In the past week, I have had three visits to peruvian police stations and one to an emergency medical clinic! Oh the joys of travelling. Actually, that should be - oh the joys of other travellers who can`t speak Spanish. As on nearly all occasions, it wasn`t me that was in the spot of bother, but rather I was offering my services as translator between tourist and police officer or doctor. And I say nearly all occasions because, admittedly, one of the police station visits was to report my lost/stolen camera. Doh! Not sure what happened but somewhere between Machu Picchu and Cusco, it disappeared. Along with my Machu Picchu trekking photos which is rather disappointing.
However, on visiting the police station to report my missing camera, I got involved in the case of an American girl, who couldn`t speak Spanish, in a terrible state after a nasty encounter in Cusco. That was my first good Samaritan act and evening in a police station. Next, I went to a very strange place called Huacachina. It is an oasis/lake surrounded by restaurants and hostels, in the middle of loads of huge sand dunes. Very surreal. But also the perfect place to ride in sand buggies and go sandboarding! This I did with a small group of other travellers from my hostel. The sand buggy ride was white knuckle (I think I left my stomach somewhere back there amidst the dunes!) and the boarding was a little scary but fun just to slide down the dunes really fast on your stomach. However, one narly Aussie guy in our group decided to tackle a bloody enormous sand dune on his board standing upright. Result - lots of speed, big tumble and broken collarbone! Very nasty. So muggins here offered to accompany him to the clinic to help translate and get him fixed up (with a fetching plaster figure of 8 around his shoulders that looked like they should have fairy wings attached!) Was horrible whilst the doctor was moving the bones back into place though!! Oh, and collarbone in Spanish is clavicula, in case you ever go sandboarding in Peru...
And whilst my halo was shining so brightly, I offered this morning to accompany some of the girls in the sandboarding group to the police station to help get a report for one of their bags that was stolen in Lima. Another interesting police station experience to help consolidate my opinion that the Peruvian police are pretty useless!
Only got one week left now, so fingers crossed for a smooth police and hospital free 7 days! xxx
Monday, 7 December 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Starting in Peru
Hola all!
I`m now in my final month here in South America - can`t believe how quickly the time has flown by. In the last couple of weeks, I have entered my sixth and final country, Peru, and also had a few near death experiences...
Ok, near death experiences may be exaggerating a bit, but each did involve a potential risk of death. Whilst in La Paz, Bolivia, I decided to experience life as a thrill-seeker and booked myself in to ride a mountain bike down Death Road - "The World`s Most Dangerous Road"! 65 k of winding downhill biking, with mountain drops of 300m to one side and an overall descent of 3,600m. It was the old road that linked La Paz to another town called Coroico, but they closed it and opened a new road after an estimated 8,000 people died going over the edge... What a fun idea to ride a bike down it, especially when you choose a day with a foggy start so it`s only possible to see about 10 feet in front of you! Anyway, turned out it was really good fun and we were all equipped with great bikes and safety gear, so was all fine and I survived :) More credit should really go to the guy in our group who drove down in a 3 wheel motor taxi for charity!
My next near death experience was in Copacabana, on the Bolivian shore of Lake Titicaca. I arrived to the town with a lovely group of 8 other people from my bus on a day where there was a festival for the Virgin Mary and, therefore, a huge party in the town square. The festivities began with a big fireworks display where we, the crowd, were sitting within about 20ft of the fireworks! The sparks were going everywhere and there was a high chance that one of the precariously attached catherine wheels would shoot off at any moment straight towards us. However, that didn`t seem to deter the local Bolivians who happily sent their children off to dance under the falling sparks, or the man whose job it was to hold the wooden stick from which the fireworks were launched!
I`ve also been on a few Bolivian and Peruvian bus journeys across the mountains that put even the scariest ride at Alton Towers into perspective, especially with their methods of overtaking on mountain bends! But fret not, nearest and dearest, am still in one piece and am back in two weeks (still can`t believe it), so will see you all shortly xxx
I`ve also been on a few Bolivian and Peruvian bus journeys across the mountains that put even the scariest ride at Alton Towers into perspective, especially with their methods of overtaking on mountain bends! But fret not, nearest and dearest, am still in one piece and am back in two weeks (still can`t believe it), so will see you all shortly xxx
Friday, 13 November 2009
Photos from the park!
Pic 1 - Maggie the parrot with ruffled feathers
Pic 2 - Baloo the bear! (He wandered into the avery and made the birds very anxious)
Pic 3 - The tourist bird avery in the park
Pic 4 - me and a spider monkey
Pic 5 - Pedro the parrot
Pic 6 - Me carrying Rosa & Watson on the stick to the perch of freedom
I am also going to post a link to the snapfish photo album with all my park photos, but as usual, the Bolivian internet is being incredibly slow....
Monday, 9 November 2009
Flying the avery...
Temperature: Actually not too hot, because instead of unbearble heat, there is now endless rain!! So whereas before everything was wet with sweat, everything is now just constantly wet from the pouring rain. Lovely.
Mosquito Bites: Too many new ones to count. Arms, legs, knees, elbows, ankles, feet, hands, fingers, a couple on my neck and one on my cheek. Again, lovely.
Other Bites: TWO!
The first was more of a nip from none other than Pedro the parrot. I was trying to feed him a piece of pineapple and I suppose he either a) took offense at this gesture, or b) decided my thumb looked tastier.
The second was a bite from an insect called a Bullet Ant - I think the name says it all! Ok, it was an ant, but it was about an inch long and is thus named because its horribly painful sting apparantly feels like getting shot by a bullet. And the effect supposedly lasts for 24 hours. Hooray. However, it was in my outer shirt and I think must have biten me through the t-shirt I was wearing underneath because, although painful, it really wasn´t as bad as I imagine being shot by a bullet must be. Or maybe it´s just that I´m a double hard lady!
Apart from the bites and the jungle rain, everything else has run pretty smoothly in my role as bird keeper at the park this past week. No other birds escaped, I fed the raptors their delicacies of chicken heads and a cut up guinea pig without vomiting and successfully chased away many many monkeys without any of them getting into any of the parrots´cages.
I also got to experience a few nice encounters with some of the other animals in the park. A mother spider monkey and her baby came into the avery, so I had to pick them up and carry them away to another part of the park! It was lovely as they are so gangly and huggable. I also got to see the park´s wild sloth (it moved sooo slowly!), Baloo the bear (he was with his keepers but I still decided to keep a bit of a distance from this one!) and had a capuchin monkey play a game of hide the leaf with my wellies. All good fun.
Yesterday was my last day at Parque Machia, so I´ve now got about a week left to see a bit more of Bolivia before I head onto Peru. Overall, it was a very tiring and uncomfortable two weeks, but I had some great encounters with nature, saw some amazing things and met some lovely people, so I´m very glad I did it! (And even better, survived without serious injury to tell the tale!)
Mosquito Bites: Too many new ones to count. Arms, legs, knees, elbows, ankles, feet, hands, fingers, a couple on my neck and one on my cheek. Again, lovely.
Other Bites: TWO!
The first was more of a nip from none other than Pedro the parrot. I was trying to feed him a piece of pineapple and I suppose he either a) took offense at this gesture, or b) decided my thumb looked tastier.
The second was a bite from an insect called a Bullet Ant - I think the name says it all! Ok, it was an ant, but it was about an inch long and is thus named because its horribly painful sting apparantly feels like getting shot by a bullet. And the effect supposedly lasts for 24 hours. Hooray. However, it was in my outer shirt and I think must have biten me through the t-shirt I was wearing underneath because, although painful, it really wasn´t as bad as I imagine being shot by a bullet must be. Or maybe it´s just that I´m a double hard lady!
Apart from the bites and the jungle rain, everything else has run pretty smoothly in my role as bird keeper at the park this past week. No other birds escaped, I fed the raptors their delicacies of chicken heads and a cut up guinea pig without vomiting and successfully chased away many many monkeys without any of them getting into any of the parrots´cages.
I also got to experience a few nice encounters with some of the other animals in the park. A mother spider monkey and her baby came into the avery, so I had to pick them up and carry them away to another part of the park! It was lovely as they are so gangly and huggable. I also got to see the park´s wild sloth (it moved sooo slowly!), Baloo the bear (he was with his keepers but I still decided to keep a bit of a distance from this one!) and had a capuchin monkey play a game of hide the leaf with my wellies. All good fun.
Yesterday was my last day at Parque Machia, so I´ve now got about a week left to see a bit more of Bolivia before I head onto Peru. Overall, it was a very tiring and uncomfortable two weeks, but I had some great encounters with nature, saw some amazing things and met some lovely people, so I´m very glad I did it! (And even better, survived without serious injury to tell the tale!)
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Day 6....
Temperature: We finally had some rain today! Blissful. (But then the sun and heat returned causing us, as Paddy the Irish man put it, to "sweat like a rapist in confession".)
Mosquito Bites: 28 new ones. Plus some sort of heat rash. Hooray.
Other Bites: Still on a zero there :)
Parrot Break Outs: One!!!
The big event of the last 2 days occured this afternoon whilst Giovanna and I were away from the main avery part feeding The Meat to The Raptors. We returned to find Pedro`s door wide open, his padlock missing, rice strewn across the floor of the cage and Pedro himself, up on the outer roof of the cages. Only possible explanation - naughty monkey attack!! So the next half an hour was spent trying to chase Pedro back into his cage, using sticks and the lure of beans, with everyone involved becoming very stressed and anxious about the situation. Not fun. And it wasn`t helped by the little monkey shites that were still hanging around trying to find any more open cages and steal more food!
Other than that, park life has been sticking pretty much to its usual routine. Feeding, cleaning, adding new foliage, removing old foliage. The number of monkey attacks have definitely risen the last two days, meaning we have been doing lots of shouting, throwing of stones and banging any loud object we can find. And the rain shower this morning was great, not only to cool down the temperature but also to watch the parrots screaming and flapping their wings with delight as they got a good soaking. Only other notable events are that, yesterday I had two very cute squirrel monkeys clambering over me, and today I reset a tortoise that had somehow flipped onto its own back (I have no idea how)!
Mosquito Bites: 28 new ones. Plus some sort of heat rash. Hooray.
Other Bites: Still on a zero there :)
Parrot Break Outs: One!!!
The big event of the last 2 days occured this afternoon whilst Giovanna and I were away from the main avery part feeding The Meat to The Raptors. We returned to find Pedro`s door wide open, his padlock missing, rice strewn across the floor of the cage and Pedro himself, up on the outer roof of the cages. Only possible explanation - naughty monkey attack!! So the next half an hour was spent trying to chase Pedro back into his cage, using sticks and the lure of beans, with everyone involved becoming very stressed and anxious about the situation. Not fun. And it wasn`t helped by the little monkey shites that were still hanging around trying to find any more open cages and steal more food!
Other than that, park life has been sticking pretty much to its usual routine. Feeding, cleaning, adding new foliage, removing old foliage. The number of monkey attacks have definitely risen the last two days, meaning we have been doing lots of shouting, throwing of stones and banging any loud object we can find. And the rain shower this morning was great, not only to cool down the temperature but also to watch the parrots screaming and flapping their wings with delight as they got a good soaking. Only other notable events are that, yesterday I had two very cute squirrel monkeys clambering over me, and today I reset a tortoise that had somehow flipped onto its own back (I have no idea how)!
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Day 4...
Temperature: Face-meltingly hot
Mosquito Bites: 36 (9 of which have joined together to form 3 humungous blobs of 3 bites each)
Other Bites: None :)
All is going well so far in terms of my new role as bird keeper at Inti Wara Yassi, Parque Machia (they have a website, in case you`re interested!). Giovanna and I have now done two full days just the two of us alone, as Ian, our predecesor and teacher, has moved onto the monkeys. None of the birds have thus far died, so I think we are doing a good job.
Our day consists of cutting up fruit for the birds` food, cleaning food trays and cages, hacking down foliage with a huge machete to decorate their cages and scaring away the monkeys in the park that come to try to steal food. We also take out the few birds that can come out of their cages on a long stick and leave them for a while on big tree perches around the outskirts of the cages. All the birds in the park are rescue birds that were mistreated so few can fly, so we`re safe to leave them out in the open! And I should probably say parrots rather than birds as that is what they all are (mostly very noisy macaws), except for the one turkey called Picky (who is thus called because he/she is picky about his/her food, which we have to cut up very small and not mix together - an obsessive compulsive turkey in a way!). Oh, and we also have the three "raptors" - Speedy (some vicious little shite of a bird that is desperate to peck away at us) and two others that a bit like little kestrals. But these are kept away from the eyes of the tourists, hidden away in the bushes, and we are not supposed to visit them very often (except to feed them their rancid bits of meat occassionally!) so we always forget about them.
I have so far bonded particularly well with a male blue/yellow parrot named Pedro who lived in a cage on his own. Yesterday, he let me stoke his head for the first time which was a real step forward. I have to be alert when doing so as he often whips his head up to try to get a hold of my finger, so I have to be watching to move my finger out of the way in time. Pedro is an interesting bird with his own little personality - he speaks, which is great ("hola", "Pedro", "ciao" and "fuera" meaning "outside" which he often says when there are monkeys around!), but he also, rather disturbingly, likes to regurgitate his food onto his left leg and then eat it again. It`s quite repulsive. I will let you all know how our relationship develops of the coming days.
There are about 40 international volunteers at the park, looking after all the animals - monkeys (3 species), 4 wild cats (pumas and something else), tortoises, tejons (vicious creatures in the badger family) and a bear. At first, Giovanna and I were very disappointed to be allocated to the avery, as the birds are probably the least exciting of all the animals to be looked after. But now, after seeing the daily bites and scratches that the other volunteers endure (and some are really quite nasty - especially from one of the pumas!), we`ve come around to the idea. Plus, it`s probably the job that involves the least work, which is a god-send considering the unbelivable heat we have to work in. But we`re planning to try to spend a bit of our free time up at the monkey park, so that we at least get to play and cuddle a little bit with the adorable monkeys! (Those that don`t bite, that is...)
Mosquito Bites: 36 (9 of which have joined together to form 3 humungous blobs of 3 bites each)
Other Bites: None :)
All is going well so far in terms of my new role as bird keeper at Inti Wara Yassi, Parque Machia (they have a website, in case you`re interested!). Giovanna and I have now done two full days just the two of us alone, as Ian, our predecesor and teacher, has moved onto the monkeys. None of the birds have thus far died, so I think we are doing a good job.
Our day consists of cutting up fruit for the birds` food, cleaning food trays and cages, hacking down foliage with a huge machete to decorate their cages and scaring away the monkeys in the park that come to try to steal food. We also take out the few birds that can come out of their cages on a long stick and leave them for a while on big tree perches around the outskirts of the cages. All the birds in the park are rescue birds that were mistreated so few can fly, so we`re safe to leave them out in the open! And I should probably say parrots rather than birds as that is what they all are (mostly very noisy macaws), except for the one turkey called Picky (who is thus called because he/she is picky about his/her food, which we have to cut up very small and not mix together - an obsessive compulsive turkey in a way!). Oh, and we also have the three "raptors" - Speedy (some vicious little shite of a bird that is desperate to peck away at us) and two others that a bit like little kestrals. But these are kept away from the eyes of the tourists, hidden away in the bushes, and we are not supposed to visit them very often (except to feed them their rancid bits of meat occassionally!) so we always forget about them.
I have so far bonded particularly well with a male blue/yellow parrot named Pedro who lived in a cage on his own. Yesterday, he let me stoke his head for the first time which was a real step forward. I have to be alert when doing so as he often whips his head up to try to get a hold of my finger, so I have to be watching to move my finger out of the way in time. Pedro is an interesting bird with his own little personality - he speaks, which is great ("hola", "Pedro", "ciao" and "fuera" meaning "outside" which he often says when there are monkeys around!), but he also, rather disturbingly, likes to regurgitate his food onto his left leg and then eat it again. It`s quite repulsive. I will let you all know how our relationship develops of the coming days.
There are about 40 international volunteers at the park, looking after all the animals - monkeys (3 species), 4 wild cats (pumas and something else), tortoises, tejons (vicious creatures in the badger family) and a bear. At first, Giovanna and I were very disappointed to be allocated to the avery, as the birds are probably the least exciting of all the animals to be looked after. But now, after seeing the daily bites and scratches that the other volunteers endure (and some are really quite nasty - especially from one of the pumas!), we`ve come around to the idea. Plus, it`s probably the job that involves the least work, which is a god-send considering the unbelivable heat we have to work in. But we`re planning to try to spend a bit of our free time up at the monkey park, so that we at least get to play and cuddle a little bit with the adorable monkeys! (Those that don`t bite, that is...)
Friday, 30 October 2009
Starting work as the bird keeper....
So I have now been in Bolivia for 2 and a half weeks. In this time I have done the tour of the salt flats and been to three cities - Potosi, Sucre and La Paz (both of the last two are the countries capitals! Well actually, Sucre is the official capital but some people consider it to be La Paz - good pub quiz info for you there!)
Potosi was a nice, small city with lots of churches to look at and little streets to wander around. It is famous for its silver mining which made the city rich many years ago, but the Spanish took all the wealth! Whilst there, I had the interesting experience of accompanying a German guy to the tourist police station, as he had his camera stolen and I was helping him with his Spanish. The "police station" was basically a long, dark room with broken windows, one computer in the corner, a few other empty desks and a girly calender on the wall! All very strange.
The next city I went to was Sucre, a pretty place with nice white painted buildings and a good couple of interesting museums to learn a bit more about Bolivia and its history. Fab market too with loads of fresh fruit and fruit drinks to try - maracuya or tumbo, anyone?! This was closely followed by a trip to La Paz. Another Bolivian city at a stupidly high altitude! Just walking around and picking up heavy objects (ie. my backpack!) leaves you breathless. It`s a busy, dirty, crowded city, but I did quite like it in a way. It`s also very much a party city for travellers, so I forced myself to sample a couple of the bars and clubs with my fellow hostel dwellers. And one night, strangely enough, we went to a curry restaurant where some of the boys undertook the challenge of eating "Bolivia`s HOTTEST curry"!! I wasn`t aware that Bolivia was particularly well known for its hot curries, but this restaurant was proud of the fact and after seeing the effects of said vindaloo and its 31 chillies on the boys, I believe that this may soon be a notorious tourist "hot spot"!
But now, most excitingly, I am settling into my next destination in Bolivia - a wildlife reserve in the jungle that I am volunteering at for 2 weeks!! I say "excitingly" because it`s different, a challenge and I do get to see monkeys up close everyday. But in reality, the main thing on my mind every minute of the day is how unbearably hot and sweaty I am! Nice.
My job is in the tourist avery, with an Italian/Swiss girl called Giovanna (who I travelled here with), 15 parrots and something with think is a turkey. There are also 3 other birds in a cage away from where the tourists can visit that we call the "raptors" because they are the meat eaters. We`re not supposed to have too much contact with these birds and after having to enter their cages to feed them all and change their water today, I am thankful for it!
Today was my second day and all is going ok so far, ie. no bites or pecks. We basically have to feed them twice a day, clean out the cages, take out the ones that can come out and put them on the big tree perches (most of them can`t fly) and scare away the monkeys when they come close! I have so far undertaken each of these tasks successfully but I will keep you all informed as to how the job is going, and any humerous bird or monkey related antics that may arise (of which there have already been a few, but I am hungry now so want to get off the internet and go for dinner). Watch this space!! xxx
Potosi was a nice, small city with lots of churches to look at and little streets to wander around. It is famous for its silver mining which made the city rich many years ago, but the Spanish took all the wealth! Whilst there, I had the interesting experience of accompanying a German guy to the tourist police station, as he had his camera stolen and I was helping him with his Spanish. The "police station" was basically a long, dark room with broken windows, one computer in the corner, a few other empty desks and a girly calender on the wall! All very strange.
The next city I went to was Sucre, a pretty place with nice white painted buildings and a good couple of interesting museums to learn a bit more about Bolivia and its history. Fab market too with loads of fresh fruit and fruit drinks to try - maracuya or tumbo, anyone?! This was closely followed by a trip to La Paz. Another Bolivian city at a stupidly high altitude! Just walking around and picking up heavy objects (ie. my backpack!) leaves you breathless. It`s a busy, dirty, crowded city, but I did quite like it in a way. It`s also very much a party city for travellers, so I forced myself to sample a couple of the bars and clubs with my fellow hostel dwellers. And one night, strangely enough, we went to a curry restaurant where some of the boys undertook the challenge of eating "Bolivia`s HOTTEST curry"!! I wasn`t aware that Bolivia was particularly well known for its hot curries, but this restaurant was proud of the fact and after seeing the effects of said vindaloo and its 31 chillies on the boys, I believe that this may soon be a notorious tourist "hot spot"!
But now, most excitingly, I am settling into my next destination in Bolivia - a wildlife reserve in the jungle that I am volunteering at for 2 weeks!! I say "excitingly" because it`s different, a challenge and I do get to see monkeys up close everyday. But in reality, the main thing on my mind every minute of the day is how unbearably hot and sweaty I am! Nice.
My job is in the tourist avery, with an Italian/Swiss girl called Giovanna (who I travelled here with), 15 parrots and something with think is a turkey. There are also 3 other birds in a cage away from where the tourists can visit that we call the "raptors" because they are the meat eaters. We`re not supposed to have too much contact with these birds and after having to enter their cages to feed them all and change their water today, I am thankful for it!
Today was my second day and all is going ok so far, ie. no bites or pecks. We basically have to feed them twice a day, clean out the cages, take out the ones that can come out and put them on the big tree perches (most of them can`t fly) and scare away the monkeys when they come close! I have so far undertaken each of these tasks successfully but I will keep you all informed as to how the job is going, and any humerous bird or monkey related antics that may arise (of which there have already been a few, but I am hungry now so want to get off the internet and go for dinner). Watch this space!! xxx
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Unrelated blog post....
Back in London, I have a lovely circular pine dining room table and six dining chairs. And I need to get rid of them!
Preferably I´d like to sell them, but if anyone is interested in using them for a while, rather than buying them, then let me know as well. Please also let me know if you know anyone else not a follower of this blog (and there are only about 20 if you!) who may be interested. I can send photos and talk money later!
Besos to all xxxx
Preferably I´d like to sell them, but if anyone is interested in using them for a while, rather than buying them, then let me know as well. Please also let me know if you know anyone else not a follower of this blog (and there are only about 20 if you!) who may be interested. I can send photos and talk money later!
Besos to all xxxx
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Yikes! I have been pretty poor with this blog of late and just realised how much I have to catch up on! Since the last place I wrote about, Tilcara in Argentina, I have crossed the border into Bolivia, done the 4 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni, then travelled from Uyuni to Potosi, onto Sucre and am now in La Paz! But before I write about these latest towns that I have visited in Bolivia, I will first blog about the fantastic trip to the salt flats of Uyuni...
(By the way - the internet connection in this country is generally abysmal and so I don´t think I will be able to upload any photos from my tour of the salt flats quite yet. I`ll write about what we saw and then let your imaginations fill in the blanks until I arrive at a place where the internet connection works faster than uploading 1 photo every 10 minutes (and then generally shuts down due to over-exhaustion).)
So our 4 day, 3 night tour started in the town of Tupiza. Our group consisted of myself, Stacey (the New Yorker I travelled with from Argentina), Sara from Italy and two French ladies, Sabine and Marielle. We also had our two (rather young!) Bolivian guide/driver and cook. There was a lot of driving the first day, up winding mountain paths with lovely views, climbing up to an altitude of 4,200 metres. The next day started at 4.30am (delightful) and took us to Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa - what a name! We spent 2 days in this beautiful national park which contains many mountains and volcanoes, but the main highlights were: the thermal baths (lovely hot natural springs but unbelievably freezing having to get in and out of the water!); Desierto de Dali and Desierto de Siloli (different parts of the desert with strange Daliesque shaped and spaced rock formations - yep, more rocks!); a multitude of different coloured lakes (a bright green one filled with arsenic, a sparkling blue one, lots of white patches of salt & borax, and an amazing pink one due to the algae living in it); lots of flamingoes; and some huge smoking volcanic geysers up at 5,000 metres!
On our third evening, driving back towards our accommodation for that night, our jeep decided to break down (we had already lost our exhaust pipe in the desert the day before!). Luckily, another tour jeep arrived soon after to help our driver with his attempt to dismantle one of the front wheels, whilst we ten travellers from both jeeps hung around in the bitter wind, trying to decide which bush or rock offered the most protection as a natural toilet! After about an hour and a half, we were on our way again, only to find the jeep start to splutter as we crossed the salt flat that stood between us and our salt hostel accommodation. It was a close call, but we eventually arrived at sunset, narrowly escaping the possibility of having to spend a freezing night in the jeep out on the salt flat!
Our final day was spent out on the Salar de Uyuni - the highest and largest salt flat in the world. It was a massive expanse of white, with a few mountain peaks visible in the far distance, but generally, there was absolutely nothing on the horizon. Incredible. We had a great time there - just sitting on the salty ground, staring off into the distance and letting our minds wander, as well as messing around with our cameras, taking funny experimental pictures, due to the strange perspective. We also visited the Incahuasi Island, which is an island made of coral and covered in cacti, found in the middle of the salt flat! (It`s there from when it used to be a big salt lake.) Random, but very cool to climb all over and enjoy great views across the salar.
All in all, and despite the jeep trouble, it was a great experience to see some amazing parts of the natural world. Photos to follow soon....! xxx
(By the way - the internet connection in this country is generally abysmal and so I don´t think I will be able to upload any photos from my tour of the salt flats quite yet. I`ll write about what we saw and then let your imaginations fill in the blanks until I arrive at a place where the internet connection works faster than uploading 1 photo every 10 minutes (and then generally shuts down due to over-exhaustion).)
So our 4 day, 3 night tour started in the town of Tupiza. Our group consisted of myself, Stacey (the New Yorker I travelled with from Argentina), Sara from Italy and two French ladies, Sabine and Marielle. We also had our two (rather young!) Bolivian guide/driver and cook. There was a lot of driving the first day, up winding mountain paths with lovely views, climbing up to an altitude of 4,200 metres. The next day started at 4.30am (delightful) and took us to Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa - what a name! We spent 2 days in this beautiful national park which contains many mountains and volcanoes, but the main highlights were: the thermal baths (lovely hot natural springs but unbelievably freezing having to get in and out of the water!); Desierto de Dali and Desierto de Siloli (different parts of the desert with strange Daliesque shaped and spaced rock formations - yep, more rocks!); a multitude of different coloured lakes (a bright green one filled with arsenic, a sparkling blue one, lots of white patches of salt & borax, and an amazing pink one due to the algae living in it); lots of flamingoes; and some huge smoking volcanic geysers up at 5,000 metres!
On our third evening, driving back towards our accommodation for that night, our jeep decided to break down (we had already lost our exhaust pipe in the desert the day before!). Luckily, another tour jeep arrived soon after to help our driver with his attempt to dismantle one of the front wheels, whilst we ten travellers from both jeeps hung around in the bitter wind, trying to decide which bush or rock offered the most protection as a natural toilet! After about an hour and a half, we were on our way again, only to find the jeep start to splutter as we crossed the salt flat that stood between us and our salt hostel accommodation. It was a close call, but we eventually arrived at sunset, narrowly escaping the possibility of having to spend a freezing night in the jeep out on the salt flat!
Our final day was spent out on the Salar de Uyuni - the highest and largest salt flat in the world. It was a massive expanse of white, with a few mountain peaks visible in the far distance, but generally, there was absolutely nothing on the horizon. Incredible. We had a great time there - just sitting on the salty ground, staring off into the distance and letting our minds wander, as well as messing around with our cameras, taking funny experimental pictures, due to the strange perspective. We also visited the Incahuasi Island, which is an island made of coral and covered in cacti, found in the middle of the salt flat! (It`s there from when it used to be a big salt lake.) Random, but very cool to climb all over and enjoy great views across the salar.
All in all, and despite the jeep trouble, it was a great experience to see some amazing parts of the natural world. Photos to follow soon....! xxx
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Tilcara
After Cafayate, Stacey and I returned to Salta for one night before heading up to a town called Tilcara, as our last stop in Argentina before heading across the border to Bolivia.
We only had the one night in Salta and happened to check into a random hostel with a good social atmosphere, where people were organising a big night out to one of the local peñas (night of local folk music). After a delicious dinner of local Salta food, Stacey and I went along with the group from our hostel to the peña, looking forward to a night of authentic Argentine entertainment. Not quite! Was horribly touristy and not even particularly entertaining. But we had some beers and then all went onto a nearby bar to dance the night away to reggaeton instead!!
Feeling a little worse for wear the next morning, we caught an early bus north to a town called Tilcara, which is on the road leading up to the Bolivian border. Spent a day or two there, just relaxing and enjoying the opportunity for a siesta out of the hot mid-afternoon sun. We also visited the pulcara (of Tilcara!), which is a recreation of some ancient ruins of an old fortress on the hilltop beside the town. (Those are the photos of all the stone buildings.)
Sorry, I have just realised that this is a really boring blog post! I am now over a week ahead from this point (leaving Argentina to go to Bolivia - I`m there now!) so wanted to just fill in the gap of where I was last week, before I start on my next post of arriving in Bolivia and doing a tour of the Uyuni salt flats - which I did earlier this week and they were great! Hhhmmm, I think I may have made this all a little too confusing now. Even I`m a little baffled. Anyway, I will now try to post a link to my last lot of photos in Argentina (Cafayate, Salta and Tilcara) and then sign off, ready to start a fresh post about the beginning of my adventure in Bolivia! xxx
We only had the one night in Salta and happened to check into a random hostel with a good social atmosphere, where people were organising a big night out to one of the local peñas (night of local folk music). After a delicious dinner of local Salta food, Stacey and I went along with the group from our hostel to the peña, looking forward to a night of authentic Argentine entertainment. Not quite! Was horribly touristy and not even particularly entertaining. But we had some beers and then all went onto a nearby bar to dance the night away to reggaeton instead!!
Feeling a little worse for wear the next morning, we caught an early bus north to a town called Tilcara, which is on the road leading up to the Bolivian border. Spent a day or two there, just relaxing and enjoying the opportunity for a siesta out of the hot mid-afternoon sun. We also visited the pulcara (of Tilcara!), which is a recreation of some ancient ruins of an old fortress on the hilltop beside the town. (Those are the photos of all the stone buildings.)
Sorry, I have just realised that this is a really boring blog post! I am now over a week ahead from this point (leaving Argentina to go to Bolivia - I`m there now!) so wanted to just fill in the gap of where I was last week, before I start on my next post of arriving in Bolivia and doing a tour of the Uyuni salt flats - which I did earlier this week and they were great! Hhhmmm, I think I may have made this all a little too confusing now. Even I`m a little baffled. Anyway, I will now try to post a link to my last lot of photos in Argentina (Cafayate, Salta and Tilcara) and then sign off, ready to start a fresh post about the beginning of my adventure in Bolivia! xxx
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