into ECUADOR, big city, then back to the beach

19 Dec 2006

So we leave Peru, first a tiny mini van to Tumbes then literaly straight onto a flash bus as it is departing. Too easy really. Another straight forward border crossing too. The most amusing part of the mornign is the mini bus driver.. he honks his horn just cos he likes it I'm sure... more than any other driver I've ever seen anywhere. Hes actualy put holes in the steering wheel. What a legend...

It feels odd in hindsight... we were in Peru exactly 14 days!!! Only 2 weeks... it might as well have been a package holiday... very odd, after cruising so slowly thru Bolivia. And even stranger, it doesnt feel like we REALLY rushed it.. though we obviously did.

The bus ride is supposed to take 5 hours but it feels longer, despite nice roads and a nice vehical. We arrive in the largest city this country owns, Guayaquil. The bus terminal is just enormous. People everywhere all practicaly sprinting. We decide to catch a public bus into the center which turns out to be a right roller coaster ride.

The eve is spent checking out the city´s pride and joy, its recently developed waterfront area. And indeed it is pretty impressive. Unfortunately there is a Macdonalds there. Yuk. Out of interest I check the price of a big mac meal.. $3.69 US. Economists of the world actualy use this as a measure of local disposable income... hmmm.

On that note, it feels kind of odd using American dollars. Its easy for sure. And it makes everything sound cheap. It just gets to be normal using high denominations everywhere else previous.

The next day we head for the beach. Montanita is reputed to have the best waves, best chill out scene etc. Getting the public bus to the termainal is even more full on than last night.. we roar!!

On the bus we haul we meet a young and full on Comumbian girl.. she promises to introduce us to people in town

Mancorra.. beach time

I´ve been looking forward to some beach time for quite a while now, so our 3 hour drive to get there from Piura is with a bit of anticipation. Our ride is definitely cool. Instead of the bus we spend an extra 5 soles and cruise ina 1960 mussle car with bench seats. Cool.

The beach is initialy a bit of a let down. Its very windy and that wind is cool. Its feels dirty and crowded with market stalls.

Then we find the posh/gringo end.. and its much nicer!!

It tries to be another Kuta or similar, but with a main road being the (skinny) highway, and trucks flying thru town every few mins, it just doesnt quite have the right feel.

The nice end of the beach is small, and the waves are pretty consistent. There seem to be a loads of young and fit local girls who just hang here all the time. Good to see..

Our room is the cheapest one yet, even compared to Bolivia. Its also the most scungy. Its doused in creosote when we arrive, supposedly to fend off mossies. Surprisingly, the bed is comfy, so we stay... at 15 soles($4.50US)/night we can handle that..

amazing museum...gold

We start the day on a bus.. of to Chiclayo. THis only takes three hours, which goes quick enough. We then transfer to a local mini van for a 10km ride to Lambaque. Our focus for today is the Museam of Pisac.

We cant take phots inside, which is a real shame... cos this is one damn impressive museum!

It is all for the Grand master of Sipan, and his crypt, which was only rediscovered in 1987. Gold everywhere, and small jewlery with the most intricate of details. Blown away..

We are definitely in mission mode now, and decide to charge further North today. We hope to Mancora, but instead opt for 1 3 hour ride to Piura. Tjis bus ride is no fun at all. On the back seat which sits due upright, in pitch dark. I read my book by torch light.

Once in to town we find a cheap hostel and crash, not even leaving the room!

ruins and crazy guides

14 Dec 2006

Our guides today are husband and wife team Clara and Mike. They are both late 50´s. She is local and he came here from England to fall in love and never leave. They are an odd couple. She is down right mad, scattering away in every direction when she talks. He just cant stop talking. Its all facts, and at super high speed. It literaly too much!

The Temple of the Moon is preety interesting. My brain struggles to keep up with Michael´s talk,even though it is im clean English. Three hours later I am knackered. We return to their hostel for luch, and I go straight to bed, not intending to move for the afew hours..

But no, the ruins of Chan Chan await, and Sara somehow motivates me to get up.

Thjis time it is Clara who guides us, mostly in Spanish. The sight is lieteraly massive and really reminds me of Egypt.

More memorable though is Claras driving. In a beat up old VW bug which feels tiny, she casualy drives over curbs, the wrong way down one way streets and causes mayhem on the roads with no real appreciation that its her whos in the wrong. The funniest moment comes when she sneaks her way thru the cars all waiting for a red light. She cuts to close to a taxi, and scrapes the bugs flared wheel trims against it. the driver yells at her to get out and see the damange. She looks completely unfruffled and casualy tells him to stop being silly.. his car is made of platic anyway! Then drives off....

Aweome..

Cusco to Trujillio the fast way

13 Dec 2006

Another bloody early start. Trundling off to the airport as the sun comes up. We have ¨rushed¨the last few days to make this flight which we got cheap, so it had better be worth it..

Its all good. The flight is actualy on time. It only takes an hour (vs 30 on a direct bus). Views are OK too.

We still havent decided whether to spend a day or several in Lima. Its a an enormous city, and sounds pretty grim. By the time we land we decide against it. There is a cloud overhead which manages to keep the temp down.. it almost felt warmer where we just came from.. a sunny 3300m ASL. We actualy look into the possibility of flying North to Trijilio, seeing as we are at the airport already. The flight is not till late arvo, and would cost $82US. Bad idea.

Wading past a multitude of taxi men screaming at us we escape the clutches of the airport and expensive official cabs, to bargain hard with those less official outside. There are loads of bus companies to get out of Lima, and they inconveniently all have their own terminals.. all miles apart.. We chooose ¨Cruz de Sur¨which had supposedly the best rep.

And so it bloody well should when we hear the price! 70 Soles, ie $21US !!! Further more we have to catch another cab to their other terminal on the other side of town. More harsh negotiations with taxis outside. One crusty character finaly agrees to our price, and has to clear all the other drivers out of his boot.. they have been intently playing cards there all morning by the looks.

The bus is admittedly very flash. It has double front axels, wi fi on board, movies, and serves us lunch. We get video taped as we board, supposedly for security reasons. It even has a 20 min video display about how wonderful it is, in case we hadnt noticed.

The drive takes 8 hours. The first part is beautiful. We drive along a perfect road somehow carved into massive sand dunes, looking down to the ocean 200m below us. The coast is eerily deserted, and there are only trucks on the road, no cars at all.

The secnd half is boring really. But to entertain us the steward sets us up with a game of bingo. It puts my Spanish to the test, but neither of us ends up winning the free onward ticket..

Then some movies. The first two are in Spanish.. with Spanish subtitles. The last is in English, and the young steward plays it so quietly I struggle to understand. Sigh.

Into Trujilio around 8.30pm we walk to maybe 5 crappy hostels before finaly deciding to go to the furthest one away, which has a very favourable write up in the guide book about the owners who also do guiding to the nearby archealogical sights. Pretty knackered by now, we eat Chinese across the road then crash.

Ollyantambo.. and back to Cusco

12 Dec 06
We get up early.. we want to see a bit today. First the ruins where we are staying in Olly, then bussing thru to the outskirts of Cusco for some more Inca ruins. it might work...

The day starts extremely well. A young dude, traning to be a tour guide offers to show us the ruins for a tip only.. This sounds dubious... but he turns out to be incredibly onto it, with excellent English, and more enthusisam than you normaly see in a guide (except me of course..haha). He tells us it will take 1 to 1.5 hours... and 3.5 later we almopst regretufully say good bye. He cannot charge whil in training, but we give him a pretty solid tip and wish hime well.

The bus thru to Cusco goes surprisingly smoothly too. When we get to the ruins know to gringos as ¨sexy woman¨we hit a snag though. The ticket we´d bought this morning we were told would cover both sets of ruins... but it doesnt. The young bird who tells us this gets a right earful from Sara... which eventualy works..(!) After all the agro though, the ruins are pretty lame !

Walking down the hill into town the heavans open and it seriously pisses down. We huddle under a protruding rooft0op, and are invited in to a local shop to stay dry. Conversation is predictable enough.. they dont have a cue where NZ is. Explaing it is south, parallel with South America, and near to Australia doesnt ring any bells either.

In the eve we post 14kg of stuff home. This feels damn good! Our bags are now both less than 10kg. We are trusting the Peruvian postal system cos DHL etc are just rediculously expensive. So fingers crossed... only cemi confident at this stage...

machu picchu... ¨done it¨

We arrived back in Cusco this arvo, after 5 days out to the most famous spot in SA. A very eventful few days....

8 dec
Walking to the lesser used bus station out of Cusco is a 25 min journey. Yet within less than 5 mins we feel like we are back in Bolivia. There seems to be a gringo radius around the plaze that evaporates after 500m. Things feel rough and ready again.

The bus is typicaly late. Over an hour so in fact. The road up after Ollyantambo though is a surprise. Its brand new... 2 wide lanes, perfect tarmac, perfect raod painting, signs.. the lot. This is a good thing cos we climb for well over an hour, actualy transending above the warmth of the low valley right up through the clouds, into thick mist. we later discover we got up to 4350m.

At the crest the bus stops.There is a small church. Almost every other passenger goes in to pray for 5 mins. Once we get going we understand why....

The road continues on down the other side but looks more like a construction site..which it is. It makes the World Most danger Road from the other day look like a gentle stroll. At first the pecarious drops are hidden by mist but once below we realise that this skinny shingle road has some perfect base jumping points. And it just keeps going... and going. At one point the driver somehow gets the bus thru a hairpin.Cliff on the outside corner to the right. 500m drop on the inside corner on the left. All the while we are under a waterfall which is rapidly eating away at the few cm he has the back left wheels on. None of the locals batter an eyelid. I just drool over the possibiliity of mountain biking this road.

Arriving in Santa Maria around 9.30 I am pretty excited still. The town is dead though. It turns out there is a religious holiday today, and all the locals are at a party. We finaly manage to find a basic place to stay, but no dinner. Evidently the bus to Santa Maria leaves at 3am. The hostel owner promises to wake us...

9 Dec
And wake us she does. We bang on the mini van window, so the comatosed driver will let us in. He does this, then returns to the drivers seat and passes out. Not a good sign. It seems the party last night was big indeed. We wait for a while. possibly 1.5 hrs.. i am unsure cos I fall asleep. When I reawaken Sara is spewing that we are still here. The driver might as well be a corspe so we walk across the raod to the turn off and wait.

Another van come and says he is going nowhere near Santa teresa, but figuring foward is foward we jump in anyway. This is a potentialy poor decision.. as he only goes 20 mins down the road to a tiny village of shacks by the river. He points up a bloody enormous hill and says ¨the tourists go that way¨. Confused what that might mean we sit for a while then ask a couple of village kids who wak past. They say you can indeed walk to Santa Teresa up and over the hill. One thinks it will take all day, the other three hours. Alarmingly neither of them have ever attempted it..

knowing that ¨3 hours¨ over here can mean anything from 3 minutes to three weeks we hesitate. Then out of the blñue a group of 5 teenage American girls and a local come wandering up the road. They are on a tour, and confirm it can be done but will take most of the day. We let them go, then decide to follow along.

By this time it is 8am, the heat is building and we have eaten nothing but a couple of mangos we found. And goin up the hill is steep. Seriously so.

But the view... the view is just fantastic.. by far the most dramatic we have seen anywhere on the trip so far. The track levels out and is literaly a single track cut into the side of a sheer cliff. A river runs wildly about 600m below us.Its exhilirating, and i am stoked we decided to walk.

Every now and again we pass thru tiny communities with 4 or 5 houses. Most amusingly they have mains power, with lines extending to the top of the mountain to connect to the huge power pylons there. I muse at the cost of these connections, and the poor (or lucky) meter reader who has to come out here every second month.

One entrepenerial woman has even set up a simple cafe. Thank God, cos I am starting to suffer. While eating we meet an Irish couple and another guide. It seems this is quite a popular guided route, and aint cheap when done with one. Again we thank our lucky stars for having stumbled onto it.

That is until 10 mins further down the track. The path splits in multiple directions and we dont have a clue which way to go! Back to the cafe to ask directions from the owners, but the guide says we can join them. If he hadnt been there things might have been tricky indeed, cos there are many intersections as we progress the arvo. We generaly follow the river up, and cross it with a cool flying fox at one point.

Admitedly, we finish the day exhausted. the early start was damn tough. Almost at the end of the walk we are treated to a huge outdoor hotpools area. it makes most in NZ look tiny. While relieving our aching muscles, it saps our remaining energy, and there goes the idea of walking the last leg through to Augus Callientas.

Continuing onto to AG would have been another 5 hours, in the dark. We arent too excited by the prospect, but feel pressured by the flight we booked out of Cusco on the 13th. Further more the weather forecast for tomorrow is great.. the next day terrible. But its defintiely too late.Neither of us can barely move. We find a pokey hostel ,eat a terrible dinner, and crash at about 8.20pm!

10 Dec
We awake to see the forecast was wrong. Its raining! So thank God we didnt rush to AG and Muchu Picchu today!

We skip the first two hours walk by getting into a truck on the other side of the river. Squashed in under a tarp with 20 locals trying to keep dry. The ´conductor´charges everyone else 2 soles, then produces a ticket book just for us and tries to charge 4 soles. We get bolshie and Sara tells him in strong Spanish ¨we do not want the tourist service¨. He looks pissed, but backs down. We pay local price.

the walk is only 10km, along the train track. There is a new bidge being built to connect Santa Teresa, so no doubt this will all be changed ina year or so. It would appear to be linked to the fact the huge hill road 2 days ago is also being done up. Having to walk on the unevely spaced sleepers is a bit tiring, but the views are awesome with huge cliffs toweringover us. Even bigger than Milford Sound.

AG is a pure tourism town, specificaly built for Mach Picchu which sits above it. It can only be accessed by rail ( or walking the railway line). Like any other full on tourist town it a 50/50 mix of restauranats and souvineer shops. All that aside the river running thru it and the green mountians remind us both of Franz Josef a lot. We are excited to finaly be here, and I try to rationalise the weather, saying that rain today means sun tomorrow.. It takes some time to prepare for tomorow, buying tickets for the ruins ($38US each!!), the bus up ($6US each..being lazy) and the train back down the valley (deciding against the 28kn alternative walk..at $36US each!!).

11 Dec
The alñarm goes off at 4.45am. We are all packed and ready to go. First bus is at 5.30 and we have been advised to que at 5 to ensure we are on it. It feels odd that we are the only ones there till 5.15, then around 25 other foreigners appear.

We are literaly the first to enter the site bang on 6am. There is not a cloud in the sky, and we walk up to the first classic vantage point....

...and feel a bit underwhelmed!!!!! It looks a lot smaller than either of us had immagined.

The sunrise is cool though, though we cant see where the first rays fall (the entire purpoes of Machu Picchu´s existence). The other foreigners are all madly taking photos... of themselves and each other. A group of Scottish girls on a tour who were here yesterday insist loudly that this is the time to get pics before the site is ¨filled with ponchos.¨ They rwally outdo themselves examining every portrait of themselves with the ruins in the background.. complaing to who ever took the photo that somethings not right about and starting again. I watch on somewhat bewildered...

We can tell its going to get hot so we decide to climb up to Wynna Picchu early. This is the most impressive part of the site. A bloody steep climb up, with ruins literaly hanging off a thin spire of mountain. We can see dwon to the river way below us, and really appreciate how high the moutains around us are. The feeling of underwhelment is fading now..

There is another walk down to the Grand Cave and Moon temple. Hardly anyody ever does it, but we decide to. It turns out to be a seiously steep staircase.. dropping 600m!!!! The ruins down there are not so flash, and neither is most of the walk UP the other side. Except for the last 15 mins where the track is literaly hanging off the cliffs. Freaky..

Back in the ruins, it is now 11am. Sure enough there are a lot of people here now. But somehow this actualy gives the ruins perspective, and they seem a lot bigger than this morning. The rest of the day we look here there and everywhere, listening in on other people´s guides. (admittedly we should have got one for ourselves...)

Walking down around 2.30 we are very happy. Especialy with the weather. It feels kind of weird that that was it. Like just about everybody who come to SA this was to be our major highlight... and now its over. We joke that we have now ¨done¨South America... (an awful British backpacker saying..)

And our last highlight of the day is the train down to Ollyantambo. It is called a ¨vistadome¨service, cos it has a glass roof. Quite helpful for scoping the mountains above. We are enjoying this, when suddenyla ski masked man jumps out from the toilet, then starts dancing in the isle!!! It turns out to be ïn flight¨entertainment.. followed by a fashion shown by the conductors trying to sell alpaca sweaters. Totaly random... and a great way to finish the trip!

Cusco. What a change!!

Wed found gringo alley in Puno very cosmopolitan compared to anywhere in Bolivia. THis does not prepare us for Cusco though. Its like going through a time warp.. there are 5 star hotles everywhere. No rubbish. Gringos everywhere. Eating establishments that could be anywhere in the world. And nice food too!

Wasting no time we check out the famous alley with the crazy Inco walls. Huge stones interlocking in bizzarre ways are indeed a sight to see. We are hounded by kids and touts for souvineers, massages etc. And a couple of cute young fellas explain the ins and outs of the walls. The significance of the 12 sided stone, and the stones that form the shape of a Puma (if really using your immagination.) They also show us a crazy photo of Machuu Picch on dusk on the June solstace. Totaly freaky.. look at the mountin behind it sideways and it looks EXACTLY like a human face!!!! It only happens once a year, and is evidently why they chose that sight in the first place... We give them 5 soles and they actualy have the gaul to complain that its not enough!

In quite the opposite fashion though our restaurant decision for the night takes on controversial proportions. We are accosted by touts who literally bid agaist ewch other for our custom, each ofering more free drinks than the last! Saying good bye to the Italians as we retire is all a bit emotional really. They have insisted all along that we meet them in Venice in a few months. The wolf is a boat builder and will take us to canals that no other tourists see. They say good bye giving us a written token for the ride, and a couple of bracelets. Genuinely touched I grab a Maori bone carving i made years ago and have been waiting to give to someone. Its the classic hook, and the wolf is stoked, being a fisherman and all. We look foward to meeting in a few months.

The next day (today) is unfortunately only cemi productive. We get some boxes to send excess stuff (ie warm clothing) to Italy. We wont need it after Machu Picchu when we fly to the low lands. The pricec DHL and TNT are terrorfying. Literaly several hundred US dollars. We will have to go with the local post instead. Fingers crossed..

Its been raining all night, but it stops for most of the day, starting again in the eve. The rainy season it appears is actualy here. This was exactly what we were hoping to avoid. Especialy here. We have barely seen a few drops until now..

For the reasons of rain, and others we have decided not to do the Inca trail. Its expensive, and everyone does it (and raves about it), but we are somehow not motivated. Instead we are going to embark on the "sneaky Gringo trail". This will get us to Macchu Picchu, also taking four or so days. But it will involve lots of bus travel to non gringo towns, crossing a river with a dodgy flying fox, and many kilometers of walking (and not with porters carrying our stuff).

The only official way to get to Macchu Picchu as a gringo os either to catch the tourist train ( a rediculous $67US!!) or do the Inca trail walk (minimum $350US). We found this alternative concept on the Lonelyplanets bulletin board "the thorn tree." It is not in any guide book, supposedly costs $8US and is pretty dubious. We buy our ticket for the first leg of the journey, to Santa Maria, at 1pm tomorrow. It will be an adventure at least..

We also have an ultimately unsuccessful adventure trying to pick up some dodgy ISIC cards. They are a dime a dozen in Thailand or Istanbul, but even talking to the dodgiest looking tatoo artists we find doesnt work out. Evidently there are "too many checks nowdays." pity, cos the discounts for having one here are pretty good!

The Inca museum we visit is vast, with loads to take in. Somwhat scarey are the deformed skulls of the old nobility. THey used to squeeze them with metal braces etc. Grim.. Of more amusement is the "Urban Virgens" exhibit. Old Christian paitings with white women as the models being replaced with photos of local Indian women instead. Politicaly correct??? Mmmm

Cusco or bust!!

5 Dec 2006
Wouldnt you know it. We rush into Peru cos we decide to speed the trip up a little... and theres a bloody strike on. So no busses... For two days! Doh.

This sees us moping around for the day. We are too late to get a ferry out to the reed islands. They sound pretty commercial anyway. It is frustrating to do nothing, especialy after yesterdays similarly uneventful actions.

In the Eve Lupo and Clem say they have found a taxi driver who will barge us through the road blockade early tomorrow morning, and get us to Cusco. It wont be cheap though. 300 Soles, so 75 each.. ie NZ$36.. almost an entire days budget. On the basis that we really dont need another nothing day, and that it could be a n adventure we decide to go for it.

The next mornin gwe are up early. Our taxi is supposed to come at 7.00. So we wait. And wait. And by 7.30 we realise hes just another unreliable local who plain aint coming.

Unamused we flag down a few more cabs. Most say no, or charge even more. Then the 5th car says yes.. and for 250 Soles! We waste no time in juming in.

And what a bloody let down! We passed a ute with 8 policemen clad in riot geer and machine guns, so it looked like it might get juicey.. BUT NO. Not a single blockade, or protester to be seen. Five hours later we were in Cusco, with nothing but tired arses to show for it. The driver typicaly tried to chrge us more upon arival, but Sara told hime in fluent angry spanish where to go. (back to Puno I guess).

So at 1pm we were finaly in Cusco, the most touristy city in South America, and next to everybodies highlight... Machu Picchu..

into PERU

We land in Copacobana at 5.30. Now we have made the decision to move a bit quicker we really want to leave tonight. The border is only 20 mins away. We are told that it shuts at 6.30. Quite by chance we run into a couple of Italians around our age who have the same plan and are negotiating a taxi. We hurridly grab our excess stuff from the hostel and jump in.

The bodrder crossing is again just too easy. Fourth time now. Excellent.

It does not go so smoothly for our new friends. They left Peru for only htree days to have a quick peek at Bolivia. Upon entering their driver told them not to worry about getting an entry stamp. Bad idea. Getting an exit stamp without one proves to be a corrupt border guards wet dream and they are stung 500 bols each!!! No doubt all of which goes directly to the guards...

Another short taxi, then a 2 hour bus rie we are in Puno. And its raining.

We decide to go with their reccommended hostel, and go out for dinner with them too. Their names coincidently are Lupo (wolf!) and Clementina. I am stunned at what gringo alley in Peru looks like compared to Bolivia. Its so flash we could also be back home again. Our food is admittedly more expensive than what weve been used to, but is presented with some flair which makes a real change too.

Their beer is still pretty crap. Damn!!!

We hit the sack around 10pm trying to calculate the new currency.

time to get a move on!

4 Dec
Having five hours of down time waiting for a ferry off Isla de Sol was not much fun. However it gave us nothing better to do than read some guidebooks of other travellers and take stock of where we are in the big scheme.

The revelation comes hard and fast and its not pretty..

We have spent 50 days in Bolivia. Its been a real mixture of great expereices, time well away from any other gringos, a bit of frustration at timres but añways living exceptionaly cheap. We started this trip with the intention to cruise as slowly as possible, and finish wherever we may be after 6 months. And thats exactly what we have done.

But now we realise that theres loads of things we want to see further North, and Sara is determined to spend the last few weeks of the trip in Italy. This leaves us maybe 2.5 months till we fly to Europe. That might have sounded like a decent length of time once, but having spent that long and only coming this far, it suddenly sounds rediculously short. Most of the "highlights" I have been looking foward to are way up North too. Starting in Ecuador in fact.

After spending the entire ferry ride back to Copacobana deliberating, we make a plan to fly (again...) from Cusco to Lima after seeing Muchu Picchu, thus avoiding the classic gringo trail along this route which most do in three weeks. Then scurry up the Norther Peru into Ecuador. Maybe we will see the Galapogos, we have a few leads for trying to do it on the cheap. Then Colombia, sailing to Panama, the canal, and Central American islands.

Is this the right decisiion???? We dint really know....

onto high islands

2 dec 06

The drive out of La Paz is surprisingly interesting. Getting out involves our bus clambering up out of the crater, and over bridges that look like they were made for pedestrians. Once out of the city we get our first real view of the alti plano. As expected... its very flat...

There is actualy a bit of greenery, and lots of cows, a bit like home really.

The journey takes four hours, with a break to cross a 500m channel on a very small ferry. We arrive in Copacobana around 5pm.

I am very impressed. It looks more like the ocean than the lake, and reminds me of a mix between the Greek islands and parts of the NZ coastline (Titahi Bay in particular). At 3,900m it is surprisingly warm. We spend a while searcing for a hostel for a view over the lake. Its my idea, and Sara doesnt get it. I just want a room which feels nice. The last few days in La Paz have been in a well fitted but ultimately depressing pokey room.

Trout is available at literally ALL the restaurants. I am unsure if anything else can even be ordered. It tastes good. And its so cheap (15 bols/ $3NZ) I have two. All manner of water crafts for hire sit on the lake edge. It feels incredibly touristy, but catered for Bolivians more than foreigners somehow. I like it.

The next day we boat out to Isla de Sol.. The island of the Sun. We dont bother getting out of bed early for the regular ferry, but manage to blag a ride on a private boat with a group of youbng a wealthy looking Bolivians for the same price. It is sunny, and I am tempted to jump in just to say I have swam in the worlds highest lake. It would be a nice compliment to the worlds lowest sea I eneterd several time in Jordan a few years ago, but I cant quite muster the enthusism. Never mind.

From the jetty we have to climb the "Inca stirs." They are seriously steep at at this altitude are taken slowly. Somewhat to both of our surprises we buy our first souvineers on the entire trip, In fact we get a bit carried away, buying no less than 5 tapestries depicting local life here. Sara even gets a piece of rope platted into her hair... seriously touristy.. what has suddenly happened to us??

We find the nicest room on our entire trip. It has a wonderful view over the lake and the mountains in the distance. It has windows on three walls and a skylight.. and it costs us 40 bols (NZ$8!!).

Once rested we begin exploring, and walk for bloody miles up and down the length of the island. The locals are friendly enough and despite the sudden high wind and dark cloud overhead we stay warm enough. The sunset is hidden by clouds, but is fierry red. Again I think back to time in the Greek Islands a few years ago.

The next day is a bit of a fiasco. Intending to walk to the rest of the island then catch the 4pm ferry we go to brekkie with best intentions. Despite the very high wind, rain and generaly stormy weather. Meeting a fellow Kiwi travelling solo we yak away for ages, then decide to chicken out and ferry back asap. Hopefully we can make the Peru border, which is only 20 mins drive away today. She has been told there is a midday ferry. We have not. Unfortunately our advice turns out to be correct and wesit by the dock for 5 hours. Bored.

Watcing the boats made entirely of reed is kind of cool, but nowadays they are strictly for wealthy tourists. Ie not us..

leaving La Paz

After our exciting ride, we cruised La Paz for just one more day. The morning was spent with Alistair from Gravity Biking, going through the ins and outs of coming here to work. Boy did he have some storys...

The last fatality on that road (with another company) was not too long ago. Evidently the girl who flew off the side had been complaing about her brakes all day. When the rest of the group was interviewed by the police they told them this. THe police report decided it was ... suicicde..

He also told us how many of the guides have gone up to set up their own businesses in La Paz. We discussed the ins and outs of the beauracracy of all this and it seems a bit hazzard, but no where near as cut,dried and generaly bullshit as in NZ.

So we (or at least I) am keen.If next Feb is realistic waits to be seen..

In the arvo we ended up seeing the sights of La Paz by taxi. It was a total fluke that hte first taxi we stopped with this in mind had an abnormaly pleasant and helpful driver, who charged peanuts. We cruised all over the heights of the craters that La Paz hides inside, and it was pretty cool to see the city from those angles.

In the eve we met with a Gravity guide who had gone ahead and set up his own gig here. An oxygen bar (!) It seems these things are popping up all over the world, but it actualy makes sense when you{re at 3,700m. We yarned away about life in Bolivia for hours, and he even gave us a 10 min burst on the O2 for free. Good man! In all honesty I{m not sure if it really helped, but we do look silly in the photos...

riding fast vs parachute free base jumping

So yesterday we did the famous ride...¨The worlds most dangerous road¨from above La Paz down to Coirioco.

Talk about seeing four seasons in one day.. we went from snow and sleet down to stinking hot jungle. Given our descent from 3800 to 1200m it was inevitable..

more to come... but for now, it was great fun!

Up up up to La Paz

We ended up leaving Rurre on monday. Our Pampas tour finished sunday eve, and i was VERY keen to check out the 45m high zip wire course, just recently opened. But having decided to fly up to the big smoke, we had to go mon for the cheap flight with the miliatry plane.

The flight with TAM cost us $47US each. The bus would have cost $9 US, but was 18 hours long on a shitty bumpy road. This decision was not taken lightly though. We were very concerned about ´bursting the seal´with such a luxury. Once its been done once, it might become a little too easy to use the expensive luxury method again. We are supposed to be on a budget!!

The other reason for the flight was that the views are supposed to be magnificent, coming over the alti plan all at once. That is most probably true, but there were so many clouds that day the effect was mostly lost.

As son as we got off the plane it was like entering a different world. For weeks now we had been constly sweating, day and night. Now at 3600m it was chilly! It was actualy quite a relief to be honest..

So La Paz is a bloody huge city which sits inside a long thin crater. The steep streets are tough work at this altitude, believe me! It was also amusing to see people in city clothes again, ie western suits etc. Despite the hustle and bustle it does not feel intimidating in the slightest though.

Our main reason to be here was to check out mountain biking down the ¨worlds most danger road¨. We had been emailing Alistair, the Kiwi owner of ´Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking´for a few months in regard to maybe doing some guiding work here. We met him on tues, had a look around their office and new hostel, and were pretty impressed.

The biggest issue was recent competitors all undercutting his (rather steep admittedly) $75 US. They were cutting corners to do so, which has resulted in a few deaths, injuries etc. But people stilll que up to do it..

Wed we cruised, about the most lazy day of the trip so far. Watched tv in bed till midday, then did little afterwards... not so good..

and thurs we did the ride, whcih can be the next post..

fighting cocks!!

Just before leaving Rurre we stumbled onto a South American tradition ´thats held every Sunday..Cock fighting. Thats like hens, not naked blokes(yuk).

It was a pretty amusing afair, even more so that in a town now as touristy as Rurre, we were yet again the only gringos. About 50 locals, mostly men all shouting loudly and gambling their life savings. The fighting wasnt as blood thirsty as i had immagined, and it was actualy pretty cool to watch the cocks fly up about a meter while kicking each other. Like a Bruce Lee movie!

I took a few pics, but didnt use a flash, cos i was trying to be inconspicuous..

Pampas trip from Rurre. Too cruisey.. and nice

from 24-26 Nov 2006

So the bread and butter of tourism in Rurre is taking foreigners to... well, the Pampas.

The Pampas, to be more difinitive, is an area of very flat swamp. It has low rivers running through it, and loads of wildlife.

Our plan had been to chill out for a few days, but at the last minute we were basicly grabbed by a very skilful salesman who gave us a special discount to get the minimum number for the trip to go. (As expected, everyone else had got a special deal too.. BUT ours was the lowest..$50US each for 3 days, and in our own cabin)

It was a very cruisey trip. No carrying bags cos all the activities were based from our cabins, right by the river. EXCELLENT food, and lots of it. Nice people in our group. And indeed loads of wildlife (at last!!)

Getting out there was a wee mission. Three hours on an extra bumpy road, followed by two hours roasting in the motorised canoe. Along the way we had lunch at a restaurant which turned out to be a zoo.

While eating, and minding our own business we first had a beautiful tucan hop under our table. Its massive bright yellow beak was so cool to see up close. Two mins later a racoon scurried under there too. He had a mean set of fangs, but was cool to pick up. Later we found him literaly inside the toilet, licking it..hmmm, time to wash our hands. Then a tiny money who scurried up a tree and tried to poo on our trip mates. Even a local cow wanted in on the action, but was shooed away by the waiters most quickly.

Our travel mates were three Oziie lads (Jim, Ben, Jordan) and a Frenchie (Tomas). All around 26. Good fellas. We passed a lot of time just talking shit (as you do). This was interupted with wildlife spotting. On the river journey in we saw two aligators, loads of stalks and eagles. I think we saw them cos our guide motored ahead of the other boats, who must have seen buggar all.

Our camp was all board walked, mosquito netted, and kitted with hammocks. Very flash compared to our recent river and jungle trips. The mosquitos were thick as though and we all got bitten a lot, despite applying litres of repellant. We also had a camp pet... an aligator! It was as tame as a dog (on land at least) and we all got to pat him... which was pretty cool.

That night we cruised up river 5 mins... and found a bar! Cool. Only had a couple trying to watch the sunset, hidden by clouds. Then we went Cayman spotting. They are bigger aligators, but spotlighting them, all we really saw was their eyes. By the time we got home it was 8.30... and with nothing to do...we went to bed.

The next day started with a hunt for Anacondas. This involved walking over the pampas itself in gumboots. They didnt help much when our guide insisted that we walk thru a wet patch that was up to our waistes. At least he found it funny...

So we finaly found snake, but let me tell you it wasnt easy... for the guides or the poor snake. The tree he was hiding under, in a hole, was obviously a well known spot to the guides, cos within 10 mins 5 different guides and their groups had converged on it. The snake just didnt want to come out though, so they literaly dug the poor bastard out. It must have been shitting itself (they also tried to smoke it out blowing ciggies into the hole, and prodding it with sticks!), and when they finaly managed to yank it out it was pissed. We held its head while wrappping it around our own necks, until it finaly threw up. Twice. About as politicaly incorrect as it gets really.

The afternoon was also pretty interesting. Jumping into aligator and cayman infested waters to try and get close with the local pink dolphins. The (proven) theory is that the crocs and piranhas wont attack when the dolphons are around. It took a few moments of belief in our guide for this one. More offputting was the FILTHY state of the water-visibility was approx 1.5cm. But in we went. The dolphins came within a meter or so but we all missed out on the ultimate good luck of one rubbing alongside.

to be continued

the suspicious lonely planet...

Hmmmm, while in Rurre we found a very old LP for Bolivia, the very 1st edition, from 1988 no less. There were a few changes in 18 years, ie then it was 1USD = 2Bols. Now its 8 bols!

Rurre wasnt even mentioned, it was yet to become a tourist town.

And the write up for the river trip we did from Puerto Villarole to Trinidad was still word for word!!!!! This explains why we wernt treated to wildlife every five mins as promised!! The wildlife from 18 years ago is all (well mostly) dead.

I ´think´ the LP needs to do a bit more research when updating their books......

Trinidad to Rurrenbaque

Trinidad wasnt the most exciting wee place, it has to be said. We stayed 2 nights then took the hell-bus to rurre yesterday.

In fact the most exciting thing that happened in Trini was going to the barber for a shave. I had ammased quite a lot of hair after a week on the river, and was intending to go clean. Per chance there was a poster on his mirror of some Hollywood prettyboy with an interesting trim, so i asked if he could mirror it.

Tosay he took to the challenge was an understatement... one and a half hours later the perfectionist had done a great job. I will add the photos in a few days.

As for the bus ride... we were supposeded to leave at 10am...which got pushed out till midday. It was supposed to take 10 hours...which somehow extended to 15. Getting into Rurre at 3am we were pretty shagged.The bus was more like an overland truck, with big offroad tyres, and high ground clearance. It was needed too. Full on dirt road. Had to cross three rivers on tiny barges too. Again i will post photos when we leave rurr cos..

Its 12 bols/hr for internet here!!!! For a wee town developing into a mini Kathmandu or Ko Phan Ang I was shocked! Everywhere else we have paid 2-3 bols!

So on that note.... I will go.

The plan is now: off into the local pampas for 3 days to check ot aligators and anachondas etc tomorrw. Then going to fly (yes really) up to La Paz... no mosquitos and cheap internet..
cool

5 days on the jungle river...

Well, good. We made it. Quite an intense week just passed for us,on a cargo boat plying the central amazonian riverways of Bolivia. This was NOT a trip set up for tourists, and there were more than a few moments when getting off would have been preferable...had we not been literaly hundreds of kilometers from anywhere resembling a town..

Our journey toPeurtoVillaroel was a mission to start with... catching a succession of share taxis (like a bus, but using a car..avoid the front seat where 2 pax are crammed). It took most of the day, but we got there. The town was bigger than we expected (though still tiny) , the river was dirtier than expected, and there were no other foreigners anywhere (as expected). The air was super muggy so the mosquitos were also out and angry, biting us hard. We ate, then escaped to a pokey hostel room where at least the windows were covered in mesh. Our enquiries to the harbour master had revealed that no boats were leaving ina hurry,and to come back tomorrow..

to be continued

refreshed and rearing to go

A couple of days in the city has done wonders to the energy levels. We shelled out an extra 20c or something similar for a nicer room than usual, with cable TV and air con. Ate good food, and just relaxed a bit. We take off today for Puerto Villarol where we hope to jump on a cargo boat down river for a few days. In preperation we purchased mossie nets, hammocks yesterday..which was a mission in itself.

What was not as big a mission as anticipated was getting my passport back from immigration. As predicted there were huge ques again, and everybody was stressed out. But to their credit the extension had been granted and after a bit of waiting around i had it. Yay!

Finding hammocks took ages. Evidently its a very Brazillian thing, so we finaly found a point on the map where such Brazilians hang out. A bit dubious we walked there from immmigration in blazing heat. The shopping experience with Brazilians was sooo different than that from Bolivians. Its been a very strange attitude from Bolivian shop keepers in general. As a rule of thumb they look genuinely pissed off that you are bothering the, and actualy buying something doesnt help one bit. Our Brazillian though was the most motivated salesman in the world. He made us try loads of different ones, weighed them for us when we said they had to be light, and discussed in great detail the dpros and coons of each. It was borderline hard-sell, but amusing at the same time.

There are some rather freaky folks who come in from out of town from time to time. Mennonites... think Hamish or Quakers in north america and you´re on the right track. Its only men we´ve seen.. all pasty white, wearing the exact same demin dungarees, check sirt and a cowboy hat. They look like freaks... but we are assured they are harmless...and ´very good agriculturists´

And who ever thought a ´fruit´drink could taste like fish? Yep, the ´Tamarindo´is a red juice which tastes like the run-off from oysters. Not good.

Saw a fire in a nearby hotel. The fire engine looked like it was straight out of the 1920´s which was kind of cool..

So with all this excitement... we are off to the river...

5 days bush bashing

We are back in Santa Cruz, as of midday today. The last five days have been pretty full on.. bush bashing. So our nice city beds and city food are being thoroughly enjoyed!

Last post I was feeling pretty grotty, but I came right by Tues morning when we took off for the jungle. Thank God..

Our guides were Julian, and his 20 year old son Limbiz. With in the Amboro national Park we saw quite a few animals, covered loads of ground, ate some pretty crap food, and scaled some pretty cool cliffs. The bush was actualy very similar to the West coast of NZ, but the insect and animal life present was much more intense.

day 1. Taxi´d to the park. Got the taxi stuck in deep mud, pushed it thru, then left the driver to return to town. God only knows how he got back thru again on his own. Walked for most of the day, passing the rough village where Julian and sons live. Camped under a cliff by the river.

We saw a couple of fox like creature on the way, but swimming/washing I met another creature a bit too close and personal... Thinking it would be clever to keep my clothes dry i jumped in naked... only to have a local fish get excited about a rather large worm presented... and bite my cock!! It gave me such an unexpected shock i screaned like it had been bitten right off! Funny now, but not then..

Day 2. Did some serious climbing today. Our guidebook had mentioned something about hikes into the park past a certain point being appropriate for ´hardcore´trekkers only. We hadnt paid much attention, but should have questioned why Julian was carrying a rope. The track was often damn near vertical. And in some places it was literaly vertical. THe most challenging pitch was approx 25m, in 3 pitches. Nothing overly technical you see, but a slip would have been a ´very bad thing.´ It was very exposed. Good fun!

We saw a couple more foxes, that ran right past us. Also some monkeys, and loads of bright green parrots.

Our campsite was near the park´s high point. It had been a bloody mission to get there, so it seemed a bit rediculous that we could see Santa Cruz lights in the distance that night!

Day 3. Went further up for the morning. We could see more of the park in the distance now. The park is huge - 322,000 HA. Only 5% of it has been explored. Having seen how many vertical cliff criss cross the land it was easy to see why. Julian postulated that there might be tribes in there which are literaly ´undiscoved´which i thought was pretty cool. That afternoon on the way down we were given a right show by a couple of monkeys beating their chests at us. We returned to our 1st nights camp. A well earned wash in the river.. shorts on ths time!

In the eve some animals visted us to feed on veges we left on the perimiter.

Day 4. Went bashing up the river for the morning. Saw a viper and loads of huge and colorful butterflys. In the arvo we ended up going down to Julians village, hoping to see some animals which had been coming in for sneaky feasts on their crops in the eve. The plan was good, but they didnt show up that night.

day 5. Serious bush bashing. Machete weilding stuff, and bloody red ants crawling onto us. Their bites seriously sting! We both got bitten by ticks too, which was a first for us both, and not nice. (Sara 4, me 2).. It was bloody hot today, and a swim was well earned. We finished the day walking back out to the pick up point, and into town for a well earned shower. A pretty sweet 5 days in the bush.

feeling crappy in the low lands

Havent been feeling the best over the last few days. Not much fun.

Our ride down (a long way down) to Santa Cruz (400m) was on an overnight bus. The busses only went at night.

I am never a fan of overnight travel, and this trip did not let down that assertion. We paid extra for the ´carma´(bed) bus with extra reclining seats. But no, it wasnt enough. The road was rough, I tossed and turned, then the bus broke down. After faffing about for almost 2 hours the driver gave up, and we managed to get on another bus, not carma.

So 14 hours later we got into Santa Cruz, feeling knackered. Spent the rest of the day sleeping, so there went any notion of saving money on accomodation by using night busses!

By the next morning though it was obvious that the problem was not just lack of slep. I must have eaten something dodgy, cos i felt bloody awful. Didnt get the runs, but generly felt shitty for the next 3 days.

During this time we relocated to little town Buena Vista, only 2 hours away. Caught a share taxi to get there with the counties worst race driver. Sara was not impressed. I was impressed with the local car´s fuel economy though. They run on CNG. 17 Bols fills the tank which runs 300kn. That means $3NZ gets 300km!!!! Staggering considering that Wanaka petrol has been as high as $1.84/Litre recently, giving about 5km/dollar...

One nice restaurant makes the town, the rest is a bit rough to say the least. As mentioned, I didnt really feel up to wanding too far away from our (dingy) room.

We had come to organise a trip into the Amboro National Park. Met a couple of guides and decided on one who seemed pretty genuine. five day, leaving tues. Cost = $25US/day.

But monday (today) we returned to the big smoke to sort a couple of things. Bussed it in the morning. Watched a lady change her babies nappies... then throw the soiled one out the window as we drove down the motorway!YUK YUK YUK!!! Nobody else battered an eyelid. We were also treated to a salesman climbing on board and doing a pushy promo for his eucaliptis products. He hard-sold to everybody... except us!

One of our missions for the day was to extend our visas. The immigration office was swamped with people, and it started seriously hosing with rain just as we arrived. We managed to beat the crowd (who are all here for passports, so they can go for a ´holiday´to Spain... and never return-big issue in the media here), but the beauracracy was as annoying here as many other developing countries I have visited. (NOT however, as annoying as Egypt-the toilet bowl of the world).

We were shuffled from one post to another, each one telling us something different, and maybe stamping something for us. And just when i thought it was all over, they took my passport, and said come back in two days! $20US too. Not cool.

Our second rabies shot from the chemist went smoothly. We actualy want to get bitten now just to justify it. Well, not really..

And lunch was pretty sweet, at the Irish Pub in the square.

So, we are about to bus home now, and will be in the park till sat. Hope the rains stops!!!

Sucre, fluent espanol now...

Still here in Sucre. We will boost tomorrow. Its a nice city, but neither of us are really city people. And I have clearly learnt all the Spanish i can handle.. (well maybe..)

Tomorrow will be lesson 5. I now have a pretty good grasp on the grammer. I understand most of what i read, but when in conversation get a bit lost. (they talk too bloody fast over here..) It can only get better. (I keep on saying that... to myself..)

So after a week we/I have:
-tried 3 different hostals.
-faffed about getting yellow fever shots, malarials, and rabies shots (How exciting).
-spent 3 hours a day in a classroom sitting at desks made for very small children.
-spent more hours in various hostals doing homework.
-went to a localy made movie ¨who killed the little blond Llama, which didnt make a lick of sense.
-posted our cold weather clothes to La Paz. 12kg!!! We will pick them up when we ascend from the lowlands in a few weeks.

Tomorrow the final insult will be a 14 hour overnight bus ride to Santa Cruz. Cant wait....

lesson 1

My first Spanish lesson today. Despite appearances from the photos in the previous post, I was sober as a judge when i turned up at 10am today. Did 2 hours with Maria the tutor, one on one, and it felt pretty good. Then spent most of the afternoon practicing with Sara.

How hard can it possibly be?? (!)

the mother of all beers!!

I had to show you all this... The biggest glass of beer in the world! The photos will tell the story better than words can. Think 3.5 litres in a glass and you´re there. Its called a ´re-balon´. (Just so you know what to ask for when you get here)

And for 35 Bols ($6.50NZ) it was a bargain!

OK.. THE PICS ARE A BIT STAGED... BUT IT WAS ONE HELL OF A BEER!

getting serious in Sucre

OK; I have had enough.

Of not being able to communicate effectively in Spanish that is. So despite Sara being a qualified language teacher, I have decided to get some lessons thru an more impartial tutor here in Sucre. I had hoped to start today but it wasnt to be. After checking several schools and picking the one i like most, i will begin tomorrow. At $5US/hr it had better be worth it!!

What was worth it today was getting our yellow fever shots here, instead of back home. In NZ it was going to cost $100. It also meant going to Queenstown, cos the docs in Wanaka couldnt do it. Here it was free!! Well, getting an internaional card to prove we had it was supposed to cost 100 Bols ($19 NZ). The doc got a bit confused when we presented our yellow books, then realised that he would not have to use his supply of numbered and catalogued certificates. This meant he could pocket the money himself, so he only charged us 50 Bols each!!!

We also visited the dinosaur tracks on the outskirts of town. The truck ride out there was amusing, a woman driver who must have just learnt to drive. She cut off everybody, groaned up hills in the wrong gear, and made take offs when she did have to stop a rocket ship experience..

Now the cliff covered in giant tracks was pretty cool. What wasnt so cool is the newly opened ´Jurassic Park´which is now used for viewing. Until only a few weeks ago you could get close to the wall and marvel. Now you have to pay 30 Bols to enter a theme park with actual size models of the dino´s, and look at the prints thru binoculars... Not the best..

Back onto health issues we also found some malarials at the chemist. Doxycycline at 1 bol per pill. I am pretty sure this is cheaper than home. I just hope they are not fakes...

lower at last

Thin air gets a bit frustrating after a short while. And after a week of short breaths, we´d kind of had enough.

Our bus ride to Sucre was like going to a different world. Three hours of almost all downhill (wish I had my bike) and at a height of 2,800m the air was warm, and the fields were green. Nice.

Getting out of Potosi was a bit of a drama. We turned up at 12.55 for our prepaid 1pm bus. It had already gone!!! Since when do things in Bolivia run early???

So we got tickets for the next bus, and were hit with an extra 2 bol fee for boarding from the terminal. Once we did leave (40 mins late) the bus drove out of the terminal gate, and picked up the rest of the pax who escaped the 2 bol fee!!

You learn something everyday!

Sucre has some seriously nice old architecture, and again, a relatively modern feel. Finding accom that was a balance between cheap and respectable took a while (the worst place coming in at 35 bols/$6NZ, and STINKING of piss), but we got there in the end.

We also found the orange juice sellers had carts with a cool peeling device.

I think we might stay here for a while.

Entering Hell, in Potroi

So 2 days ago, 24 October 2006, I entered hell. Literally. I even sat by the devil..

I had been looking foward to being shocked by a tour into the mines for months. And I can tell you right now, I was shocked. Seriously so.

The tour started nicely, getting given overalls and helmets etc. We visited the ´miners market´and bought some coca leaves as present for the miners. We also bought some dynamite.(!) More on that later.. We then proceeded to the seperation plant where the good minerals are removed. It stunk of noxious chemicals. At least the workers were in the sun though.

It was time to go in.

Without bragging (or the opposite) I can say I have visited some genuine shitholes around the world, and seen some bloody awful conditions for work, or life in general. While I am still sticking to my earlier assertions about Bolivia being more develeoped than say, Eastern Indonesia, the life the miners endure here is just unbelievable.

As I mentioned in my last post, most miners are dead within 15 years from the silica dust they inhale building up in their lungs. And most of them start when they are only 13. What a way to grow up...

We went in wearing masks, and even these werent enough. Luckily I had a bandanna in my pocket, and using that with the mask was bearable.. just. The miners themselves dont wear any cos they are doing such physical work and get too hot. Me, personaly.. I prefer hot over dead, but as our guide told us, these guys dont bother to look further ahead than dinner that night. They have nothing to look foward to.

The tunnels themselves were tiny. We were crawling a lot of the way. When it was time to descend or ascend a level it was sliding and scuffling time. I watched in horror as two 14 year old boys repeatedly crawled up and down one of these sloped areas carrying 40kg sacks of ore on their backs. Ascending was actualy the hardest part for us too. Involving more excertion, and still at 4,000m ASL we were sweating like beasts. Not nice.

Most of the photos I took didnt come out well, cos the massive ammounts of dust reflected the flash. This again reminded me how grim it was down here.

The miners cope by crewing HUGE wads of coca all day long, which gives them energy and fends off hunger. I certainly chewed my fair share today, but it didnt help that much.

The locals are mostly catholics here. They reason that as God is above, then the devil lives underground. In keeping with this concept they had made a statue of the devil, and regularly gave it offerings. I sat next to the devil, but offered him nothing. We were at the end of the trip at that point, and I just wanted out. An offering might have been misinterpreted as wanting more... no thanks

Once out I realised oince again just how lucky I (and indeed you reading this) really are. It makes me feel embarrassed, literaly, that we piss and moan about trivial bullshit like there not being enough sugar in our latte´s, when others have to deal with this.

And what is their reward? Apart from early graves, the miners usualy make around 1500 Bols per month. Thats less than $300 NZ per month. And get this, thats considered good money over here. Hence 14,000 miners doing this 8 hours a day.

The finale of the tour was nice at least. Once we had regained our senses, we got to set off some dynamite, which we had purchased at the market earlier. ($3NZ for stick, fuse and accellarant, anyone can buy it-cool.) After unwrapping it (it looks like green play dough), rewrapping it with the accelerant,and setting the fuse, the matches came out. Having a stick of lit dynamite in your hand is quite an experience. One of the other travellers freaked out and threw his like a grenade. This pissed the miners off, as one of them had to go and fetch it, cos he´s thrown it somewhere sensitive! It was still lit of course...

I placed mine where directed, then we ran away... real fast. And the bang was pretty loud. I took a video clip of all this, but the file is too big to attach to this blog.

Being driven back to town I reflected on what IU´d just experienced, and decided I needed a beer. The bus driver obviously thought the same thing, and picked up a glass from a couple of lads selling on the street side. He drank as he drove, not seeming to notice the looks he was getting from all the foreign passengers.

Only in Bolivia...