Other guests of the Castillo were playing a dice game.

The dark haired Princess was aware of a similar game so they joined in and learnt the native twist.
Exhausted the Princesses retired to their tower suite.

The following morning, the Mistress of the House regaled the Princesses with stories of the construction of the Castillo and the Presidents use of prison labour. It is said that the ghost of the President may appear in the suite and the rooms below built for his sons.

The Mistress then proferred to take the Princesses on a tour around the grounds and the surrounding valley and spiritual areas in the nether regions of the Castillo. They crossed a raging river via a wire based bridge, stepped over snake pits and discussed the regions flora and fauna.

They then made their way through vines and landslides to the sacred grotto were they may be granted three wishes.

In order to reach the final sacred place, the Bath, a test of bravery was required.
The mighty river must be crossed - however this time the bridge was of far less stable construction and had the river not been so high, surely trolls would be waiting for ladies as fine.
The river reached up its fingers to pluck whomever may place a step incorrectly.

Born from hardy stock - both Princesses crossed the mighty river without harm.

The golden haired Princess had been feeling poorly for several days and knew she required rest - so the far more energetic and adventurous dark haired Princess set off again on another adventure whilst a siesta was had.

That evening the Castillo was quiet, save for the Princesses enjoying cinema and but a local family to ensure their needs were met.

The third day dawned bright and warm.
After breakfast, both Princesses sunned themselves for a time and then again the energetic and athletic Princess set off in search of more adventure and sights unseen - vowing to return safely before the midday meal.

Happily the buxom Princesses continued to rest and read preparing for their next travels and praying silently that her body would be healed.

In the evening time, the Princesses proceeded to play the native version of the dice game (Yahtzee) whenst they were joined - albeit timidly at first - by the children from the village of El Charo.
The children entertained the Princesses for a while showing their ability to count and their acrobatics.

It was amusing for some moments but as is well known, children can only be tolerated in short phases. The children were banished to the parlour whilst the Princesses had their evening meal and enjoyed their local wine.

The evening ended on a challenging note - a new form of card game based on Rummikup was played with much concentration.
An early night was had as there was more exploration (and some rest to be had the following day)

On an unexpected note, the transportation described to the Princesses was not forthcoming.
Therefore to bring the two back down to earth, they were driven back to La Paz in the back of a truck rather like they were on their way to a concentration camp.

Well .. it was destined for La Paz.