Hey hey again,
Well we seem to have covered a lot of ground since we last wrote! We went to the Waitomo caves, and they were stunning. White limestone caves underground (the Cathedral is about 14m underground, and the acoustics are so good that Sting and other artists have performed there) were simply stunning. Our guide had a robust sense of humour, and we really enjoyed understanding everything he said! (A novelty for us)... the caves were beautiful - very difficult to describe them, but some of them looked like pavlova pudding, and there were stalagtites and stalagmites everywhere... We walked through them, got into the boat (he did ask us to get 'into' the boat, rather than falling down the side of it), and then paddled on an underground river in the complete dark (quite scary). Suddenly, the top of the cave was studded with little green LED lights, like in a nightclub. They were glowworms (we checked that they were not fake). Twinkling away, looked very pretty. So worth the 14 quid we paid for the tour. Absolutely beautiful.
We then headed up to Whitianga, and found that the hostel we wanted to stay in was booked up, so we were shown to Adele, the lady in the hostel next door, and for the same price we had a massive kitchen, big sitting room (with TV), bathroom, laundry, our own room... big garden out back... our own little holiday chalet, and we only had to share it with one other girl. We loved it, and Adele was hilarious. We loved it so much, we decided to stay another night... so the next day, armed with Adele's spade, we set off to Hot Water Beach and started digging. Volcanic activity in the area means that certain areas of the beach are scalding hot - the water gets up to 65 degrees celcius. We dug ourselves a hole and sat in it. First bath for the other 2 in 6 months! Very relaxing. Then headed to Cathedral Cove, and it was beautiful. A huge arch on the beach (the cathedral), - so spent a few hours relaxing in the hot sun. Stunning (photos are put on the internet).
Yesterday we had another productive day - Stopped at Katikati for a coffee (no other reason to stop there), found a beach covered with shells in Tauranga, ate our lunch in the park in Rotorua, and headed off to the Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area. We walked about for 2 hours, and saw the most incredible things. It was nature being simultaneously horrific and beautiful (the BBC filmed 'Walking with Dinosaurs' in the area). Due to the volcanic activity locally, there are plumes of sulphur bellowing out of the ground, boiling mud pools, and steaming lakes that are coloured red, yellow or green depending on the minerals. Love being completely taken aback and surprised by nature. It's definitely not something that is similar to anything else that I've seen, which is very refreshing. Quite often now, we see things and think, yeah, this is great, but it was much better (and cheaper) in Guatemala, Mexico etc etc.... so very pleased to be shocked out of that bad habit!
Came down to Taupo last night, and ran errands and spent time trying to find places to eat and drink (we left it kinda late, oops)... We're heading to Wellington today, and Hayley and J are hoping to do a skydive this morning (mental people, I'm holding the camera)... if the weather clears up a bit. So all's good, and we are thoroughly enjoying New Zealand.
Love to everyone, from us all,
Alice xxx
Thursday, 26 March 2009
More photos up!
Just a quickie - all safe and sound but in a rush to get some dinner, so enjoy the photos! Will write again soon.
Love from us all,
Alice xxxxx
Love from us all,
Alice xxxxx
Monday, 23 March 2009
Road Trippin......
Hello everyone, hope everything is ok in England, and you are all enjoying the spring weather.
Just a quick update, as internet is limited. We collected our hire car today, a silver Nissan Bluebird, which we have named Bambi (we thought Bambi Bluebird sounded like a good porn stars name!) and have started our journey south. We were all alittle nervous about driving again after 6 months away, but luckly they drive on the same side here, could of caused alot of confusion for J and I! It all came back to us tho and we took it in turns to make the 3 hour journey south to Waitomo (only had to make a few u-turns). Arrived in Waitomo about 6pm to find all the hostels full. We were starting to think we may have to camp out in the car when we came across a hut about 2km out of Waitomo village, with massive bunk beds, hot showers, huge kitchen and really cute kitten, for the bargin price of 4 pounds each. Also found a pub that serve cider and snake bite, so were able to have our first pints of cider in 6 months....yummy!
Tommorow we are off to see some glow worms in Waitomo caves, and then have a mini road trip planned back up north to visit the hot water beaches on the west coast. So lots of driving, and singing along to the I-Pod for us.
Well time for bed,
lots of love from all of us, Hayley xxx
Just a quick update, as internet is limited. We collected our hire car today, a silver Nissan Bluebird, which we have named Bambi (we thought Bambi Bluebird sounded like a good porn stars name!) and have started our journey south. We were all alittle nervous about driving again after 6 months away, but luckly they drive on the same side here, could of caused alot of confusion for J and I! It all came back to us tho and we took it in turns to make the 3 hour journey south to Waitomo (only had to make a few u-turns). Arrived in Waitomo about 6pm to find all the hostels full. We were starting to think we may have to camp out in the car when we came across a hut about 2km out of Waitomo village, with massive bunk beds, hot showers, huge kitchen and really cute kitten, for the bargin price of 4 pounds each. Also found a pub that serve cider and snake bite, so were able to have our first pints of cider in 6 months....yummy!
Tommorow we are off to see some glow worms in Waitomo caves, and then have a mini road trip planned back up north to visit the hot water beaches on the west coast. So lots of driving, and singing along to the I-Pod for us.
Well time for bed,
lots of love from all of us, Hayley xxx
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND!
Hey hey,
We made it! We finally arrived in New Zealand (after completely losing the 20th March, - completely disappeared. Didn't live it. Slightly disconcerting)...
So we left Santiago easily enough. Met a couple of other travellers too so the banter continued. Check in easy, our bags were wrapped in lots of brown tape, to keep sleeping bags on and zips closed properly. We did look slightly strange and had obviously been on the road for a while! Security fine, flight great (apart from uncomfortable chairs). Brilliant films, great playlists of music, only problem was that I fell asleep for a couple of hours so didn't get to watch everything that I wanted to! Food was great, (although not enough), and the wine was tasty. The passenger next to me was incredibly rude (Australian), but in a joking way, so we were horrid to each other for the whole flight, and I thoroughly enjoyed that...
So we landed at about 4.15am in Auckland. Due to other flights being delayed and/or cancelled, it meant that we walked straight through immigration and customs - no queues at all! Absolutely fantastic. Had our trainers sprayed with disinfectant in the lab, declared our shells and wooden beads etc, and were safely through in as little time as possible. We caught a shuttle to our hostel, and were soon back in bed again in very comfy beds, watching a little TV...
We managed to sort out a hire car (works out at 5.50 each per day), for NZ, and generally ran errands before collapsing for a siesta. Being in NZ is very strange. Being around English speaking people is veyr weird (although still can't always understand them), and having cars on the left hand side of the road seems wrong too. We can understand the signs, and even found Starbucks, THE BODY SHOP!!!! and Borders Books.
Tap water - brilliant. So taken for granted. Still very strange that we can DRINK FROM THE TAP. A novel concept. Will save me so much money. But the one thing I'm really struggling with is the loos. In South America and Central America, you absolutely cannot put any paper down the loo, so you have to use the bin provided. Finding it very strange to put the paper in the loo again, and am stupidly paranoid that the loo is going to block... I'm sure I'll get over it soon though...!
So basically we are all settled in, and spent yesterday meandering around and saw a T-Rex called Sue in the museum - 30m high (or long, can't remember which!) So been cultural too... (in between the necessary shopping - one simply cannot get everything a girl needs in South America). We are collecting our hire car at lunchtime today, and then heading off somewhere this afternoon (not sure where yet). Internet isn't always easy to find, and calling is very difficult now as we are 13 hours ahead of the UK. But will try to keep logged in as much as possible.
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that we have safely arrived, and will write again soon!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxxx
We made it! We finally arrived in New Zealand (after completely losing the 20th March, - completely disappeared. Didn't live it. Slightly disconcerting)...
So we left Santiago easily enough. Met a couple of other travellers too so the banter continued. Check in easy, our bags were wrapped in lots of brown tape, to keep sleeping bags on and zips closed properly. We did look slightly strange and had obviously been on the road for a while! Security fine, flight great (apart from uncomfortable chairs). Brilliant films, great playlists of music, only problem was that I fell asleep for a couple of hours so didn't get to watch everything that I wanted to! Food was great, (although not enough), and the wine was tasty. The passenger next to me was incredibly rude (Australian), but in a joking way, so we were horrid to each other for the whole flight, and I thoroughly enjoyed that...
So we landed at about 4.15am in Auckland. Due to other flights being delayed and/or cancelled, it meant that we walked straight through immigration and customs - no queues at all! Absolutely fantastic. Had our trainers sprayed with disinfectant in the lab, declared our shells and wooden beads etc, and were safely through in as little time as possible. We caught a shuttle to our hostel, and were soon back in bed again in very comfy beds, watching a little TV...
We managed to sort out a hire car (works out at 5.50 each per day), for NZ, and generally ran errands before collapsing for a siesta. Being in NZ is very strange. Being around English speaking people is veyr weird (although still can't always understand them), and having cars on the left hand side of the road seems wrong too. We can understand the signs, and even found Starbucks, THE BODY SHOP!!!! and Borders Books.
Tap water - brilliant. So taken for granted. Still very strange that we can DRINK FROM THE TAP. A novel concept. Will save me so much money. But the one thing I'm really struggling with is the loos. In South America and Central America, you absolutely cannot put any paper down the loo, so you have to use the bin provided. Finding it very strange to put the paper in the loo again, and am stupidly paranoid that the loo is going to block... I'm sure I'll get over it soon though...!
So basically we are all settled in, and spent yesterday meandering around and saw a T-Rex called Sue in the museum - 30m high (or long, can't remember which!) So been cultural too... (in between the necessary shopping - one simply cannot get everything a girl needs in South America). We are collecting our hire car at lunchtime today, and then heading off somewhere this afternoon (not sure where yet). Internet isn't always easy to find, and calling is very difficult now as we are 13 hours ahead of the UK. But will try to keep logged in as much as possible.
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that we have safely arrived, and will write again soon!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxxx
Thursday, 19 March 2009
9.5 hours left in Chile...
Hey there,
Just a quickie to say that I have added more images into the Argentina folder and the Chile folder on Picasaweb (website address is now at the top of this page, under the title). Hope you enjoy them!
Also have booked flights to come home for 3 weeks to help Mum and Dad move back to the UK. Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Germany and arrive on the 26th June, head back to Bangkok from the UK on the 16th July. Will probably be quite hectic moving and sorting, and probably quite a culture shock flying in and out of Asia! Oh well...
Lots of love from us all, next update from NZ!
Alice xxx
Just a quickie to say that I have added more images into the Argentina folder and the Chile folder on Picasaweb (website address is now at the top of this page, under the title). Hope you enjoy them!
Also have booked flights to come home for 3 weeks to help Mum and Dad move back to the UK. Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Germany and arrive on the 26th June, head back to Bangkok from the UK on the 16th July. Will probably be quite hectic moving and sorting, and probably quite a culture shock flying in and out of Asia! Oh well...
Lots of love from us all, next update from NZ!
Alice xxx
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
The final countdown...
Hey hey there everyone,
Hope you are enjoying the springtime in England - been hearing all about bunnies, daffodils and so on... sounds lovely.
We managed to find Mr Hugo in Maipu to do the wine tasting in Mendoza. Took us a while, as we really had no idea where he was, but we befriended 4 Israeli girls and boys who showed us the way from the bus, very kind. So we set off on our bicycles. One of the Israeli guys couldn´t ride a bicycle, which was very entertaining, but we headed on our merry way. Stopped and tasted wine in a winery (where there was also a museum), cycled 10km to an olive oil factory, then back up to another winery (gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon there), before finally heading to a chocolate and liquor factory... a lovely day in the sun, but feeling very tired on the bus home, understandably! So headed out to a pasta place for some grub before yet again, having an early night... (we are such old ladies here!).
The next day we spent on a bus - at this point, we have spent 6 days on a bus through central America (if you add up all the hours we were actually sat on a bus), and I have done EIGHTEEN DAYS through South America (the other girls have done about 1-2 days less). So very glad to be finishing all that and getting a hire car in New Zealand...
So arrived in Valparaiso yesterday evening, and just did the usual, emailing and getting a steak for supper. We meandered around today, and saw some fantastic, colourfully painted houses on Concepcion hill, and much graffiti - most of it excellent. So really enjoyed photographing it this morning, and we went to a brilliant cafe too, Color Cafe, filled with pictures, photos, paintings, drawings, dolls, candles, bottles and so on on the walls, very quirky. And the waiter was an old guy with an eye patch - somehow fitting for the setting! So lunch there, before heading on yet another bus to Santiago... and arrived this afternoon.
Took us over 24 hours to realise that there was one hours time difference between Chile and Argentina, luckily it wasn´t important for us... so we are now settled into an hostelling international hostel, in the centre of Santiago. It is lovely, clean, free breakfast and internet, cool graffiti in the stairwell, beautiful garden/patio area, and lovely and helpful Nicholas on the front desk. So we are mooching around tomorrow (hopefully collecting laundry otherwise will be on the plane in a bikini)... and then fly out to NZ at 10pm (we are now 4 hours behind the UK). Somehow we cross the international date line - not sure really what happens, really not hoping that it`s anything like the Bermuda triangle... but we arrive in Auckland on Saturday. Will head out of Auckland as soon as we have organised a hire car.
So this is our last night in South America, and I´m really quite sad. We are going to go out for a Chinese meal tonight (Chinese food is cheap globally!) and maybe drink some lovely Argentinian or Chilean wine, to celebrate our last night in South America. We have spent 5 months and 20 days in Central and South America, and it has been a long time in a culture which differs between countries, but that is generally quite similar all the way through. Our Spanish has progressed from nonexistent to moderate, and we have seen far too many Mate cups... (it´s an Argentinian thing).
We have learnt that Argentinian and Chilean men can be extremely attractive, but some Argentinian men are slightly scary. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Bolivia, Peru and Equador, is short. The buses are smaller I swear, and even then, their feet do not touch the floor, so you have old grannies swinging their legs. We have learnt not to ask what the smell is, and to always carry loo roll with us. Hayley and J have learnt not to believe people when they say that the food is vegetarian, and I have learnt not to put bras in the washing machine at the hostel (they burn the bras)... I have also developed a slight (huge) fascination and adoration of Israeli men. It´s the army, making their bodies so beautiful...
Anyways, the Chinese is calling, but will message when finally get to Auckland (if we don`t get stuck between days!)
Loads of love to all from us all,
Alice xxx
Hope you are enjoying the springtime in England - been hearing all about bunnies, daffodils and so on... sounds lovely.
We managed to find Mr Hugo in Maipu to do the wine tasting in Mendoza. Took us a while, as we really had no idea where he was, but we befriended 4 Israeli girls and boys who showed us the way from the bus, very kind. So we set off on our bicycles. One of the Israeli guys couldn´t ride a bicycle, which was very entertaining, but we headed on our merry way. Stopped and tasted wine in a winery (where there was also a museum), cycled 10km to an olive oil factory, then back up to another winery (gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon there), before finally heading to a chocolate and liquor factory... a lovely day in the sun, but feeling very tired on the bus home, understandably! So headed out to a pasta place for some grub before yet again, having an early night... (we are such old ladies here!).
The next day we spent on a bus - at this point, we have spent 6 days on a bus through central America (if you add up all the hours we were actually sat on a bus), and I have done EIGHTEEN DAYS through South America (the other girls have done about 1-2 days less). So very glad to be finishing all that and getting a hire car in New Zealand...
So arrived in Valparaiso yesterday evening, and just did the usual, emailing and getting a steak for supper. We meandered around today, and saw some fantastic, colourfully painted houses on Concepcion hill, and much graffiti - most of it excellent. So really enjoyed photographing it this morning, and we went to a brilliant cafe too, Color Cafe, filled with pictures, photos, paintings, drawings, dolls, candles, bottles and so on on the walls, very quirky. And the waiter was an old guy with an eye patch - somehow fitting for the setting! So lunch there, before heading on yet another bus to Santiago... and arrived this afternoon.
Took us over 24 hours to realise that there was one hours time difference between Chile and Argentina, luckily it wasn´t important for us... so we are now settled into an hostelling international hostel, in the centre of Santiago. It is lovely, clean, free breakfast and internet, cool graffiti in the stairwell, beautiful garden/patio area, and lovely and helpful Nicholas on the front desk. So we are mooching around tomorrow (hopefully collecting laundry otherwise will be on the plane in a bikini)... and then fly out to NZ at 10pm (we are now 4 hours behind the UK). Somehow we cross the international date line - not sure really what happens, really not hoping that it`s anything like the Bermuda triangle... but we arrive in Auckland on Saturday. Will head out of Auckland as soon as we have organised a hire car.
So this is our last night in South America, and I´m really quite sad. We are going to go out for a Chinese meal tonight (Chinese food is cheap globally!) and maybe drink some lovely Argentinian or Chilean wine, to celebrate our last night in South America. We have spent 5 months and 20 days in Central and South America, and it has been a long time in a culture which differs between countries, but that is generally quite similar all the way through. Our Spanish has progressed from nonexistent to moderate, and we have seen far too many Mate cups... (it´s an Argentinian thing).
We have learnt that Argentinian and Chilean men can be extremely attractive, but some Argentinian men are slightly scary. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Bolivia, Peru and Equador, is short. The buses are smaller I swear, and even then, their feet do not touch the floor, so you have old grannies swinging their legs. We have learnt not to ask what the smell is, and to always carry loo roll with us. Hayley and J have learnt not to believe people when they say that the food is vegetarian, and I have learnt not to put bras in the washing machine at the hostel (they burn the bras)... I have also developed a slight (huge) fascination and adoration of Israeli men. It´s the army, making their bodies so beautiful...
Anyways, the Chinese is calling, but will message when finally get to Auckland (if we don`t get stuck between days!)
Loads of love to all from us all,
Alice xxx
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Now in Mendoza... via Bariloche (still Argentina).
Hey hey there,
Well we successfully made it from El Bolson up to Bariloche. El Bolson was absolutely lovely, a small town (and quite gimmicky with fake Swiss ski lodges), but it had a great crafts fair on while we were there, which was actually quite unusual after many similar crafts fairs in Peru and Bolivia. We bought more jewellery (very naughty I know), and had these weird braid things put in our hair - although we have had some comments about our looks - people have mentioned to us that it looks as though we have been travelling for a long time - just another way of saying we look rough I think! Oh well...
The hostel in El Bolson was lovely - a bed and breakfast really, with brilliant comfy beds, - so nice after a horrid journey! We really enjoyed our two days in El Bolson, especially when we were sat under a (small) tree by the fair eating our lunch, and a local guy called Maura came and serenaded us with the guitar... So headed onto Bariloche that evening (only 2 hours away).
Again, lovely hostel and fantastic people there, whoever we were talking to. Many hours spent laughing around the kitchen table, and the kitchen was massive and well stocked full of utensils - very nice after eating cereals with forks and so on... Bariloche is on a lake, and is quite a pretty place, but it feels very touristy. The suburbs are grim and look like there is council housing, and the centre is full of chocolate shops and restaurants and so on. We asked Christian, the guy working in the hostel, what we could do that was cheap, and so he pointed us in the direction out of town. We walked up a steep hill for 30 minutes (rather than take the chair lift), to see gorgeous views of the local lakes, rivers and hills, and then walked through part of a nacional park, past various lakes, to arrive at Lago Escondido. Very romantic setting with a jetty over the lake, and by this time the weather had brightened up so the whole place was beautiful. The woods inspired Walt Disney`s Bambi film, and it was lovely to be walking again. However the mere 10 km was somehow exhausting, quite surprised at just how tired we became!
So on Saturday (yesterday), we headed on another bus at 1pm to Mendoza, and arrived this morning at 8am. Hayley and J have already been here, but kindly left the wine tour until I was travelling with them again (when they were here before I was in Brazil). So we are all checked into a beautiful hostel with a good breakfast (lots of coffee!) and friendly staff - Mendoza Inn.
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-Albergues-Juveniles-Mendoza---Hostel-Mendoza-inn-002057.en.htm?lswitch=Y
We are going to check out an antiques market, a crafts fair, a couple of plazas and have a picnic in the park today. The weather is hotter - high twenties I think, which is a nice change from being cold down in Patagonia (although Patagonia was definitely the highlight of Argentina for me). And then tomorrow we are doing a wine tour... on bicycles. Think they give us helmets - definitely will need one of those! Especially after just receiving my compensation money from my last run in on a bike with a car...
So we are very happily settled into Mendoza, and are enjoying a lazy Sunday. Wine tour tomorrow, then bus from 9am to 6pm on Tuesday to Valparaiso in Chile. (Have to be in Santiago, 2 hours from Valparaiso, on Thursday at the latest for our flight to NEW ZEALAND! at 10pm... time has absolutely flown!) So nearly at the end of our South American trip now, very very sad.
Anyway, hope all is well in the UK, and will write again soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
p.s. List of things left on buses in South America (by Alice)...
- sleeping bag
- sunglasses
- fleece
- hat (hopefully will lose less when we rent a car in NZ!) xxx
Well we successfully made it from El Bolson up to Bariloche. El Bolson was absolutely lovely, a small town (and quite gimmicky with fake Swiss ski lodges), but it had a great crafts fair on while we were there, which was actually quite unusual after many similar crafts fairs in Peru and Bolivia. We bought more jewellery (very naughty I know), and had these weird braid things put in our hair - although we have had some comments about our looks - people have mentioned to us that it looks as though we have been travelling for a long time - just another way of saying we look rough I think! Oh well...
The hostel in El Bolson was lovely - a bed and breakfast really, with brilliant comfy beds, - so nice after a horrid journey! We really enjoyed our two days in El Bolson, especially when we were sat under a (small) tree by the fair eating our lunch, and a local guy called Maura came and serenaded us with the guitar... So headed onto Bariloche that evening (only 2 hours away).
Again, lovely hostel and fantastic people there, whoever we were talking to. Many hours spent laughing around the kitchen table, and the kitchen was massive and well stocked full of utensils - very nice after eating cereals with forks and so on... Bariloche is on a lake, and is quite a pretty place, but it feels very touristy. The suburbs are grim and look like there is council housing, and the centre is full of chocolate shops and restaurants and so on. We asked Christian, the guy working in the hostel, what we could do that was cheap, and so he pointed us in the direction out of town. We walked up a steep hill for 30 minutes (rather than take the chair lift), to see gorgeous views of the local lakes, rivers and hills, and then walked through part of a nacional park, past various lakes, to arrive at Lago Escondido. Very romantic setting with a jetty over the lake, and by this time the weather had brightened up so the whole place was beautiful. The woods inspired Walt Disney`s Bambi film, and it was lovely to be walking again. However the mere 10 km was somehow exhausting, quite surprised at just how tired we became!
So on Saturday (yesterday), we headed on another bus at 1pm to Mendoza, and arrived this morning at 8am. Hayley and J have already been here, but kindly left the wine tour until I was travelling with them again (when they were here before I was in Brazil). So we are all checked into a beautiful hostel with a good breakfast (lots of coffee!) and friendly staff - Mendoza Inn.
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-Albergues-Juveniles-Mendoza---Hostel-Mendoza-inn-002057.en.htm?lswitch=Y
We are going to check out an antiques market, a crafts fair, a couple of plazas and have a picnic in the park today. The weather is hotter - high twenties I think, which is a nice change from being cold down in Patagonia (although Patagonia was definitely the highlight of Argentina for me). And then tomorrow we are doing a wine tour... on bicycles. Think they give us helmets - definitely will need one of those! Especially after just receiving my compensation money from my last run in on a bike with a car...
So we are very happily settled into Mendoza, and are enjoying a lazy Sunday. Wine tour tomorrow, then bus from 9am to 6pm on Tuesday to Valparaiso in Chile. (Have to be in Santiago, 2 hours from Valparaiso, on Thursday at the latest for our flight to NEW ZEALAND! at 10pm... time has absolutely flown!) So nearly at the end of our South American trip now, very very sad.
Anyway, hope all is well in the UK, and will write again soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
p.s. List of things left on buses in South America (by Alice)...
- sleeping bag
- sunglasses
- fleece
- hat (hopefully will lose less when we rent a car in NZ!) xxx
Thursday, 12 March 2009
A few ponderings...
Some lessons we have learnt along the way so far;
- spaghetti carbonara at 8.30am is never a bad thing
- 6 months really is too long for not having a haircut
- never try to throw men bigger than you into the sea. You will be pushed in first.
- clean clothes always take up more room than dirty clothes
- a fundamental mistake in our trip - not enough cheese! We have done well following the wine trail through Chile, Argentina, NZ and Australia, but seriously underplanned for the lack of cheese.
More to come!
xxx
- spaghetti carbonara at 8.30am is never a bad thing
- 6 months really is too long for not having a haircut
- never try to throw men bigger than you into the sea. You will be pushed in first.
- clean clothes always take up more room than dirty clothes
- a fundamental mistake in our trip - not enough cheese! We have done well following the wine trail through Chile, Argentina, NZ and Australia, but seriously underplanned for the lack of cheese.
More to come!
xxx
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Finally made it to El Bolson, (still Argentina)...
Hello there,
Well feeling a little jaded to say the least! Have been on the computer for 2 hours so far trying to download photos onto CD, and it is going very slowly...! Really wish had my laptop here... oh well, can`t have everything!
We finally made it to El Bolson. We met 2 guys on our last day in El Chalten, one English and one American, who entertained us that night before our bus. The bus turned up only 40 minutes late, and we left only 95 minutes late... oh dear, the buses here are meant to be good! The up side is that we were sat next to a couple of Israeli guys, who were very good looking. So Hayley and I had some nice day-night-dreams to go to sleep to! It wasn`t helping that one of them, Adir, had half his shirt falling off so we could see his well defined muscles... the 3 years conscription in the army that they do certainly does shape them up rather well...! Anyway, off this obsession (I was pacified when I was told that there were more Israeli guys in Australia too)...
So we were turfed off the bus unexpectedly at a bus stop half way through our 30 hour journey. Luckily this was at a reasonable time in the afternoon, so we spent an 2 1/2 hours on the bus stop floor, waiting for another bus to come to take us to El Bolson and Bariloche. All went well when we got on the new bus, but was rather disappointed with the journey. We had gone up the western side of Argentina, because the road, route 40, is meant to be THE road to do, in terms of stunning scenery. Well it was identical to the other 4,000km we had done from the north to the south of Argentina on the coast side! But this time the road was untarmaced, and made from mud and gravel...
Which led us to the next problem. Suddenly in the bus there were screams from the back, so we pulled over to find out that the window had completely shattered (no shatter resistant glass here!) all over the 4 israeli girls, as a stone had hit the window. So they moved into other seats, and we turned up at the tiniest town about 20 minutes later, where we spent 90 minutes in the service station, as the bus drivers cleaned out the glass and taped plastic over the hole, so we could continue on our journey. Talk about a palaver!
So we finally arrived in El Bolson, surprisingly only 90 minutes later than expected, and found ourselves a gorgeous little hostel. The girl was so kind to us, and showed us up to our room that was free, so that we could sleep for a while. Normally we are not allowed to check in until lunchtime, so often spend our time hanging around feeling horrid and dirty. The hostel is really cosy, we have our OWN ROOM! with a double bed and pink and purple walls, curtains and duvets... proper duvets! The family is wonderful (the guy superglued my sunglasses back together again), there is a kitchen and the showers are hot. Such a warm welcome after a very uncomfortable bus!
So just been doing errands today - no walking for us as blisters still too sore, (none of us want to even see our trainers again for a long time!) and Hayley`s ankles have swollen slightly due to the long bus journey, so we are taking it easy this time. Off to Bariloche at 5pm tomorrow, (think we are 2 or 3 hours behind the UK), to then stay there for a few days. Rather a rush now unfortunately due to our flight out of Santiago being on the 19th MARCH! Nearly the end of south America, and very sad.
Anyways, gotta go and do some more computer stuff, but love to all,
Alice xx
Well feeling a little jaded to say the least! Have been on the computer for 2 hours so far trying to download photos onto CD, and it is going very slowly...! Really wish had my laptop here... oh well, can`t have everything!
We finally made it to El Bolson. We met 2 guys on our last day in El Chalten, one English and one American, who entertained us that night before our bus. The bus turned up only 40 minutes late, and we left only 95 minutes late... oh dear, the buses here are meant to be good! The up side is that we were sat next to a couple of Israeli guys, who were very good looking. So Hayley and I had some nice day-night-dreams to go to sleep to! It wasn`t helping that one of them, Adir, had half his shirt falling off so we could see his well defined muscles... the 3 years conscription in the army that they do certainly does shape them up rather well...! Anyway, off this obsession (I was pacified when I was told that there were more Israeli guys in Australia too)...
So we were turfed off the bus unexpectedly at a bus stop half way through our 30 hour journey. Luckily this was at a reasonable time in the afternoon, so we spent an 2 1/2 hours on the bus stop floor, waiting for another bus to come to take us to El Bolson and Bariloche. All went well when we got on the new bus, but was rather disappointed with the journey. We had gone up the western side of Argentina, because the road, route 40, is meant to be THE road to do, in terms of stunning scenery. Well it was identical to the other 4,000km we had done from the north to the south of Argentina on the coast side! But this time the road was untarmaced, and made from mud and gravel...
Which led us to the next problem. Suddenly in the bus there were screams from the back, so we pulled over to find out that the window had completely shattered (no shatter resistant glass here!) all over the 4 israeli girls, as a stone had hit the window. So they moved into other seats, and we turned up at the tiniest town about 20 minutes later, where we spent 90 minutes in the service station, as the bus drivers cleaned out the glass and taped plastic over the hole, so we could continue on our journey. Talk about a palaver!
So we finally arrived in El Bolson, surprisingly only 90 minutes later than expected, and found ourselves a gorgeous little hostel. The girl was so kind to us, and showed us up to our room that was free, so that we could sleep for a while. Normally we are not allowed to check in until lunchtime, so often spend our time hanging around feeling horrid and dirty. The hostel is really cosy, we have our OWN ROOM! with a double bed and pink and purple walls, curtains and duvets... proper duvets! The family is wonderful (the guy superglued my sunglasses back together again), there is a kitchen and the showers are hot. Such a warm welcome after a very uncomfortable bus!
So just been doing errands today - no walking for us as blisters still too sore, (none of us want to even see our trainers again for a long time!) and Hayley`s ankles have swollen slightly due to the long bus journey, so we are taking it easy this time. Off to Bariloche at 5pm tomorrow, (think we are 2 or 3 hours behind the UK), to then stay there for a few days. Rather a rush now unfortunately due to our flight out of Santiago being on the 19th MARCH! Nearly the end of south America, and very sad.
Anyways, gotta go and do some more computer stuff, but love to all,
Alice xx
Monday, 9 March 2009
Patagonia, still... now El Chalten
Hello all,
In a very expensive internet cafe so am going to try and write this quickly... or as quickly as I can! We had a great time in the hostel in El Calafate, until one female member of staff managed to thoroughly irritate us, so we were happy to move on. We saw the Perito Moreno glacier - kilometres long and wide, and about 60m high. It can move up to 2m a day. You can hear it creaking and groaning, extremely loudly, and when parts of ice fall off it echoes around the place. Very impressive. We took a local bus there and the scenery was spectacular. Kind of similar to the UK, but somehow more pure. Words really cannot describe it, so will just have to wait for the photos to be put onto the internet! Seeing the glacier was brilliant, but you could not really get that close to it - simply walking along walkways and looking from balconies near it. Compared to some of the experiences we had in Guatemala and Bolivia, where health and safety does not come anywhere near those excursions, it seemed kind of tame. It was `nice` and we were glad we had seen it. Unfortunately the weather turned as well for the worse, which was really unfortunate as didn`t manage to get many good photos of it. But was still good to see it, and we went on a boat ride to it, to see it from the water level (seemed taller), and managed to stand on the boat, tucked up in our raincoats and sunglasses so much I was called a terrorist. (Sunglasses were needed to keep the rain out of eyes!). We also managed to do the Titanic impression at the front of the boat before we were told off... oh well! Pictures to follow.
So have made it to El Chalten, where we spent a couple of nights in a hostel that resembled a shed more. Was so cold, we booked into a better hostel for the 3rd and 4th night. El Chalten is stunningly beautiful. We have walked two long walks - 22 and 25km each, and now cannot walk anywhere! Blisters on ankles, very sore bodies, and thoroughly exhausted. The scenery is spectacular here, and with snow covered mountains, it is probably one of the most gorgeous places that I have visited. The colours are just beautiful, the air is pure, you can drink the water from the streams, and the walks are challenging. Photos to follow of that as well!
We met 4 Israeli guys in the hostel on Thursday and Friday, and ended up having a great time with them. They were so funny, although it took a bit more whisky before we could see the funny side of them nearly setting the hostel on fire (note to self, NEVER put a towel on a gas powered radiator, and be careful when lifting it as it bursts into flames...!) Luckily they have all been in the army for 3 years, so were capable of stamping out the flames. They had trekked up to the Laguna de los Tres to see the Cerro Fitz Roy at sunrise on Friday morning, and so were in a mood to relax on Friday night. Was great to chill out with them, - they were very entertaining.
Saw them a bit more the following day, but unfortunately they had to leave. Always the way with travelling, you meet someone nice, and either you or they have to go in different directions. Still, was great fun while it lasted. So after doing 2 days of gentle walks, and 2 days of more challenging walks, we are crippled enough to go to the next place. Heading to El Bolson or Bariloche this evening - will arrive there early Wednesday morning (32 hours away without delays). Hopefully internet cheaper there, will write again later!
Love from us all,
Alice xxx
In a very expensive internet cafe so am going to try and write this quickly... or as quickly as I can! We had a great time in the hostel in El Calafate, until one female member of staff managed to thoroughly irritate us, so we were happy to move on. We saw the Perito Moreno glacier - kilometres long and wide, and about 60m high. It can move up to 2m a day. You can hear it creaking and groaning, extremely loudly, and when parts of ice fall off it echoes around the place. Very impressive. We took a local bus there and the scenery was spectacular. Kind of similar to the UK, but somehow more pure. Words really cannot describe it, so will just have to wait for the photos to be put onto the internet! Seeing the glacier was brilliant, but you could not really get that close to it - simply walking along walkways and looking from balconies near it. Compared to some of the experiences we had in Guatemala and Bolivia, where health and safety does not come anywhere near those excursions, it seemed kind of tame. It was `nice` and we were glad we had seen it. Unfortunately the weather turned as well for the worse, which was really unfortunate as didn`t manage to get many good photos of it. But was still good to see it, and we went on a boat ride to it, to see it from the water level (seemed taller), and managed to stand on the boat, tucked up in our raincoats and sunglasses so much I was called a terrorist. (Sunglasses were needed to keep the rain out of eyes!). We also managed to do the Titanic impression at the front of the boat before we were told off... oh well! Pictures to follow.
So have made it to El Chalten, where we spent a couple of nights in a hostel that resembled a shed more. Was so cold, we booked into a better hostel for the 3rd and 4th night. El Chalten is stunningly beautiful. We have walked two long walks - 22 and 25km each, and now cannot walk anywhere! Blisters on ankles, very sore bodies, and thoroughly exhausted. The scenery is spectacular here, and with snow covered mountains, it is probably one of the most gorgeous places that I have visited. The colours are just beautiful, the air is pure, you can drink the water from the streams, and the walks are challenging. Photos to follow of that as well!
We met 4 Israeli guys in the hostel on Thursday and Friday, and ended up having a great time with them. They were so funny, although it took a bit more whisky before we could see the funny side of them nearly setting the hostel on fire (note to self, NEVER put a towel on a gas powered radiator, and be careful when lifting it as it bursts into flames...!) Luckily they have all been in the army for 3 years, so were capable of stamping out the flames. They had trekked up to the Laguna de los Tres to see the Cerro Fitz Roy at sunrise on Friday morning, and so were in a mood to relax on Friday night. Was great to chill out with them, - they were very entertaining.
Saw them a bit more the following day, but unfortunately they had to leave. Always the way with travelling, you meet someone nice, and either you or they have to go in different directions. Still, was great fun while it lasted. So after doing 2 days of gentle walks, and 2 days of more challenging walks, we are crippled enough to go to the next place. Heading to El Bolson or Bariloche this evening - will arrive there early Wednesday morning (32 hours away without delays). Hopefully internet cheaper there, will write again later!
Love from us all,
Alice xxx
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Puerto Madryn to Rio Gallegos to El Calafate... yet another challenging journey!
Hello all,
I am writing this sitting next to Hayley in the most gorgeous hostel I have ever seen. The whole town does not seem like a replica of a French, German or Austrian town in the Alps, but the real thing. The sunlight is flowing through the (dirty) windows, and we are overlooking Lago Argentina, stunning. The hostel is I Keu Ken, in El Calafate, and it is exactly like a ski lodge in the Alps. With an open fire, deliciously comfy beds and fantastic (and pretty/handsome staff), this is my favourite place by far. And we`ve not even ventured outdoors yet!
Still battling the cold, but now it has turned into an annoying cough. Very annoying for all concerned! Also the 119+ bites are now going down, however I have a few new additions- the latest is huge on my leg,weeping like a blister in the middle and hot to the touch. Even Carolina, at reception, was repulsed and told me to go to the hospital! So will venture there today...
Anyway, we had yet another `challenging bus ride`. Our bus from Puerto Madryn to Rio Gallegos arrived an hour late from BA (that part of the journey only took 19 hours)... so we got on the bus to find out that the seats were different to the ticket office`s computer, so we were sat right by the loos. Again. Of course the loo was broken-no flush, paper or water, or door lock. The door lock was amusing for us, as we watched people walk in on others on the toilet when they disregarded our shouts, however it was very stinky.
So we headed off, stopping for aggges in different places, to fix various parts of the bus. The toilet, parts on the side of it or generally the whole thing. We were 3 hours late getting to the next town, and then the bigger problems began. We had felt a flat tyre for hours, but they eventually stopped and tried to change it (without an apparent jack and with everyone on board too). Again, hours late. We arrived at a petrol station early in the morning, and were there for a few hours. Another flat tyre, but this time the rubber was falling off the tyre in pieces, and the spare was broken as it had replaced the first flat tyre. Never travel with El Penguino (the penguin) bus company!
They moved all the women with children onto another bus that had pulled up, and we unfortunately could not get onto the bus as our bags were too big. So we sat around for another 2 hours, to wait for a new bus to come, but it never did. So somehow they managed to repair the spare, and luckily we began the journey again. We were now resigned to the fact that we were going to be very very late to the hostel, and luckily I managed to use the only phone in a 50km radius to call the hostel, asking them to keep the reservation for us.
So we headed off, only to be summoned to the front of the bus by Edgar and Walter, the bus drivers. Had a fantastic time watching the road-the countryside is completely flat from BA to Rio Gallegos - thousands of kilometres. (The whole country is 5,200km long!) No rivers, turns in the road, trees, buildings... just low lying shrubs. For thousands of kilometres. Was identical to the Motorcycle Diaries film. Absolutely stunning sunsets, never seen anything like it before in my life. So we chatted away, and I traded a bracelet for Edgar`s sunglasses - thankfully as I had left them on a previous bus! And needed them for the glacier tomorrow...
Anyway, we managed to while away the next few hours. Edgar summoned me to the cab again, and like the naive, innocent girl I am, I saw nothing funny about him offering me a bed to sleep on - the bed in the cab that the drivers use. Until Edgar got into bed with me. And asked me for kisses. What is it about these Argentinian men?!!! So hastily got out of bed, made my excuses and ran away to Hayley and J. Which was a shame as the bed was really comfy...
Finally made it to Rio Gallegos - only 8 hours late - was 27 hours instead of 19, with only another 7 people on the 50 seater bus, as the others had got into the replacement bus. Next time, I think we will stay away from the budget buses!
So booked up a ticket for El Calafate a couple of hours later. Would have called the hostel again, but unfortunately the phones were down in Rio Gallegos. Got harrassed by this Argentinian man (again, seriously!) called Angel, who fancied a bit of Hayley. He was really kind and bought us supper, and was generally a bit weird. Overly friendly but weird. So after falling into holes, walking through fences (the other 3 had a very strange time going to the supermarket,) we headed off to El Calafate. Two police checkpoints held us up again, as they walked through the bus checking passport numbers and so on. We also stopped for while after we had just pulled out from a service station, as I think we hit a cow. Luckily not hard so we continued after a little while! This trip was just getting weirder and funnier. We had to laugh otherwise we would cry out of frustration and tiredness!
So eventually arrived in El Calafate at 1.30am, rather than 4pm. We managed to shed a few men here and there by promptly jumping into a taxi and heading up to our wonderful hostel.
So now getting ready to head out for the day (or back into bed, unbelievably tired), and are looking forward to our free drinkies tonight with Frederico, the guy in the hostel who islovely and pretty. Life is difficult! If our trip tomorrow shows that the glacier is as beautiful as pictures show, I might just stay here...
Love to all,
Alice xxx
I am writing this sitting next to Hayley in the most gorgeous hostel I have ever seen. The whole town does not seem like a replica of a French, German or Austrian town in the Alps, but the real thing. The sunlight is flowing through the (dirty) windows, and we are overlooking Lago Argentina, stunning. The hostel is I Keu Ken, in El Calafate, and it is exactly like a ski lodge in the Alps. With an open fire, deliciously comfy beds and fantastic (and pretty/handsome staff), this is my favourite place by far. And we`ve not even ventured outdoors yet!
Still battling the cold, but now it has turned into an annoying cough. Very annoying for all concerned! Also the 119+ bites are now going down, however I have a few new additions- the latest is huge on my leg,weeping like a blister in the middle and hot to the touch. Even Carolina, at reception, was repulsed and told me to go to the hospital! So will venture there today...
Anyway, we had yet another `challenging bus ride`. Our bus from Puerto Madryn to Rio Gallegos arrived an hour late from BA (that part of the journey only took 19 hours)... so we got on the bus to find out that the seats were different to the ticket office`s computer, so we were sat right by the loos. Again. Of course the loo was broken-no flush, paper or water, or door lock. The door lock was amusing for us, as we watched people walk in on others on the toilet when they disregarded our shouts, however it was very stinky.
So we headed off, stopping for aggges in different places, to fix various parts of the bus. The toilet, parts on the side of it or generally the whole thing. We were 3 hours late getting to the next town, and then the bigger problems began. We had felt a flat tyre for hours, but they eventually stopped and tried to change it (without an apparent jack and with everyone on board too). Again, hours late. We arrived at a petrol station early in the morning, and were there for a few hours. Another flat tyre, but this time the rubber was falling off the tyre in pieces, and the spare was broken as it had replaced the first flat tyre. Never travel with El Penguino (the penguin) bus company!
They moved all the women with children onto another bus that had pulled up, and we unfortunately could not get onto the bus as our bags were too big. So we sat around for another 2 hours, to wait for a new bus to come, but it never did. So somehow they managed to repair the spare, and luckily we began the journey again. We were now resigned to the fact that we were going to be very very late to the hostel, and luckily I managed to use the only phone in a 50km radius to call the hostel, asking them to keep the reservation for us.
So we headed off, only to be summoned to the front of the bus by Edgar and Walter, the bus drivers. Had a fantastic time watching the road-the countryside is completely flat from BA to Rio Gallegos - thousands of kilometres. (The whole country is 5,200km long!) No rivers, turns in the road, trees, buildings... just low lying shrubs. For thousands of kilometres. Was identical to the Motorcycle Diaries film. Absolutely stunning sunsets, never seen anything like it before in my life. So we chatted away, and I traded a bracelet for Edgar`s sunglasses - thankfully as I had left them on a previous bus! And needed them for the glacier tomorrow...
Anyway, we managed to while away the next few hours. Edgar summoned me to the cab again, and like the naive, innocent girl I am, I saw nothing funny about him offering me a bed to sleep on - the bed in the cab that the drivers use. Until Edgar got into bed with me. And asked me for kisses. What is it about these Argentinian men?!!! So hastily got out of bed, made my excuses and ran away to Hayley and J. Which was a shame as the bed was really comfy...
Finally made it to Rio Gallegos - only 8 hours late - was 27 hours instead of 19, with only another 7 people on the 50 seater bus, as the others had got into the replacement bus. Next time, I think we will stay away from the budget buses!
So booked up a ticket for El Calafate a couple of hours later. Would have called the hostel again, but unfortunately the phones were down in Rio Gallegos. Got harrassed by this Argentinian man (again, seriously!) called Angel, who fancied a bit of Hayley. He was really kind and bought us supper, and was generally a bit weird. Overly friendly but weird. So after falling into holes, walking through fences (the other 3 had a very strange time going to the supermarket,) we headed off to El Calafate. Two police checkpoints held us up again, as they walked through the bus checking passport numbers and so on. We also stopped for while after we had just pulled out from a service station, as I think we hit a cow. Luckily not hard so we continued after a little while! This trip was just getting weirder and funnier. We had to laugh otherwise we would cry out of frustration and tiredness!
So eventually arrived in El Calafate at 1.30am, rather than 4pm. We managed to shed a few men here and there by promptly jumping into a taxi and heading up to our wonderful hostel.
So now getting ready to head out for the day (or back into bed, unbelievably tired), and are looking forward to our free drinkies tonight with Frederico, the guy in the hostel who islovely and pretty. Life is difficult! If our trip tomorrow shows that the glacier is as beautiful as pictures show, I might just stay here...
Love to all,
Alice xxx
Sunday, 1 March 2009
BA to Puerto Madryn... and yet another bus!
Hello all,
We safely arrived in BA and spent a day sorting ourselves out. We were more motivated this time due to the smelly room we were in (horrid), so only spent 2 nights in BA. We watched `Slumdog`at the cinema (half price on Wednesdays), - very very good. Finally got to see it! Went for a few drinks in the other `Milhouse`hostel across the road - very swish - only for one of my friends from uni to walk in, having just landed from the UK. Such a surprise (and a welcome one!) as haven`t seen him since June last year, and had completely forgotten he was travelling in South America. So was able to give him a few hints and tips, and one drink turned into 4... needless to say, not a very good idea as felt awful the next morning!
So got on a 20 hour bus to Puerto Madryn, on the eastern coast of Argentina. Dad mentioned that he had been there - I didn`t believe him initially - until he explained that he had a ship full of sick soldiers and had moored up there in the port during the Falklands war. Very random! We were late leaving on the bus as there was yet another demonstration outside the bus station, complete with firecrackers. Luckily we could enter the bus terminal from the other side, so were pretty safe. Just a hassle waiting around for a bus when feeling hungover!
Got to Puerto Madryn (the main port and city for Patagonia), and it is a lovely place. Calm, friendly, small enough to walk everywhere, and a pretty beach with 2 massive piers, that cruise ships and navy ships moor up in. The hostel, Posada del Catalejo is lovely. Very homey, with sofas (really miss having somewhere to relax and chill in hostels without them!), a TV (although cannot open the DVD player, even with a pen knife, big kitchen, comfy beds, it is generally clean, and we have met a lovely Australian and a great British couple here. The Australians, Dave and Laine, are very entertaining - Dave`s first marriage was by accident! He was in Gretna Green with his lady friend, travelling Europe, and a Scottish man told them that they had to do a `fake marriage`in Gretna Green, for the memory. So they did, and signed their names etc for their `keepsake` souvenir paperwork.... only to realise that it was real! Absolutely hilarious. They tried to make a go of it, but 6 weeks later Dave wanted to go to Morocco, and she didn`t, so they divorced under ìrreconcilable differences! Very very funny. His second wife, Laine, he married for a visa... luckily he does like her as well! So have had an entertaining time with them here.
Brilliant place to stay and recover after too much alcohol in Rosario and BA. Hayley and I have come down with colds, so feeling pretty manky. Think our bodies are protesting! Nevertheless, we dragged ourselves out to Punto Tombo yesterday, a national reserve 2.5 hours south of PM. We saw hundreds of thousands of penguins, so cute! some were moulting, and there were feathers everywhere. They waddle in a great fashion, and were sleeping standing up in many places, snoring gently with their beaks open. Lovely to see. Photos to follow at some point!
Also visited Gaiman, a Welsh town believe it or not, filled with tea houses and Welsh buildings. It is the best cup of tea that we have had in 5 months! Not quite Wales as we know it, but an Argentinian version. Very funny.
So today we are dragging our snotty bodies onto another bus, at 3pm, to go to Rio Gallegas (we get in at 10am tomorrow, Monday). We will then head straight to El Calafate, about another 4 hours on. We`ll see if it all goes to plan...!
Hope everyone is ok in UK, will put up photos at some point soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
We safely arrived in BA and spent a day sorting ourselves out. We were more motivated this time due to the smelly room we were in (horrid), so only spent 2 nights in BA. We watched `Slumdog`at the cinema (half price on Wednesdays), - very very good. Finally got to see it! Went for a few drinks in the other `Milhouse`hostel across the road - very swish - only for one of my friends from uni to walk in, having just landed from the UK. Such a surprise (and a welcome one!) as haven`t seen him since June last year, and had completely forgotten he was travelling in South America. So was able to give him a few hints and tips, and one drink turned into 4... needless to say, not a very good idea as felt awful the next morning!
So got on a 20 hour bus to Puerto Madryn, on the eastern coast of Argentina. Dad mentioned that he had been there - I didn`t believe him initially - until he explained that he had a ship full of sick soldiers and had moored up there in the port during the Falklands war. Very random! We were late leaving on the bus as there was yet another demonstration outside the bus station, complete with firecrackers. Luckily we could enter the bus terminal from the other side, so were pretty safe. Just a hassle waiting around for a bus when feeling hungover!
Got to Puerto Madryn (the main port and city for Patagonia), and it is a lovely place. Calm, friendly, small enough to walk everywhere, and a pretty beach with 2 massive piers, that cruise ships and navy ships moor up in. The hostel, Posada del Catalejo is lovely. Very homey, with sofas (really miss having somewhere to relax and chill in hostels without them!), a TV (although cannot open the DVD player, even with a pen knife, big kitchen, comfy beds, it is generally clean, and we have met a lovely Australian and a great British couple here. The Australians, Dave and Laine, are very entertaining - Dave`s first marriage was by accident! He was in Gretna Green with his lady friend, travelling Europe, and a Scottish man told them that they had to do a `fake marriage`in Gretna Green, for the memory. So they did, and signed their names etc for their `keepsake` souvenir paperwork.... only to realise that it was real! Absolutely hilarious. They tried to make a go of it, but 6 weeks later Dave wanted to go to Morocco, and she didn`t, so they divorced under ìrreconcilable differences! Very very funny. His second wife, Laine, he married for a visa... luckily he does like her as well! So have had an entertaining time with them here.
Brilliant place to stay and recover after too much alcohol in Rosario and BA. Hayley and I have come down with colds, so feeling pretty manky. Think our bodies are protesting! Nevertheless, we dragged ourselves out to Punto Tombo yesterday, a national reserve 2.5 hours south of PM. We saw hundreds of thousands of penguins, so cute! some were moulting, and there were feathers everywhere. They waddle in a great fashion, and were sleeping standing up in many places, snoring gently with their beaks open. Lovely to see. Photos to follow at some point!
Also visited Gaiman, a Welsh town believe it or not, filled with tea houses and Welsh buildings. It is the best cup of tea that we have had in 5 months! Not quite Wales as we know it, but an Argentinian version. Very funny.
So today we are dragging our snotty bodies onto another bus, at 3pm, to go to Rio Gallegas (we get in at 10am tomorrow, Monday). We will then head straight to El Calafate, about another 4 hours on. We`ll see if it all goes to plan...!
Hope everyone is ok in UK, will put up photos at some point soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Monday, 23 February 2009
Rosario, Argentina
Hey hey there,
Well we met up with Beth and Ron, and had an absolutely delicious last supper. The food was so nice, by far the best meal on this trip! The restaurant was great, and the Uruguayan waiter, George, was so helpful and kind. Lovely evening. We managed to stagger back home afterwards - luckily the walk did us good, although it was slightly unnerving seeing the staff at the hostel after a tipsy evening the night before...
Beth and Ron flew out on Saturday (we did try and make them stay), and we ended up heading down to Rosario instead. Quick detour past the hospital - I still have problems with my ears! and 1 cold bus ride later - only 4 hours - we arrived in Rosario. Ate out and had gorgeous food for very little money - beautiful pasta with a glass of wine for only 4 quid, before heading back to the hostel and befriending the people there over a few drinks.
Yesterday the weather was awful, so we went shopping and to the cinema. I needed to replace a bra that the laundry in Buenos Aires had burnt - literally - so did that and then settled down to ´Revolution Road´. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon! Again, few more drinks last night, but the sun is shining at the moment so we are going to head off and do something worthwhile today. Head back to BA at some point tomorrow.
Anyway, hope everyone is well, and will update again soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Well we met up with Beth and Ron, and had an absolutely delicious last supper. The food was so nice, by far the best meal on this trip! The restaurant was great, and the Uruguayan waiter, George, was so helpful and kind. Lovely evening. We managed to stagger back home afterwards - luckily the walk did us good, although it was slightly unnerving seeing the staff at the hostel after a tipsy evening the night before...
Beth and Ron flew out on Saturday (we did try and make them stay), and we ended up heading down to Rosario instead. Quick detour past the hospital - I still have problems with my ears! and 1 cold bus ride later - only 4 hours - we arrived in Rosario. Ate out and had gorgeous food for very little money - beautiful pasta with a glass of wine for only 4 quid, before heading back to the hostel and befriending the people there over a few drinks.
Yesterday the weather was awful, so we went shopping and to the cinema. I needed to replace a bra that the laundry in Buenos Aires had burnt - literally - so did that and then settled down to ´Revolution Road´. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon! Again, few more drinks last night, but the sun is shining at the moment so we are going to head off and do something worthwhile today. Head back to BA at some point tomorrow.
Anyway, hope everyone is well, and will update again soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Friday, 20 February 2009
Buenos Aires, still...
Hey hey there,
Been having a great time in BA with the girlies, and Beth and Ron. Hayley and J have been leading me astray again (well I haven´t really been complaining,) so have had some fantastic nights here.
Sunday we visited the main cemetery in the city, and also saw the crafts fair outside. The cemetery was amazing - so different to anything else that we´ve seen. It was full of very tall crypts of families, pretty much all of them are in disrepair and falling apart, plus covered in creepy cobwebs and dust. So different to the cemetery in La Paz, where every Sunday the families are around the boxes, replacing the flowers and making sure that everything is in order. It was strange in that you could see the coffins in this cemetery (BA) - they were stacked up on top of each other, and you could also see the little children´s coffins which was sad. Saw Evita´s crypt - the only crypt full of flowers as well. Was very strange walking around the cemetery, and it certainly had a weird smell of death around the place. Saw Beth and Ron that evening for a delicious Chinese meal. Fantastic to catch up with them again, and they very kindly treated us. Went back to the hostel and ended up seeing Mike, our friend we worked with in Bolivia, and all his Canadian friends, so ended up chatting until the small hours of the morning... oops!
We saw a Tango show on Monday night. First of all we had to try and tango ourselves, (very embarrassing and difficult, but ended up being great fun), before we had a gorgeous 3 course meal, which was very appreciated by us 3, and then watched a stunning professional tango show. The food was delicious, and we had lots of wine included in the price - such a shame! - but the show was so good. Very sexy, fast and impressive. Lovely to ´do´ a bit of culture!
Unfortunately we ended up going out after the show, with the result that Hayley and J went to sleep for a couple of hours, but I actually did not make it to bed. Stupid move, as we were leaving to visit Uruguay for the day with Beth and Ron! Luckily managed to sober up on the ferry - they loved laughing at a tipsy Alice - and we had a lovely day meandering around Colonia de Sacramento, eating and sleeping in the park. The place was beautiful, and very peaceful, but unfortunately a little too touristy at times. However it was a lovely day out, and certainly worth seeing.
Wednesday we decided to be cultural again, and visited the MALBA art gallery - Museo de Arte Latinamericano Buenos Aires as it was free that day. The gallery was good - not too big, and we saw some great pieces. Even saw a Frida Kahlo - it´s great to see her work after being in her house in Mexico City at the start of the trip. We also went to see the Evita museum, which was great, apart from the fact that we know virtually nothing about her, which is annoying. So definitely need to read up on her when I get back to the UK! Definitely worth seeing though, and we were feeling very virtuous after visiting the gallery and museum. Met up with Beth and Ron, and had a gorgeous Indian meal. Cannot really say how much I enjoy eating these huge meals, the food is beautiful and it is so nice to not feel hungry! Again, Ron was very generous and treated us, so we took Beth and him to the cinema. It is fantastic here, you can go and see a film at 1am if you want to, - everything is open late. Saw the Tom Cruise film about Hitler - brilliant, and great for perving over him! So we were all happy... It´s very strange at the hostel, because we can hear pornographic noises when we are in the bathroom. Took us a while to figure out who was making the noises, until someone told the others that there is a sex cinema next door to our hostel. It is certainly very entertaining when we go to have a shower and all we can hear is porn!
Yesterday we ventured into another area of town, La Boca, which is beautiful. Not really quite sure whether it was quite as vibrant and colourful originally, or whether it has been overdone for the tourists, (even the window decorations are staged!) But it was lovely to see and the colours were beautiful - such fun photographing it. Went to see the Museo de Bellas Artes, again great gallery, but it was baking hot and so we ended up heading back to the hostel. Had a 3 hour siesta, absolutely brilliant, and then had an entertaining evening drinking in the hostel. Seem to have made quite a few more friends last night! Certainly more people were chatting to us this morning... oops! I blame Hayley...
So we are slowly recovering (J has homeopathic medicine for hangovers!) and are doing errands today, before we head out to meet Beth and Ron later on. They fly home tomorrow, - perhaps we could kidnap them?! BA has been great this week, it is a very European city, but it seems to have lost some of its own identity, however we have had a great time doing day trips, seeing galleries, meandering around and eating delicious meals. Certainly true that it is people who can make or break a place!
We are organising the next stage of our trip down southern Argentina. We have invited ourselves along on a road trip with Iain and Mike, the 2 guys we worked with in La Paz, to hire a car and drive down to Ushuaia with them - the most southern city in the world - you can get a boat to Antarctica from there. Just trying to work out logistics and time frames to see if this is possible. Hopefully it is, as it would be amazing to have our own transport (and cheaper than buses too)...
So love to all back home, - have just put some more photos in the Argentina folder, and will write again soon.
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Been having a great time in BA with the girlies, and Beth and Ron. Hayley and J have been leading me astray again (well I haven´t really been complaining,) so have had some fantastic nights here.
Sunday we visited the main cemetery in the city, and also saw the crafts fair outside. The cemetery was amazing - so different to anything else that we´ve seen. It was full of very tall crypts of families, pretty much all of them are in disrepair and falling apart, plus covered in creepy cobwebs and dust. So different to the cemetery in La Paz, where every Sunday the families are around the boxes, replacing the flowers and making sure that everything is in order. It was strange in that you could see the coffins in this cemetery (BA) - they were stacked up on top of each other, and you could also see the little children´s coffins which was sad. Saw Evita´s crypt - the only crypt full of flowers as well. Was very strange walking around the cemetery, and it certainly had a weird smell of death around the place. Saw Beth and Ron that evening for a delicious Chinese meal. Fantastic to catch up with them again, and they very kindly treated us. Went back to the hostel and ended up seeing Mike, our friend we worked with in Bolivia, and all his Canadian friends, so ended up chatting until the small hours of the morning... oops!
We saw a Tango show on Monday night. First of all we had to try and tango ourselves, (very embarrassing and difficult, but ended up being great fun), before we had a gorgeous 3 course meal, which was very appreciated by us 3, and then watched a stunning professional tango show. The food was delicious, and we had lots of wine included in the price - such a shame! - but the show was so good. Very sexy, fast and impressive. Lovely to ´do´ a bit of culture!
Unfortunately we ended up going out after the show, with the result that Hayley and J went to sleep for a couple of hours, but I actually did not make it to bed. Stupid move, as we were leaving to visit Uruguay for the day with Beth and Ron! Luckily managed to sober up on the ferry - they loved laughing at a tipsy Alice - and we had a lovely day meandering around Colonia de Sacramento, eating and sleeping in the park. The place was beautiful, and very peaceful, but unfortunately a little too touristy at times. However it was a lovely day out, and certainly worth seeing.
Wednesday we decided to be cultural again, and visited the MALBA art gallery - Museo de Arte Latinamericano Buenos Aires as it was free that day. The gallery was good - not too big, and we saw some great pieces. Even saw a Frida Kahlo - it´s great to see her work after being in her house in Mexico City at the start of the trip. We also went to see the Evita museum, which was great, apart from the fact that we know virtually nothing about her, which is annoying. So definitely need to read up on her when I get back to the UK! Definitely worth seeing though, and we were feeling very virtuous after visiting the gallery and museum. Met up with Beth and Ron, and had a gorgeous Indian meal. Cannot really say how much I enjoy eating these huge meals, the food is beautiful and it is so nice to not feel hungry! Again, Ron was very generous and treated us, so we took Beth and him to the cinema. It is fantastic here, you can go and see a film at 1am if you want to, - everything is open late. Saw the Tom Cruise film about Hitler - brilliant, and great for perving over him! So we were all happy... It´s very strange at the hostel, because we can hear pornographic noises when we are in the bathroom. Took us a while to figure out who was making the noises, until someone told the others that there is a sex cinema next door to our hostel. It is certainly very entertaining when we go to have a shower and all we can hear is porn!
Yesterday we ventured into another area of town, La Boca, which is beautiful. Not really quite sure whether it was quite as vibrant and colourful originally, or whether it has been overdone for the tourists, (even the window decorations are staged!) But it was lovely to see and the colours were beautiful - such fun photographing it. Went to see the Museo de Bellas Artes, again great gallery, but it was baking hot and so we ended up heading back to the hostel. Had a 3 hour siesta, absolutely brilliant, and then had an entertaining evening drinking in the hostel. Seem to have made quite a few more friends last night! Certainly more people were chatting to us this morning... oops! I blame Hayley...
So we are slowly recovering (J has homeopathic medicine for hangovers!) and are doing errands today, before we head out to meet Beth and Ron later on. They fly home tomorrow, - perhaps we could kidnap them?! BA has been great this week, it is a very European city, but it seems to have lost some of its own identity, however we have had a great time doing day trips, seeing galleries, meandering around and eating delicious meals. Certainly true that it is people who can make or break a place!
We are organising the next stage of our trip down southern Argentina. We have invited ourselves along on a road trip with Iain and Mike, the 2 guys we worked with in La Paz, to hire a car and drive down to Ushuaia with them - the most southern city in the world - you can get a boat to Antarctica from there. Just trying to work out logistics and time frames to see if this is possible. Hopefully it is, as it would be amazing to have our own transport (and cheaper than buses too)...
So love to all back home, - have just put some more photos in the Argentina folder, and will write again soon.
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Monday, 16 February 2009
In Buenos Aires, with J, Hayley, Beth and Ron, finally!
Hey hey there,
Just a quickie to let you know that the bus ride went smoothly enough (after I nearly missed the bus as the traffic on the way to the bus station was terrible!) Arrived in BA yesterday, and had a great time wandering around, seeing the cemetery. Was very strange seeing so many coffins in full view, and they smelt slightly horrible too! Ended up going for a coffee with Simon, and English guy we first met in Panama.
Supper out - very kindly treated by Beth and Ron to a delicious Chinese last night. Just what the doctor ordered after my 40 hour bus journey to BA! Ended up drinking until past 4am with people in our hostel that we had met in Bolivia. A very good night but feeling slightly jaded now!
Have just spent hourrrrrs uploading photos of Brazil and more photos in the Argentina folder too, so feel free to have a gander if you so desire. Off to see a tango show and have supper this evening, life is difficult in BA!
Loads of love from us all,
Alice ###
Just a quickie to let you know that the bus ride went smoothly enough (after I nearly missed the bus as the traffic on the way to the bus station was terrible!) Arrived in BA yesterday, and had a great time wandering around, seeing the cemetery. Was very strange seeing so many coffins in full view, and they smelt slightly horrible too! Ended up going for a coffee with Simon, and English guy we first met in Panama.
Supper out - very kindly treated by Beth and Ron to a delicious Chinese last night. Just what the doctor ordered after my 40 hour bus journey to BA! Ended up drinking until past 4am with people in our hostel that we had met in Bolivia. A very good night but feeling slightly jaded now!
Have just spent hourrrrrs uploading photos of Brazil and more photos in the Argentina folder too, so feel free to have a gander if you so desire. Off to see a tango show and have supper this evening, life is difficult in BA!
Loads of love from us all,
Alice ###
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Having a moment with Jesus, and Alan Carr... (Alice)
Hey hey there,
Think I last wrote on Monday, so thought would drop another line before leaving to Buenos Aires. As I said, I really enjoyed the favella tour, and ended up having a relaxing night on Monday.
Tuesday decided that as it was so hot, I needed another day on the beach. Walked down to Praia Vermelha (next to Copacabana beach) with Paul, and it was gorgeous. The sand was like brown sugar (just a little less brown), and the little bay was beautiful. Reminded me of somewhere in Italy, a big change from the miles and miles of beach in Copacabana and Ipanema. The bay was really quiet, and even though we were not meant to swim as the currents were too strong, we swam anyway (mistakenly ignoring the no swimming signs!) We both survived, I am happy to say, and had a great day on the beach. Even managed to get a huge chunk of cheese on a stick, grilled by a man carrying around a lit stove and a coolbox of cheese and hotdogs. Slightly strange tasting, but brilliant anyway. Such a hard life... This hostel is a quiet hostel, and it´s actually really nice to just relax in the evenings - am saving myself (and my money) for a bit of craziness in Buenos Aires!
Decided to see Christ the Redeemer statue yesterday, as the sun was shining and the statue was clear (we can see it from our hostel). Went with a group of people, including an English couple and a weird guy from the hostel. Met a lovely Spanish guy working and living in London (banker), on the bus so he tagged along for the ride.
We first of all went to another viewpoint by taxi, and saw stunning views of the city. Words cannot really describe just how pretty it was. We could see for miles, seeing the maracana football stadium, the beaches, the marina, the airport, the random mountains that spring up in parts of the city, and of course Sugarloaf Mountain. Absolutely beautiful, and the whole place just looked so blue - the hazy sky and the bright blue ocean. We could see the road that our hostel was on, and the local beach that we go to.
Headed up to the statue, and it was incredible. It isn´t actually that high, only 30m, but you can see it from all over the city. Apparently it used to face a different direction, but then slums started to build below it, so they turned it around. We could see a 360 view of the city, including the Copacabana and Ipenema beaches. There were helicopters flying past with rich tourists seeing the city in luxury (so jealous!) and ended up bumping into Jessie, a Canadian that I had met in Puerto Iguazu. Also, very strangely, ended up seeing a very sweaty Alan Carr up the there too (well, we were all sweaty, it was 40 degrees and humid)... suppose everyone has to have a holiday, but was just a surreal experience! The statue was the most important thing that I wanted to see in Rio, and I was so glad that the sun came out yesterday, and that the sky was clear. The statue more than lived up to my expectations, - I was grinning for quite a while!
Decided to head to the botannical gardens with the others, and again saw some weird and wonderful plants, animals and flowers. Not really used to doing things like that, but loved it anyway, although by this time I was feeling very dehydrated, and like I had been stewed for a few hours! Some lovely photos of orchids, before I called it a day. Was going to go to the maracana football stadium last night, but unfortunately there were no more tickets. So ended up doing a challenge for a free night in the hostel... and failed. Oops!
So have been wandering around the city today, sightseeing and generally mooching about. Unfortunately the centro isn´t very pretty, and neither are the churches, so came back after a while. Think will try and see some music tonight, certainly up for a drink (or more) in my last night in Rio. This place is crazy, so colourful and vibrant, really looking forward to coming back again when I have a bit more money, and catching Carneval at some point.
So tomorrow I plan to head to the bohemian, artsy part of the city, before getting a 38 bus to BA. Luckily it is not too long, and I think it is cama, so the chairs are bigger. But will probably have to shower before I jump into bed with either Hayley or J, when I arrive at 7am in BA!
Anyway, hope that the snow etc isn´t being too difficult for you all, - don´t want to hear any excuses about not going to work! Will write again when I meet with the others in BA (and Beth and Ron of course).
Lots of love, Alice xxxxxx
Think I last wrote on Monday, so thought would drop another line before leaving to Buenos Aires. As I said, I really enjoyed the favella tour, and ended up having a relaxing night on Monday.
Tuesday decided that as it was so hot, I needed another day on the beach. Walked down to Praia Vermelha (next to Copacabana beach) with Paul, and it was gorgeous. The sand was like brown sugar (just a little less brown), and the little bay was beautiful. Reminded me of somewhere in Italy, a big change from the miles and miles of beach in Copacabana and Ipanema. The bay was really quiet, and even though we were not meant to swim as the currents were too strong, we swam anyway (mistakenly ignoring the no swimming signs!) We both survived, I am happy to say, and had a great day on the beach. Even managed to get a huge chunk of cheese on a stick, grilled by a man carrying around a lit stove and a coolbox of cheese and hotdogs. Slightly strange tasting, but brilliant anyway. Such a hard life... This hostel is a quiet hostel, and it´s actually really nice to just relax in the evenings - am saving myself (and my money) for a bit of craziness in Buenos Aires!
Decided to see Christ the Redeemer statue yesterday, as the sun was shining and the statue was clear (we can see it from our hostel). Went with a group of people, including an English couple and a weird guy from the hostel. Met a lovely Spanish guy working and living in London (banker), on the bus so he tagged along for the ride.
We first of all went to another viewpoint by taxi, and saw stunning views of the city. Words cannot really describe just how pretty it was. We could see for miles, seeing the maracana football stadium, the beaches, the marina, the airport, the random mountains that spring up in parts of the city, and of course Sugarloaf Mountain. Absolutely beautiful, and the whole place just looked so blue - the hazy sky and the bright blue ocean. We could see the road that our hostel was on, and the local beach that we go to.
Headed up to the statue, and it was incredible. It isn´t actually that high, only 30m, but you can see it from all over the city. Apparently it used to face a different direction, but then slums started to build below it, so they turned it around. We could see a 360 view of the city, including the Copacabana and Ipenema beaches. There were helicopters flying past with rich tourists seeing the city in luxury (so jealous!) and ended up bumping into Jessie, a Canadian that I had met in Puerto Iguazu. Also, very strangely, ended up seeing a very sweaty Alan Carr up the there too (well, we were all sweaty, it was 40 degrees and humid)... suppose everyone has to have a holiday, but was just a surreal experience! The statue was the most important thing that I wanted to see in Rio, and I was so glad that the sun came out yesterday, and that the sky was clear. The statue more than lived up to my expectations, - I was grinning for quite a while!
Decided to head to the botannical gardens with the others, and again saw some weird and wonderful plants, animals and flowers. Not really used to doing things like that, but loved it anyway, although by this time I was feeling very dehydrated, and like I had been stewed for a few hours! Some lovely photos of orchids, before I called it a day. Was going to go to the maracana football stadium last night, but unfortunately there were no more tickets. So ended up doing a challenge for a free night in the hostel... and failed. Oops!
So have been wandering around the city today, sightseeing and generally mooching about. Unfortunately the centro isn´t very pretty, and neither are the churches, so came back after a while. Think will try and see some music tonight, certainly up for a drink (or more) in my last night in Rio. This place is crazy, so colourful and vibrant, really looking forward to coming back again when I have a bit more money, and catching Carneval at some point.
So tomorrow I plan to head to the bohemian, artsy part of the city, before getting a 38 bus to BA. Luckily it is not too long, and I think it is cama, so the chairs are bigger. But will probably have to shower before I jump into bed with either Hayley or J, when I arrive at 7am in BA!
Anyway, hope that the snow etc isn´t being too difficult for you all, - don´t want to hear any excuses about not going to work! Will write again when I meet with the others in BA (and Beth and Ron of course).
Lots of love, Alice xxxxxx
Iguazu Falls (Hayley and J)
Hey there, hope you are all well in snowy England.
We arrived in Peurto Iguazu on Sat 7th Feb after a 22hr bus journey from Cordoba. We enjoyed our last couple of days in Cordoba, although one of them was spent severly hungover!!!! On Wed 4th we jumped on a local bus to Playas de Oro (golden beaches) which run along a river about an hour from Cordoba. Didnt really know what to expect but had a recommendation from Helgi (icelandic buddy) so thought we´would check it out. Was beautiful, but really busy. Seemed like the whole city had headed there. Eventually we found somewhere to sit and enjoyed soaking up the rays for a few hours.....so hot! J burnt her boobs and tummy, which are only just recovering now! When we got back to the hostel we were enjoying a quiet beerm untill our crazy argentine roomies decided to drag us out. We went to a club with about 5 other people from the hostel. There was lots of vodka and even more dancing, and we eventually got in at 9am, just in time for breakfast. We then decided to do our laundry, still alittle on the tipsy side! Spent day mostly in bed except for trip to the mall to eat cake! Had a quick Prison Break session and then early to bed. Caught our bus the next day....our first Cama experience!
Bus was lush, but 22hrs was long, and the films were rubbish! On arrival we made our way to Hostel Inn, which is the same place as where Alice stayed. Is huge, with an enormous swimming pool and 24hr bar. Hung out by the pool for rest of day... ..lots of swimming was required as so hot! We bumped in to Cat and Rob again in the town and they recommeded visiting the tres frontiers, which is were river iguazu and river parana meet and make the boarders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. From the Argentinian side we were able to see both Brazil and Paraguay. We also saw a tree with what look like runner beans growing in it. Bizarre! We spent sunday evening with some crazy Irish boys who spent most of the night singing Boyzone and Westlife songs, very funny. Eventaully made it ot bed about 6am and then up at 8am to visit the national park and waterfalls. Dragged the irish boys along with us, and had a fantastic day walking round the park checking out the falls. We all took a boat ride which went right under one of the falls, so we got absolutley soaked, but was amazing to be right under this massive waterfall. We were just drying off and about to head home, when we got stuck in a storm and had to run through torrential rain to get the bus.....so got soaked again!!! We didnt really mind tho as is so humid that the rain is actually a relief. Just glad we managed to get all our photos taken before hand!!!!
Rest of time here, has been spent by the pool or at the bar, and has been more like a holiday than the rest of our travels. Has been lovely to relax and soak up some sun but definatley ready to head on to BA now. The mosquitos here are driving us crazy! We are very excited to be meeting back up with Alice and to be seeing my mummy and Ron. We are also meeting up with some friends from La Paz so is going to be a very busy week. Have lovely Cama suite bus booked, where you get free booze....yay! Was on promotion, so was same price as semi cama. The seats are like beds.....very exciting!
Missing you all. love H and J xx
We arrived in Peurto Iguazu on Sat 7th Feb after a 22hr bus journey from Cordoba. We enjoyed our last couple of days in Cordoba, although one of them was spent severly hungover!!!! On Wed 4th we jumped on a local bus to Playas de Oro (golden beaches) which run along a river about an hour from Cordoba. Didnt really know what to expect but had a recommendation from Helgi (icelandic buddy) so thought we´would check it out. Was beautiful, but really busy. Seemed like the whole city had headed there. Eventually we found somewhere to sit and enjoyed soaking up the rays for a few hours.....so hot! J burnt her boobs and tummy, which are only just recovering now! When we got back to the hostel we were enjoying a quiet beerm untill our crazy argentine roomies decided to drag us out. We went to a club with about 5 other people from the hostel. There was lots of vodka and even more dancing, and we eventually got in at 9am, just in time for breakfast. We then decided to do our laundry, still alittle on the tipsy side! Spent day mostly in bed except for trip to the mall to eat cake! Had a quick Prison Break session and then early to bed. Caught our bus the next day....our first Cama experience!
Bus was lush, but 22hrs was long, and the films were rubbish! On arrival we made our way to Hostel Inn, which is the same place as where Alice stayed. Is huge, with an enormous swimming pool and 24hr bar. Hung out by the pool for rest of day... ..lots of swimming was required as so hot! We bumped in to Cat and Rob again in the town and they recommeded visiting the tres frontiers, which is were river iguazu and river parana meet and make the boarders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. From the Argentinian side we were able to see both Brazil and Paraguay. We also saw a tree with what look like runner beans growing in it. Bizarre! We spent sunday evening with some crazy Irish boys who spent most of the night singing Boyzone and Westlife songs, very funny. Eventaully made it ot bed about 6am and then up at 8am to visit the national park and waterfalls. Dragged the irish boys along with us, and had a fantastic day walking round the park checking out the falls. We all took a boat ride which went right under one of the falls, so we got absolutley soaked, but was amazing to be right under this massive waterfall. We were just drying off and about to head home, when we got stuck in a storm and had to run through torrential rain to get the bus.....so got soaked again!!! We didnt really mind tho as is so humid that the rain is actually a relief. Just glad we managed to get all our photos taken before hand!!!!
Rest of time here, has been spent by the pool or at the bar, and has been more like a holiday than the rest of our travels. Has been lovely to relax and soak up some sun but definatley ready to head on to BA now. The mosquitos here are driving us crazy! We are very excited to be meeting back up with Alice and to be seeing my mummy and Ron. We are also meeting up with some friends from La Paz so is going to be a very busy week. Have lovely Cama suite bus booked, where you get free booze....yay! Was on promotion, so was same price as semi cama. The seats are like beds.....very exciting!
Missing you all. love H and J xx
Monday, 9 February 2009
Rio... in 38 degree heat... still melting into a puddle! (Alice)
Hey there,
Well yesterday spent a lovely quiet day relaxing and getting over the hangover! Don´t know what went wrong with the caipirinhas... oh well. Just chilled out at the hostel - most things were shut on Sunday so it was a brilliant excuse to recharge batteries and basically do nothing.
Was meant to walk up to see Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue (wanted to see it - well wanted to come to Rio to see it - ever since watching the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliette - remember the opening scene?!) However my friend Paul was a lazy bastard and didn´t wake up, and it was cloudy anyway, so decided to give it a miss. Too many people with guns around the area for me to walk up it (for 3 hours) by myself. Oh well. Will do another day.
So decided to go on a favella tour - pretty much the only way to see the favellas safely. It was brilliant to go inside Rocinha, the biggest one in South America. Only 300,000 people! There are 800 favellas in Rio state, and 40% of people live in a favella. Unemployment is 10% - brilliant mentality of everyone who is able, should work. The theft crime is very low in the favellas - much community attitude, and people don´t steal off others who have nothing. So they go to the rich beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema instead to steal off the gringo tourists! The favellas are preparing for Carneval at the moment (the winning team gets 2,000,000 Rs - about 700,000 pounds) and can make about 10 million Rs with shows around the world. So they practise from 1am on Sunday mornings until 7am, when it gets hotter and people have to work... The favella was crazy - but far better than I imagined. Some of the streets were very narrow - motorbike taxis abound here. And they don´t pay for their electricity - instead they get their electrical friend to rig up a free line for them, but when it goes wrong it is impossible to fix, so they put another line in instead... with the result that the electricity pylons look like the cat has been at the wool... pictures to follow! Open sewers are a problem and cause many diseased such as bronchitis, pneumonia, TB, asthma and so on. It was very smelly! But the people were welcoming (only because we were with a guide and so weren´t any reason to be suspicious). Such an interesting experience, and really glad that I had a fantastic guide for it.
Ran errands this afternoon, and have just been out for supper with an English guy I travelled to Rio with - Paul. Very tired as not slept properly at all since being here due to the heat, but luckily now they have given us an air conditioned room for the same amount of money which is much better. Looking forward to that! Still getting used to the place. Most important is where to go and where is not safe to go. We cannot walk to some beaches because gangs will wait at the exit of the tunnel to rob us, so have to be careful! But as long as we take sensible precautions, and don´t take out anything that we are not scared to lose, it is generally fine. Absolutely loving the raw energy here...!
Anyways, bed time calls. Another beach tomorrow - it is a hard life!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Well yesterday spent a lovely quiet day relaxing and getting over the hangover! Don´t know what went wrong with the caipirinhas... oh well. Just chilled out at the hostel - most things were shut on Sunday so it was a brilliant excuse to recharge batteries and basically do nothing.
Was meant to walk up to see Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue (wanted to see it - well wanted to come to Rio to see it - ever since watching the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliette - remember the opening scene?!) However my friend Paul was a lazy bastard and didn´t wake up, and it was cloudy anyway, so decided to give it a miss. Too many people with guns around the area for me to walk up it (for 3 hours) by myself. Oh well. Will do another day.
So decided to go on a favella tour - pretty much the only way to see the favellas safely. It was brilliant to go inside Rocinha, the biggest one in South America. Only 300,000 people! There are 800 favellas in Rio state, and 40% of people live in a favella. Unemployment is 10% - brilliant mentality of everyone who is able, should work. The theft crime is very low in the favellas - much community attitude, and people don´t steal off others who have nothing. So they go to the rich beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema instead to steal off the gringo tourists! The favellas are preparing for Carneval at the moment (the winning team gets 2,000,000 Rs - about 700,000 pounds) and can make about 10 million Rs with shows around the world. So they practise from 1am on Sunday mornings until 7am, when it gets hotter and people have to work... The favella was crazy - but far better than I imagined. Some of the streets were very narrow - motorbike taxis abound here. And they don´t pay for their electricity - instead they get their electrical friend to rig up a free line for them, but when it goes wrong it is impossible to fix, so they put another line in instead... with the result that the electricity pylons look like the cat has been at the wool... pictures to follow! Open sewers are a problem and cause many diseased such as bronchitis, pneumonia, TB, asthma and so on. It was very smelly! But the people were welcoming (only because we were with a guide and so weren´t any reason to be suspicious). Such an interesting experience, and really glad that I had a fantastic guide for it.
Ran errands this afternoon, and have just been out for supper with an English guy I travelled to Rio with - Paul. Very tired as not slept properly at all since being here due to the heat, but luckily now they have given us an air conditioned room for the same amount of money which is much better. Looking forward to that! Still getting used to the place. Most important is where to go and where is not safe to go. We cannot walk to some beaches because gangs will wait at the exit of the tunnel to rob us, so have to be careful! But as long as we take sensible precautions, and don´t take out anything that we are not scared to lose, it is generally fine. Absolutely loving the raw energy here...!
Anyways, bed time calls. Another beach tomorrow - it is a hard life!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Rio de Janeiro!!! (Alice)
Hello all,
Well I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro, and had a reasonable journey up from Sao Paolo. Travelled with a lovely English guy called Paul, and we ended up staying in the same hostel which was cool. The bus journey was absolutely fine, and I knew from the moment we got on the bus to the hostel that I was going to love this place.
Rio is absolutely MENTAL. It is sooooooooo colourful, crazy, full of drum beats and salsa music, plus many other types of music I have no idea about! It is my favourite city in South America, and the people here are so friendly. We went to the Ipanema beach (next to Copacabana beach) yesterday - myself, Paul, the Norwegian girl Ana who I´d met in Sao Paolo - she followed us up - and a kind Columbian guy who looked after us all, called Sergio. The beach was so crowded, like nothing I´ve ever seen. We walked along and tried to get in the water ASAP - it´s 38 degrees, humid and very very very hot! Spent a few hours melting into a puddle on the beach (even with the umbrella, it was unbearable out of the water for too long).
We ended up drinking caipirinhas in the hostel last night, and then headed out to a street party at about midnight. We went to the area called Lapa, which has a 3 century old aquaduct. Underneath the arches there were many many musicians playing live music, with the random older guy hitting a flattened beer can with a stick. Little kids were hanging around selling us stuff, and we met the cutest girl ever. She loved hitting the boys and they loved teaching her new tricks. She gave me one of her bracelets, - she was so dark and had the most beautiful smile. Such happiness and contentedness. Really strange seeing black people here again, not seen many since central America.
But the music played on and on, and everyone was dancing in the streets. Outdoor food vendors were cooking food and the resulting smoke from the fires just added to the atmosphere. Little stalls sold caipirinha cocktails, and everyone concentrated on having a good time. I had the fright of my life when someone grabbed me by the arms - only to find out that it was Cath who I´d worked with in La Paz. Lovely to see her again, such a surprise! We´re going to meet her for a cocktail at some point.
We got home relatively early at 5am, and have just spent the day chilling out. It is very difficult to sleep here in the heat, and I have sought refuge today in an air conditioned internet cafe. Slept during the day (when the hostel is quieter), and today we plan on going to the football stadium here - can´t remember the name - which is the biggest in the world, (210,000 people), to watch a football match. Should be an experience! Not sure what we plan on doing tomorrow, but I´m sure I´ll love whatever it is!
Anyway, hope that everyone´s ok and not suffering too much with the snow. Will write again soon!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Well I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro, and had a reasonable journey up from Sao Paolo. Travelled with a lovely English guy called Paul, and we ended up staying in the same hostel which was cool. The bus journey was absolutely fine, and I knew from the moment we got on the bus to the hostel that I was going to love this place.
Rio is absolutely MENTAL. It is sooooooooo colourful, crazy, full of drum beats and salsa music, plus many other types of music I have no idea about! It is my favourite city in South America, and the people here are so friendly. We went to the Ipanema beach (next to Copacabana beach) yesterday - myself, Paul, the Norwegian girl Ana who I´d met in Sao Paolo - she followed us up - and a kind Columbian guy who looked after us all, called Sergio. The beach was so crowded, like nothing I´ve ever seen. We walked along and tried to get in the water ASAP - it´s 38 degrees, humid and very very very hot! Spent a few hours melting into a puddle on the beach (even with the umbrella, it was unbearable out of the water for too long).
We ended up drinking caipirinhas in the hostel last night, and then headed out to a street party at about midnight. We went to the area called Lapa, which has a 3 century old aquaduct. Underneath the arches there were many many musicians playing live music, with the random older guy hitting a flattened beer can with a stick. Little kids were hanging around selling us stuff, and we met the cutest girl ever. She loved hitting the boys and they loved teaching her new tricks. She gave me one of her bracelets, - she was so dark and had the most beautiful smile. Such happiness and contentedness. Really strange seeing black people here again, not seen many since central America.
But the music played on and on, and everyone was dancing in the streets. Outdoor food vendors were cooking food and the resulting smoke from the fires just added to the atmosphere. Little stalls sold caipirinha cocktails, and everyone concentrated on having a good time. I had the fright of my life when someone grabbed me by the arms - only to find out that it was Cath who I´d worked with in La Paz. Lovely to see her again, such a surprise! We´re going to meet her for a cocktail at some point.
We got home relatively early at 5am, and have just spent the day chilling out. It is very difficult to sleep here in the heat, and I have sought refuge today in an air conditioned internet cafe. Slept during the day (when the hostel is quieter), and today we plan on going to the football stadium here - can´t remember the name - which is the biggest in the world, (210,000 people), to watch a football match. Should be an experience! Not sure what we plan on doing tomorrow, but I´m sure I´ll love whatever it is!
Anyway, hope that everyone´s ok and not suffering too much with the snow. Will write again soon!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Sao Paolo - Rio de Janeiro tomorrow! (Alice)
Hey hey hey,
Hope that everyone hasn't frozen to death or become trapped in their houses due to the snow and lack of public transport! Quite entertaining reading all the news from this side of the world when it's nearly 40 degrees celsius... seriously though, hope everyone is ok.
I have had a brilliant time in Sao Paolo - surprisingly good - met a lovely Norwegian girl called Ana, and have spent all yesterday and today doing things around the city with her. It's quite tiring travelling around the city, because the distances are so far (17 million people live here or more), have to take the very clean and fast and efficient metro, however it does get slightly exhausting!
Tried to visit the Torre Tower to climb up to the 33rd floor for a view over the city yesterday, but couldn't find it so ended up going to the Pinocateca art museum instead. Saw brilliant exhibitions of Josef and Anni Albers, and a weird woman who went into the Amazon about 15 times to paint the flowers there and campaign against the forest's destruction. Saw some weird and not very inspirational Brazilian art, which was a shame. This had taken us hours and hours to do, and as it was pouring with rain, we decided to head back to the tower to see the city. Unfortunately it was closed so we headed back to the hostel. We had been wandering around the city and got picked up by 2 men in the cathedral (while a service was going on, very wrong I know!) and they wanted to buy us drinks. They recommended a coffee place to Ana and me - Ana is a barista - so we ditched them and went by ourselves in the evening. When we got there though and looked at the prices, we wished we'd telephoned them and arranged to meet them there!
Had a great time people watching, and then decided to grab some food. Unfortunately, it was raining again - when it rains it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is boiling! and unlike Argentina where people eat until about 1am, here the restaurants and shops seem to close by 9 or 9.30pm. We met the 3 Italian pilots on our hunt for food, and being good men they joined in too. We all got absolutely soaked, but the result was that they cooked us beautiful steaks in the hostel, we made the salad, and we had a very entertaining and boozy night last night... For some reason I cannot resist pilots!
Today we saw the Museo Arte Contemporareano (MAC - spelling something like that!) and the Museo de Arte Moderna (MAM). Took us about 90 minutes to get there with buses, traffic and getting lost, but we saw some fantastic exhibitions. Very impressed with MAM especially, both Ana and I loved looking around one of the exhibitions in particular. We headed back to the Torre Tower, and got in - the sun even came out. We looked for bikinis for a long time, but not found anything suitable yet, ie skimpy in the right places. When dodging the rain we stumbled across 2 more photography exhibitions, and 2 more public art exhibitions, plus lots of sculptures, so feeling kind of virtuous today!
Absolutely love Sao Paolo and feeling very cultural, albeit exhausted. My back is hurting like nothing else! I am leaving tomorrow morning early (not too early though), to Rio de Janeiro, and will stay in the Alpha hostel there (you can find it on www.hostelworld.com) until the 12th February, when I will take a 2 day bus to meet Hayley and J. So only one more hostel where I need to make friends before meeting the other two, and of course Beth and Ron will be there by that point which is great. Ron - I've been practising eating steaks for when you come over - they are absolutely beautiful. They are brilliant for both lunch and supper every day - haven't got tired of them yet!
So happily exhausted now, have made some lovely friends in this hostel (unfortunately though the pilots left this morning), and am very excited about seeing Rio, although I will miss this place and will be sad to say goodbye. The neighbourhood is very safe, friendly and has everything nearby. Plus the men here are extremely attractive!
On that note, will love you and leave you, but lots of love to all. Next update - Rio!
Love Alice xxxxxxx
Hope that everyone hasn't frozen to death or become trapped in their houses due to the snow and lack of public transport! Quite entertaining reading all the news from this side of the world when it's nearly 40 degrees celsius... seriously though, hope everyone is ok.
I have had a brilliant time in Sao Paolo - surprisingly good - met a lovely Norwegian girl called Ana, and have spent all yesterday and today doing things around the city with her. It's quite tiring travelling around the city, because the distances are so far (17 million people live here or more), have to take the very clean and fast and efficient metro, however it does get slightly exhausting!
Tried to visit the Torre Tower to climb up to the 33rd floor for a view over the city yesterday, but couldn't find it so ended up going to the Pinocateca art museum instead. Saw brilliant exhibitions of Josef and Anni Albers, and a weird woman who went into the Amazon about 15 times to paint the flowers there and campaign against the forest's destruction. Saw some weird and not very inspirational Brazilian art, which was a shame. This had taken us hours and hours to do, and as it was pouring with rain, we decided to head back to the tower to see the city. Unfortunately it was closed so we headed back to the hostel. We had been wandering around the city and got picked up by 2 men in the cathedral (while a service was going on, very wrong I know!) and they wanted to buy us drinks. They recommended a coffee place to Ana and me - Ana is a barista - so we ditched them and went by ourselves in the evening. When we got there though and looked at the prices, we wished we'd telephoned them and arranged to meet them there!
Had a great time people watching, and then decided to grab some food. Unfortunately, it was raining again - when it rains it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is boiling! and unlike Argentina where people eat until about 1am, here the restaurants and shops seem to close by 9 or 9.30pm. We met the 3 Italian pilots on our hunt for food, and being good men they joined in too. We all got absolutely soaked, but the result was that they cooked us beautiful steaks in the hostel, we made the salad, and we had a very entertaining and boozy night last night... For some reason I cannot resist pilots!
Today we saw the Museo Arte Contemporareano (MAC - spelling something like that!) and the Museo de Arte Moderna (MAM). Took us about 90 minutes to get there with buses, traffic and getting lost, but we saw some fantastic exhibitions. Very impressed with MAM especially, both Ana and I loved looking around one of the exhibitions in particular. We headed back to the Torre Tower, and got in - the sun even came out. We looked for bikinis for a long time, but not found anything suitable yet, ie skimpy in the right places. When dodging the rain we stumbled across 2 more photography exhibitions, and 2 more public art exhibitions, plus lots of sculptures, so feeling kind of virtuous today!
Absolutely love Sao Paolo and feeling very cultural, albeit exhausted. My back is hurting like nothing else! I am leaving tomorrow morning early (not too early though), to Rio de Janeiro, and will stay in the Alpha hostel there (you can find it on www.hostelworld.com) until the 12th February, when I will take a 2 day bus to meet Hayley and J. So only one more hostel where I need to make friends before meeting the other two, and of course Beth and Ron will be there by that point which is great. Ron - I've been practising eating steaks for when you come over - they are absolutely beautiful. They are brilliant for both lunch and supper every day - haven't got tired of them yet!
So happily exhausted now, have made some lovely friends in this hostel (unfortunately though the pilots left this morning), and am very excited about seeing Rio, although I will miss this place and will be sad to say goodbye. The neighbourhood is very safe, friendly and has everything nearby. Plus the men here are extremely attractive!
On that note, will love you and leave you, but lots of love to all. Next update - Rio!
Love Alice xxxxxxx
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Mendoza to Cordoba
We Are now in cordoba, having stopped off for a couple of days in Mendoza. We were sad to leave La Serena as had become quite attached to our new family, and i think they were sad to see us go. Was such a nice hostel! We caught our bus to mendoza at 11.40pm, which actually was alot more comfortable than it looked. We didnt reached the argentinian boarder untill about 8am, which was super efficient and we didnt even have to take our bags of the bus. brilliant!!! all a nice change from the mayhem of Bolivia.
Arrived in Mendoza at about 11am, stepped off the bus and got hit by the heat. Never a bad thing in my book, but then we had to stand in a que for 40 mins for the ATM as we had no argentinian pesos for a taxi etc. Not loving the heat quite as much by the time we managed to get in a taxi. We also only had 100 peso bills and EVERYONE expects to be tipped here, so i think we may have angered the guy who opens the taxi doors for you. oh well!!! Got dropped off at one hostel which turned out to be full, so then had to walk with all our stuff, getting sweatier by the second....eventually managed to find space at Itaka Hostel, after a very nice man at a previous hostel had rung ahead and reserved beds for us. Hostel was nice, internet, breakfast, pool etc, but our room was in a kinda out house, with 14 beds and only one fan! Not the best nights sleep ever, and i had a snoring man next to men. great!!! Still had a nice afternoon wandering around the city and found a huge park where we sat, in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. We then spent the evening sat in an irish `pub drinking massive measures of vodka with SPEED. (argentinina equivilant of red bull we think). Went back to hostel for free cocktails and were in bed by midnight. Still havnt made a full night out since leaving La Paz, will have to make up for in Cordoba! Was wierd as everything was just getting going at midnight, people were just sitting down to eat their dinner, and we were off to bed!
Spent saturday in the park again. Is so beautiful. We are planning a picnic there with alice when we return. Plan is to visit Mendoza with alice before we fly to NZ from Chile! We therefore didnt want to do too many of the sights without al, so enjoyed reading our books and lying in the sun. We did have a strange man on a bike sit by us trying to look up our skirts, rude! We moved and he eventually got the message, phew!! I think we need to memorise the spanish for "bugger off" "no thankyou" doesnt seem to work very well!!!
We had a slight panic at about 7pm as i read that BA was an hour ahead of chile and we hadnt actually checked the time in Mendoza since we had arrived. We need to leave for our bus by 8.15pm and, if on BA time, it was already 8pm and we were still in the park. opsª rushed back to hostel but turns out Mendoza is same as chile so no panic. made our bus in plenty of time. During the night we drove through a thunder storm and arrived in Cordoba in the pouring rain.....not impressed.
We are staying in Cordoba Backpackers, which alice recommend, and it only rained for the morning of sunday. last 2 days have been beautiful. We spent sunday afternoon eating cake in tha mall and pop corn in the cinema. very naughty. Since then we have been uber healthy and productive. Today we went to Alta Garcia to visit the Che museum. Was great to get out of the city and the museum was really informative, although as alice said, slightly bias. We have even got up to date with our journals, well i have. Jay is still in the salt flats i think. Tomorrow we are heading to the playas de oro which was recommeded to us by our icelandic friend Helgi. golden beached on the shore of a river apparently. Oh also last night we bumped into Kat and Rob who were the english couple on our salt flats tour. they were in the hostel bar. also bumped into english couple who we met in La Paz so have had nice time chatting to them.
Have booked bus to falls for friday and our staying in same hostel as Alice over the weekend. We may even pop into Brazil whilst we are there. extra stamp for the passport.
Well i think that is it. enjoying free beer tonight, and are goign to cook ourselves some jackets with tuna and sweetcorn. yummy. hope all is well in England and you are all enjoying the snow. am sure you are if it means skiving school or work.........always a bonus. We cant wait to see you mummy and ron in BA. so excited. Missing and loving alice muchly, glad you are loving brazil. becareful. love to allxxxxxxxxx
Arrived in Mendoza at about 11am, stepped off the bus and got hit by the heat. Never a bad thing in my book, but then we had to stand in a que for 40 mins for the ATM as we had no argentinian pesos for a taxi etc. Not loving the heat quite as much by the time we managed to get in a taxi. We also only had 100 peso bills and EVERYONE expects to be tipped here, so i think we may have angered the guy who opens the taxi doors for you. oh well!!! Got dropped off at one hostel which turned out to be full, so then had to walk with all our stuff, getting sweatier by the second....eventually managed to find space at Itaka Hostel, after a very nice man at a previous hostel had rung ahead and reserved beds for us. Hostel was nice, internet, breakfast, pool etc, but our room was in a kinda out house, with 14 beds and only one fan! Not the best nights sleep ever, and i had a snoring man next to men. great!!! Still had a nice afternoon wandering around the city and found a huge park where we sat, in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. We then spent the evening sat in an irish `pub drinking massive measures of vodka with SPEED. (argentinina equivilant of red bull we think). Went back to hostel for free cocktails and were in bed by midnight. Still havnt made a full night out since leaving La Paz, will have to make up for in Cordoba! Was wierd as everything was just getting going at midnight, people were just sitting down to eat their dinner, and we were off to bed!
Spent saturday in the park again. Is so beautiful. We are planning a picnic there with alice when we return. Plan is to visit Mendoza with alice before we fly to NZ from Chile! We therefore didnt want to do too many of the sights without al, so enjoyed reading our books and lying in the sun. We did have a strange man on a bike sit by us trying to look up our skirts, rude! We moved and he eventually got the message, phew!! I think we need to memorise the spanish for "bugger off" "no thankyou" doesnt seem to work very well!!!
We had a slight panic at about 7pm as i read that BA was an hour ahead of chile and we hadnt actually checked the time in Mendoza since we had arrived. We need to leave for our bus by 8.15pm and, if on BA time, it was already 8pm and we were still in the park. opsª rushed back to hostel but turns out Mendoza is same as chile so no panic. made our bus in plenty of time. During the night we drove through a thunder storm and arrived in Cordoba in the pouring rain.....not impressed.
We are staying in Cordoba Backpackers, which alice recommend, and it only rained for the morning of sunday. last 2 days have been beautiful. We spent sunday afternoon eating cake in tha mall and pop corn in the cinema. very naughty. Since then we have been uber healthy and productive. Today we went to Alta Garcia to visit the Che museum. Was great to get out of the city and the museum was really informative, although as alice said, slightly bias. We have even got up to date with our journals, well i have. Jay is still in the salt flats i think. Tomorrow we are heading to the playas de oro which was recommeded to us by our icelandic friend Helgi. golden beached on the shore of a river apparently. Oh also last night we bumped into Kat and Rob who were the english couple on our salt flats tour. they were in the hostel bar. also bumped into english couple who we met in La Paz so have had nice time chatting to them.
Have booked bus to falls for friday and our staying in same hostel as Alice over the weekend. We may even pop into Brazil whilst we are there. extra stamp for the passport.
Well i think that is it. enjoying free beer tonight, and are goign to cook ourselves some jackets with tuna and sweetcorn. yummy. hope all is well in England and you are all enjoying the snow. am sure you are if it means skiving school or work.........always a bonus. We cant wait to see you mummy and ron in BA. so excited. Missing and loving alice muchly, glad you are loving brazil. becareful. love to allxxxxxxxxx
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina and now Sao Paolo, BRAZIL!
Hello all, (new pictures on Picasa).
Arrived after a wonderful bus to Puerto Iguazu. Not had a ´cama´bus before - only 3 seat across (lots of room), and we stopped off at midnight to have steak and chips which were included in the price of the ticket! Think I booked a cama bus by accident, but the bus price was cheaper on that route than journeys of half the length elsewhere in Argentina, so I didn´t feel too bad. The 22 hour journey went surprisingly quickly, and I managed to get a bus to the Hostel Inn pretty easily too.
The Hostel Inn was massive - over 200 beds, and it´s an ex-casino so everything is spread out. The pool was lovely and the building great, - I was staying in a little house outside of the main building - but because it was so spread out, it was very difficult to meet anyone! Most people were lounging by the pool during the day, and it was only in the evening that people began to mix more. So spent the daytime on the first day catching up on my journal etc, which was actually a pretty good plan.
Met some lovely people that night at the bar (for once I wasn´t drinking, only because I couldn´t afford it!) Ended up going to the waterfalls the following day (Sunday I think) with a Canadian guy called Jessie, and it was absolutely beautiful. Put some photos up on picasa again - words just can´t do justice - neither can photos, but they do come nearer. So I´ll let you gander at the pictures. It was soooooo hot - about 38 degrees, and a lot of walking involved. So happily jumped into the river for a quick swim.
Quiet night back at the hostel as was drained by the sun, and then lazed around the pool the following morning until I had to leave (very early) for my bus.
Puerto Iguazu and Fox Iguazu are next door to each other (only a river divides them), but the former is in Argentina, and the latter in Brazil. I was getting a 15 hour bus to Sao Paolo in Brazil, so the bus went from Fox Iguazu. (Bearing in mind that it was very very hot), I had to get a bus into Puerto Iguazu, bus number 2 was to the Brazilian border, bus number 3 was into Fox Iguazu, and bus number 4 was to the international bus terminal just outside of Fox Iguazu. Needless to say, I wasn´t looking my best when I got to the bus, nor smelling my best! Luckily I had a 2 hour wait as the journey had been quicker than I presumed, so I was able to have some food etc before getting onto the bus.
The journey here to Sao Paolo was absolutely fine, until we got to the city. Taxis are extortionate here (well most things are really), so I decided to brave the metro (2 different trains, no where to sit), and a walk of about 20 minutes to the hostel. My back is still hurting!
But the hostel is amazing - the loveliest I´ve stayed in. The staff welcomed me like a long lost friend, and were so helpful, telling me where things were before I´d even asked. And I was able to check in early, which made all the difference. The whole house is decorated really nicely and creatively, and people there are mainly travelling by themselves, so are very easy to talk to. (Much harder to start talking to groups of people). Definitely feels like ´home´ - just what I wanted after the anonymity of Hostel Inn.
Managed to see the Museum of Art of Sao Paolo this afternoon (Tuesdays entrance is free), but became absolutely shattered so decided could do internet instead. Unfortunately have to take the metro everywhere here, so it´s quite tiring. Only wish that the city had a little fewer than 20 million people living here, as getting around would be easier! But it´s a fantastic place and am loving being here.
There are so many things to see and so many art galleries to visit (good one too - very rare in central America, Peru and Bolivia), so have decided to stay here until the 6th January, when I will go to Rio de Janeiro.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK and not trapped under too much snow...
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Arrived after a wonderful bus to Puerto Iguazu. Not had a ´cama´bus before - only 3 seat across (lots of room), and we stopped off at midnight to have steak and chips which were included in the price of the ticket! Think I booked a cama bus by accident, but the bus price was cheaper on that route than journeys of half the length elsewhere in Argentina, so I didn´t feel too bad. The 22 hour journey went surprisingly quickly, and I managed to get a bus to the Hostel Inn pretty easily too.
The Hostel Inn was massive - over 200 beds, and it´s an ex-casino so everything is spread out. The pool was lovely and the building great, - I was staying in a little house outside of the main building - but because it was so spread out, it was very difficult to meet anyone! Most people were lounging by the pool during the day, and it was only in the evening that people began to mix more. So spent the daytime on the first day catching up on my journal etc, which was actually a pretty good plan.
Met some lovely people that night at the bar (for once I wasn´t drinking, only because I couldn´t afford it!) Ended up going to the waterfalls the following day (Sunday I think) with a Canadian guy called Jessie, and it was absolutely beautiful. Put some photos up on picasa again - words just can´t do justice - neither can photos, but they do come nearer. So I´ll let you gander at the pictures. It was soooooo hot - about 38 degrees, and a lot of walking involved. So happily jumped into the river for a quick swim.
Quiet night back at the hostel as was drained by the sun, and then lazed around the pool the following morning until I had to leave (very early) for my bus.
Puerto Iguazu and Fox Iguazu are next door to each other (only a river divides them), but the former is in Argentina, and the latter in Brazil. I was getting a 15 hour bus to Sao Paolo in Brazil, so the bus went from Fox Iguazu. (Bearing in mind that it was very very hot), I had to get a bus into Puerto Iguazu, bus number 2 was to the Brazilian border, bus number 3 was into Fox Iguazu, and bus number 4 was to the international bus terminal just outside of Fox Iguazu. Needless to say, I wasn´t looking my best when I got to the bus, nor smelling my best! Luckily I had a 2 hour wait as the journey had been quicker than I presumed, so I was able to have some food etc before getting onto the bus.
The journey here to Sao Paolo was absolutely fine, until we got to the city. Taxis are extortionate here (well most things are really), so I decided to brave the metro (2 different trains, no where to sit), and a walk of about 20 minutes to the hostel. My back is still hurting!
But the hostel is amazing - the loveliest I´ve stayed in. The staff welcomed me like a long lost friend, and were so helpful, telling me where things were before I´d even asked. And I was able to check in early, which made all the difference. The whole house is decorated really nicely and creatively, and people there are mainly travelling by themselves, so are very easy to talk to. (Much harder to start talking to groups of people). Definitely feels like ´home´ - just what I wanted after the anonymity of Hostel Inn.
Managed to see the Museum of Art of Sao Paolo this afternoon (Tuesdays entrance is free), but became absolutely shattered so decided could do internet instead. Unfortunately have to take the metro everywhere here, so it´s quite tiring. Only wish that the city had a little fewer than 20 million people living here, as getting around would be easier! But it´s a fantastic place and am loving being here.
There are so many things to see and so many art galleries to visit (good one too - very rare in central America, Peru and Bolivia), so have decided to stay here until the 6th January, when I will go to Rio de Janeiro.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK and not trapped under too much snow...
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Friday, 30 January 2009
More photos!
Hello all,
Warming to Cordoba now (literally, it´s 35 degrees today and there is no pool or sea, very very hot! Looking forward to getting on the inevitably air conditioned bus)...
Had a lovely afternoon at the Che Guevara museum in Alta Gracia, 30 minutes from Cordoba on Wednesday. It was very biased towards Che, but interesting anyway, and I was able to take photos too... Saw a modern art gallery yesterday, but unfortunately the building was more interesting than the exhibition, such a shame! Still, I got very excited about the graffiti around the bus station, and took lots of photos instead.
Just to let you know that more photographs are up of Chile and Argentina at the usual http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73.
Need to dash and get on a 22 hour bus to Puerto Iguazu, where there are fantastic waterfalls between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Will write more when I get there.
Hope that everyone is doing well, love to all (especially Haz and J if they are reading this!)
Al xxx
Warming to Cordoba now (literally, it´s 35 degrees today and there is no pool or sea, very very hot! Looking forward to getting on the inevitably air conditioned bus)...
Had a lovely afternoon at the Che Guevara museum in Alta Gracia, 30 minutes from Cordoba on Wednesday. It was very biased towards Che, but interesting anyway, and I was able to take photos too... Saw a modern art gallery yesterday, but unfortunately the building was more interesting than the exhibition, such a shame! Still, I got very excited about the graffiti around the bus station, and took lots of photos instead.
Just to let you know that more photographs are up of Chile and Argentina at the usual http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73.
Need to dash and get on a 22 hour bus to Puerto Iguazu, where there are fantastic waterfalls between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Will write more when I get there.
Hope that everyone is doing well, love to all (especially Haz and J if they are reading this!)
Al xxx
Thursday, 29 January 2009
La Serena - Chile
Ok well after leaving alice in San Pedro on saturday, we caught a very nice bus to Calama, which is about 1.5hrs west of San Pedro, where we planned to find a bus to take us to the beach. We arrived in Calama and managed to shop around for a cheapish ticket to La Serena (16hrs south west) fpr that evening. We had about 4 hours to kill and went off exploring. As usual we were quickly side tracked by ice cream (we have become addicted to MEGA ice creams, similar to a magnum but with raspberry ripple ice cream. yum). anyway we sat down on a bench to munch and within 30 seconds 2 chilean guys came up and started rambling in very fast spanish. After a few minutes they asked if we would like to go back to their house for beers and drugs........tempting.....but we declined!! Since reaching La Serena the only thing we have been attracting are stray dogs. especially at the beach! they enjoy chiling on our towels, and barking at anyone that comes nears us. They also insist on walking us home, or to the nearest chinese resturant!
We found a lovely hostel, which is more like a hotel, complete with mum and granny!!! they cleam up after us and refuse to let us wash up. Found massive supermarket where we were able to buy peanut butter, cheese and biscuits, and chocolate (no haribo tho :( ) We also had cable TV so have watched many movies!
Movies watched:
Bridget jones - in spanish
man in the iron mask - in spanish
Josie and the pussycats - worst film ever, but must be watched once!
broke back mountain
ned kelly
proof of life
random film about a bear with a young kirsten dunst in it
my best friends wedding - in spanish
the core - on the bus CRAP!!!
kingdom of heaven - on bus, in spanish, 1st hour only!
Leagally blonde 2
so as you can see, havnt gotten out much. we are like little old ladies, in bed by 9pm, eating cheese and grapes. Last night though we did venture out for a drink, had one mango dacquari each and didnt get home untill 11pm. wild!!!! The beach is nice, although the sun doesnt come out untill about 3pm!!!!!! Have still managed to soak up some rays, and have a few interesting tan lines!
So anyway, we are now alittle browner (well red in the case of J´s bum) and rounder from our few days by the sea, and are looking forward to hitting mendoza tomorrow (we will try not to sample to much wine without you al...) and then on to cordoba over the weekend.
hope all is well in England. missing you all, and missing alice most
muchos love J and Haz x
We found a lovely hostel, which is more like a hotel, complete with mum and granny!!! they cleam up after us and refuse to let us wash up. Found massive supermarket where we were able to buy peanut butter, cheese and biscuits, and chocolate (no haribo tho :( ) We also had cable TV so have watched many movies!
Movies watched:
Bridget jones - in spanish
man in the iron mask - in spanish
Josie and the pussycats - worst film ever, but must be watched once!
broke back mountain
ned kelly
proof of life
random film about a bear with a young kirsten dunst in it
my best friends wedding - in spanish
the core - on the bus CRAP!!!
kingdom of heaven - on bus, in spanish, 1st hour only!
Leagally blonde 2
so as you can see, havnt gotten out much. we are like little old ladies, in bed by 9pm, eating cheese and grapes. Last night though we did venture out for a drink, had one mango dacquari each and didnt get home untill 11pm. wild!!!! The beach is nice, although the sun doesnt come out untill about 3pm!!!!!! Have still managed to soak up some rays, and have a few interesting tan lines!
So anyway, we are now alittle browner (well red in the case of J´s bum) and rounder from our few days by the sea, and are looking forward to hitting mendoza tomorrow (we will try not to sample to much wine without you al...) and then on to cordoba over the weekend.
hope all is well in England. missing you all, and missing alice most
muchos love J and Haz x
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Cordoba, Argentina
Hello hello,
Well, Haz and J left San Pedro on Saturday in search of some sun, and I have been heading east. So strange travelling without them after 4 months together! But the travelling experience is very different when you travel alone, so I´m glad I´m doing a bit of both.
Headed out of San Pedro (on one of the 3 weekly buses) to Salta, which was lovely. Met some great people on the journey, from Argentina, Chile and Brazil. They came and stayed in the same hostel as well that night (we were accosted by a guy called Alberto in the Salta bus terminal at midnight, advertising his hostel. Very lucky that we were, because most hostels were booked up at this point, and he included a free taxi to the hostel too - even luckier as the ATM in the bus terminal wasn´t working)...
Anyway, Salta was pretty, although not much to do there. Would be an easy place to live for a while, as everything was within walking distance. Five minutes after checking into the hostel, Katie, a girl we´d done the salt flat tour with, walked into the same dorm! It was lovely to see her again, and we chilled out in Salta, looked at the stalls, and went on the Teleferico the following day. From the top of the Teleferico we had a fantastic view of Salta, and the afternoon light made the roofs of the buildings look like mercury. Beautiful. (Photos, as always, to follow...) So had a great day walking around the city, the Argentinian and the Brazilian cooked us all lunch, so kind, and also much cheaper than eating out too.
Got on a bus last night at 10pm, and arrived late in Cordoba at about 12.30pm this afternoon. Cordoba was voted the ´Cultural capital of the Americas´in 2006, but I have not discovered the reason why yet! The bus was very comfy, great seats and no one sat beside me so I could stretch out. But it was pouring, and I mean POURING, with rain when I arrived. It took them 30 minutes to unload my bag from the bus (I was standing in the rain trying to get it off, so bloody incompetent, would never happen in Bolivia!) and then another 30 minutes for me to grab a taxi as the line was so long (again, would never happen in Bolivia!). So wasn´t in the best mood when I arrived at the hostel to be met with a list of the hostel rules, and a demand for my money straight up...
Anyway, after a shower and some food, things are looking a little better. Still not a pretty city, but it´s far more European - lovely little pastry shops, everything is close to the hostel that you could ever need, and the hostel has a bar. Only downside is that a hairy, potbellied little Argentinian in my room was trying to get me to kiss him, and asked if he could lie in my bed (with me). I politely declined, but might have to move rooms if he gets more persistent! Luckily, I´ve befriended another English guy in the room, and a French couple. Luckily the Argentinian is leaving (I think) tomorrow, so should be safe from then on...
Not managed to do anything cultural today - am taking it easy as I have a few days here. Staying here for 4 or 5 days, at the Cordoba Backpackers.
http://www.cordobabackpackers.com.ar/
Will start hunting out the art galleries tomorrow.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK,
Lots and lots of love,
Alice xxx
Well, Haz and J left San Pedro on Saturday in search of some sun, and I have been heading east. So strange travelling without them after 4 months together! But the travelling experience is very different when you travel alone, so I´m glad I´m doing a bit of both.
Headed out of San Pedro (on one of the 3 weekly buses) to Salta, which was lovely. Met some great people on the journey, from Argentina, Chile and Brazil. They came and stayed in the same hostel as well that night (we were accosted by a guy called Alberto in the Salta bus terminal at midnight, advertising his hostel. Very lucky that we were, because most hostels were booked up at this point, and he included a free taxi to the hostel too - even luckier as the ATM in the bus terminal wasn´t working)...
Anyway, Salta was pretty, although not much to do there. Would be an easy place to live for a while, as everything was within walking distance. Five minutes after checking into the hostel, Katie, a girl we´d done the salt flat tour with, walked into the same dorm! It was lovely to see her again, and we chilled out in Salta, looked at the stalls, and went on the Teleferico the following day. From the top of the Teleferico we had a fantastic view of Salta, and the afternoon light made the roofs of the buildings look like mercury. Beautiful. (Photos, as always, to follow...) So had a great day walking around the city, the Argentinian and the Brazilian cooked us all lunch, so kind, and also much cheaper than eating out too.
Got on a bus last night at 10pm, and arrived late in Cordoba at about 12.30pm this afternoon. Cordoba was voted the ´Cultural capital of the Americas´in 2006, but I have not discovered the reason why yet! The bus was very comfy, great seats and no one sat beside me so I could stretch out. But it was pouring, and I mean POURING, with rain when I arrived. It took them 30 minutes to unload my bag from the bus (I was standing in the rain trying to get it off, so bloody incompetent, would never happen in Bolivia!) and then another 30 minutes for me to grab a taxi as the line was so long (again, would never happen in Bolivia!). So wasn´t in the best mood when I arrived at the hostel to be met with a list of the hostel rules, and a demand for my money straight up...
Anyway, after a shower and some food, things are looking a little better. Still not a pretty city, but it´s far more European - lovely little pastry shops, everything is close to the hostel that you could ever need, and the hostel has a bar. Only downside is that a hairy, potbellied little Argentinian in my room was trying to get me to kiss him, and asked if he could lie in my bed (with me). I politely declined, but might have to move rooms if he gets more persistent! Luckily, I´ve befriended another English guy in the room, and a French couple. Luckily the Argentinian is leaving (I think) tomorrow, so should be safe from then on...
Not managed to do anything cultural today - am taking it easy as I have a few days here. Staying here for 4 or 5 days, at the Cordoba Backpackers.
http://www.cordobabackpackers.com.ar/
Will start hunting out the art galleries tomorrow.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK,
Lots and lots of love,
Alice xxx
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Salt Flat Tour... and CHILE
Hey hey everyone,
We survived the salt flats... and absolutely loved it! About to run out of money at this internet cafe so have to make this short and sweet... basically the pictures tell it all... all downloaded now at http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73/Bolivia - look to the end and you{ll get the photos.
We had a brilliant time - I would love to live on the salt flats for 1 week in a caravan (with a crate of wine...) and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile at noon yesterday. It is a beautiful town (albeit small), but they do tend to rip off the tourists. Hayley and J are heading down to the coast of Chile, and I am making a mad sprint to see Brazil before Beth and Ron come out to see us in February at BA. No, we have not fallen out - far from it! In fact, I have to say, it was a teary goodbye (on my part at least), this afternoon. I feel as though half of me is not there! We have spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together for the last 4 months... strange to be separated. But we had a difference of itinerary, so are splitting up for 3 weeks. At this rate, I{ll cancel my plans and meet them again in 3 days time!
So this will be a blog for myself for the next 3 weeks, although J is going to write about my strange eating habits... am going to be on a bus all day to Salta in Argentina tomorrow, where hopefully the prices are cheaper. Nearly fainted in the bus station yesterday when the guy told me how much I owed! This place is expensive... and buses only go 3 times a week from here to Salta - the cheap company was booked up until 30th January... bloody Chileans! But have met some nice people in the hostel which is good, so will chill out there tonight.
Will write again on Monday (hopefully) when I get to Salta!
Lots of love,
Alice xxxxxxxxxxx
We survived the salt flats... and absolutely loved it! About to run out of money at this internet cafe so have to make this short and sweet... basically the pictures tell it all... all downloaded now at http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73/Bolivia - look to the end and you{ll get the photos.
We had a brilliant time - I would love to live on the salt flats for 1 week in a caravan (with a crate of wine...) and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile at noon yesterday. It is a beautiful town (albeit small), but they do tend to rip off the tourists. Hayley and J are heading down to the coast of Chile, and I am making a mad sprint to see Brazil before Beth and Ron come out to see us in February at BA. No, we have not fallen out - far from it! In fact, I have to say, it was a teary goodbye (on my part at least), this afternoon. I feel as though half of me is not there! We have spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together for the last 4 months... strange to be separated. But we had a difference of itinerary, so are splitting up for 3 weeks. At this rate, I{ll cancel my plans and meet them again in 3 days time!
So this will be a blog for myself for the next 3 weeks, although J is going to write about my strange eating habits... am going to be on a bus all day to Salta in Argentina tomorrow, where hopefully the prices are cheaper. Nearly fainted in the bus station yesterday when the guy told me how much I owed! This place is expensive... and buses only go 3 times a week from here to Salta - the cheap company was booked up until 30th January... bloody Chileans! But have met some nice people in the hostel which is good, so will chill out there tonight.
Will write again on Monday (hopefully) when I get to Salta!
Lots of love,
Alice xxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Sucre, Potosi, Tupiza and Uyuni...
Well well well my lovelies,
So much has happened since my last blog! Makes a change from La Paz when we only drank, work and slept...
Ok, so we had a great time in Sucre (Joyride Cafe was brilliant - good food, good breakfasts, great films at night - Sex, Shame and Tears (Mexican) and Imagining Argentina). We loved the city - it was very pretty, although we weren´t too convinced about the water bombs...
We left on a day bus (unfortunately) and journeyed to Potosi. We checked into a lovely hostel, the Koala Den, and had a relaxed night. We went down the mines the next morning. We were there on a Sunday - unfortunately the miners weren´t working - but we did spot a rogue worker amongst the rocks. It was actually quite good that we were there when the miners weren´t, as we felt it might be safer, and easier on the ears...
They call the entrance the ´mouth of hell´ due to the number of people who have died there. 90% of people work there because they have no other option of work. Approximately 8 million people have been killed by the ´mountain that eats miners´... Most of the accidents underground are cave ins, and 40 is the average life expectancy of a miner there. Life is hard. We walked, crawled, climbed and slithered down onto the 4th floor, inhaling horrible dust and gases as we went. Potosi has a strange legal loophole, in that anyone can buy dynamite there. Even children and Gringos. The workers have to buy their own dynamite, and when there are fights, they often use it against each other. We managed to survive the mine, and saw how the minerals are extracted. Afterwards we had the fun part - mixing the various dynamite parts, to make an explosive. We then lit the fuse and took pictures. Seriously. We had about 2 minutes to do this before our guide had to run down a hill, drop the bomb in a hole, and run back before it exploded. Pretty impressive stuff! Pictures to follow when get to Chile...
We were very dusty and had a lovely meal afterwards with the people on our trip. Really good fun. We were then booked on the 8.30pm bus to Tupiza. We arranged a taxi and everything was going to plan. Until we asked for our passports, cash, credit cards etc from the hotel safe (our room wasn´t secure) . The incompetent idiots had lost them all. We were getting increasingly agitated (well I was anyway), giving them the choice of either finding them pronto or we would call the police. Eventually they found them (they hadn´t looked in the 2nd box...) at 8.15pm. We jumped into a taxi outside which unfortunately turned out to be the slowest I´ve been in. And it was falling apart. We arrived at the station at 8.30pm exactly - I jumped out to find the bus company to tell them we were coming (there are procedures here of dropping off bags and paying the bus terminal tax) - when I saw our bus pulling out of the station. It is the only bus I know of in Bolivia that left on time. I managed to stop it, hijack one of the workers on it and asked him to help us - H and J were still getting stuff out of the taxi. J had managed to jam H´s strap of her bag in the taxi lock when she previously shut the boot, and now H´s bag was trapped inside the taxi. One pair of scissors later, and a lot of rain later, we eventually got on the bus, with our bags, dripping wet with the rain at 8.45pm. Thank goodness for kind Bolivianos, as there were no more buses to Tupiza that day.
A very horrible cold and wet journey to Tupiza. None of us slept well or at all on the journey, and we arrived at 4am. Managed to find a hostel that would let us in (after a failed attempt) and thankfully fell asleep.
Got up bright and early a few hours later (it felt horrible!) and decided to go horseriding for 5 hours. Tupiza itself isn´t a wonderfully pretty place - no outstanding architecture apart from a peach church (believe me, it is very strange), but the countryside is beautiful. It is where they filmed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We were walking, cantering and galloping through canyons, along railway lines, through dried up river beds... - they don´t do trotting here. The sun was shining - we all got very sunburnt arms and backs - and it was a perfect day. We managed to dodge all the cactuses and return unhurt, apart from our poor buttocks... again photos to follow when have a better internet connection! It was a brilliant day, and H and J certainly loved being back on a horse again. I will let the aches subside before I give you my answer!
So siesta, then supper, then siesta... Got up relatively early this morning to catch another bus - 7 hours - to Uyuni. Been travelling quite a lot recently! It is the bumpiest ride I have ever been on. We went through stunning desert scenery and mountains, dodgying the llamas... I did think though that it is a great thing we have skin, otherwise I would be worried my insides would have been shaken out of me..!
We arrived at Uyuni this afternoon and it is lovely. Has everything you need - an ATM (one up on Tupiza), internet cafes, albeit slow, good restaurants and shops that sell everything a girl needs.
We have booked our salt flat tour for tomorrow (abandoning the idea of the museum of mummified people to save a day in Uyuni)... so we leave at 10am - very civilised. We then travel through the salt lakes, past red and green lakes, stay at nice places and end up at San Pedro de Atacama... in northern Chile. Will probably be quite a culture shock after Bolivia... really going to miss this country. It is so cheap, and the people are very friendly. Still desperately missing La Paz, but keep on reminding myself that our friends there have left anyway or are about to leave, so it would not be the same. Suppose the idea of travelling is to travel anyway!
So tomorrow we leave, and will be out of contact until Friday afternoon, evening or Saturday. Hope that everyone is ok in the UK - we are very sore after getting sunburnt! Stocked up on factor 50 suncream... life is hard here!
Lots of love from us all, will write again soon from Chile
Al xxxxxxx
So much has happened since my last blog! Makes a change from La Paz when we only drank, work and slept...
Ok, so we had a great time in Sucre (Joyride Cafe was brilliant - good food, good breakfasts, great films at night - Sex, Shame and Tears (Mexican) and Imagining Argentina). We loved the city - it was very pretty, although we weren´t too convinced about the water bombs...
We left on a day bus (unfortunately) and journeyed to Potosi. We checked into a lovely hostel, the Koala Den, and had a relaxed night. We went down the mines the next morning. We were there on a Sunday - unfortunately the miners weren´t working - but we did spot a rogue worker amongst the rocks. It was actually quite good that we were there when the miners weren´t, as we felt it might be safer, and easier on the ears...
They call the entrance the ´mouth of hell´ due to the number of people who have died there. 90% of people work there because they have no other option of work. Approximately 8 million people have been killed by the ´mountain that eats miners´... Most of the accidents underground are cave ins, and 40 is the average life expectancy of a miner there. Life is hard. We walked, crawled, climbed and slithered down onto the 4th floor, inhaling horrible dust and gases as we went. Potosi has a strange legal loophole, in that anyone can buy dynamite there. Even children and Gringos. The workers have to buy their own dynamite, and when there are fights, they often use it against each other. We managed to survive the mine, and saw how the minerals are extracted. Afterwards we had the fun part - mixing the various dynamite parts, to make an explosive. We then lit the fuse and took pictures. Seriously. We had about 2 minutes to do this before our guide had to run down a hill, drop the bomb in a hole, and run back before it exploded. Pretty impressive stuff! Pictures to follow when get to Chile...
We were very dusty and had a lovely meal afterwards with the people on our trip. Really good fun. We were then booked on the 8.30pm bus to Tupiza. We arranged a taxi and everything was going to plan. Until we asked for our passports, cash, credit cards etc from the hotel safe (our room wasn´t secure) . The incompetent idiots had lost them all. We were getting increasingly agitated (well I was anyway), giving them the choice of either finding them pronto or we would call the police. Eventually they found them (they hadn´t looked in the 2nd box...) at 8.15pm. We jumped into a taxi outside which unfortunately turned out to be the slowest I´ve been in. And it was falling apart. We arrived at the station at 8.30pm exactly - I jumped out to find the bus company to tell them we were coming (there are procedures here of dropping off bags and paying the bus terminal tax) - when I saw our bus pulling out of the station. It is the only bus I know of in Bolivia that left on time. I managed to stop it, hijack one of the workers on it and asked him to help us - H and J were still getting stuff out of the taxi. J had managed to jam H´s strap of her bag in the taxi lock when she previously shut the boot, and now H´s bag was trapped inside the taxi. One pair of scissors later, and a lot of rain later, we eventually got on the bus, with our bags, dripping wet with the rain at 8.45pm. Thank goodness for kind Bolivianos, as there were no more buses to Tupiza that day.
A very horrible cold and wet journey to Tupiza. None of us slept well or at all on the journey, and we arrived at 4am. Managed to find a hostel that would let us in (after a failed attempt) and thankfully fell asleep.
Got up bright and early a few hours later (it felt horrible!) and decided to go horseriding for 5 hours. Tupiza itself isn´t a wonderfully pretty place - no outstanding architecture apart from a peach church (believe me, it is very strange), but the countryside is beautiful. It is where they filmed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We were walking, cantering and galloping through canyons, along railway lines, through dried up river beds... - they don´t do trotting here. The sun was shining - we all got very sunburnt arms and backs - and it was a perfect day. We managed to dodge all the cactuses and return unhurt, apart from our poor buttocks... again photos to follow when have a better internet connection! It was a brilliant day, and H and J certainly loved being back on a horse again. I will let the aches subside before I give you my answer!
So siesta, then supper, then siesta... Got up relatively early this morning to catch another bus - 7 hours - to Uyuni. Been travelling quite a lot recently! It is the bumpiest ride I have ever been on. We went through stunning desert scenery and mountains, dodgying the llamas... I did think though that it is a great thing we have skin, otherwise I would be worried my insides would have been shaken out of me..!
We arrived at Uyuni this afternoon and it is lovely. Has everything you need - an ATM (one up on Tupiza), internet cafes, albeit slow, good restaurants and shops that sell everything a girl needs.
We have booked our salt flat tour for tomorrow (abandoning the idea of the museum of mummified people to save a day in Uyuni)... so we leave at 10am - very civilised. We then travel through the salt lakes, past red and green lakes, stay at nice places and end up at San Pedro de Atacama... in northern Chile. Will probably be quite a culture shock after Bolivia... really going to miss this country. It is so cheap, and the people are very friendly. Still desperately missing La Paz, but keep on reminding myself that our friends there have left anyway or are about to leave, so it would not be the same. Suppose the idea of travelling is to travel anyway!
So tomorrow we leave, and will be out of contact until Friday afternoon, evening or Saturday. Hope that everyone is ok in the UK - we are very sore after getting sunburnt! Stocked up on factor 50 suncream... life is hard here!
Lots of love from us all, will write again soon from Chile
Al xxxxxxx
Friday, 16 January 2009
The last few days of La Paz... now onto Sucre!
Hello all,
Apologies for not writing recently. We ended up having quite an eventful weekend, and lots of partying the nights-mornings away... Spent some time with our friends too. Helgi (the Iceman who we first met in Mexico), arrived, so J and Laura (another girl who worked at the hostel) went to the Valley of the Moon.
Went to the cemetery on Sunday with Bubs, an English guy who we´d met at the hostel. They bury their dead here, either normally or in a crypt, and then they dig them up again 10 years later, and cremate them. The cemetery was HUGE, and had rows and rows of glass fronted boxes, about 1.5ft across, filled with mementoes of the person. Their life is reduced to plastic flowers, photos and birthday cards, toys that make noises (which then sound horrid when the battery dies down), and other tokens representing the person. The cemetery was busy on the Sunday with people changing the real flowers, but it had a very strange air. Photos to follow later.
Some very drunken nights in La Paz before we left, and we spent time just mooching around the city, doing a little retail therapy, eating at Oliver´s Travels pub where Loki workers get 50% off, and generally enjoying ourselves.
Until Wednesday, when we got tear gassed. We were walking to the pub and saw that there were demonstrations happening. There is a national referendum on the 25th January, and we had been seeing protests and firecrackers going off for days. We thought we were ok, as we were about 3 blocks away from them and walking away from the crowds, but suddenly the crowds came charging down the hill, followed by the tear gas cannisters that had been rolled down the hill by the police.
Been told by Hayley not to worry anyone, and just want to put in now that we are absolutely fine, and have left La Paz. Our instincts have changed as well, so if there is a next time, we won´t just stand there going ´Oh look, there´s tear gas...´! I cannot say it was a nice experience, - definitely not one to repeat. J was brilliant, and when I had stopped walking away from the gas (I couldn´t walk), she pulled me into an underground car park until we could breathe properly again and see. I certainly know now why the tear gas works so well! A vodka and orange soon sorted out the shock though...
Been looking at the Foreign Office website, and it looks like Santa Cruz is also a bit dodgy politically, so we have decided not to go there. After seeing just how quickly protests can change, we don´t want to put ourselves in any unnecessary danger.
So we got a beautiful, comfy bus to Sucre on Wednesday night. The best bus we have been on, with comfy seats and an ok driver. Arrived and checked into a cheap hotel - so strange being just the 3 of us again. Surprisingly, felt really homesick leaving La Paz. It had been our home for nearly a month, and we had a great time (although our bodies didn´t). We had made some great friends, and were sad to say goodbye. The consolation is that they are all leaving soon (if they haven´t already), so it wouldn´t been the same anyway. But I did love that grimy, dirty, polluted and crazy city.
Sucre is the judicial capital of the country (while La Paz is the parliamentary capital). With only 290,000 people, it´s small and beautiful. The white colonial buildings look stunning against blue sky and it´s a lovely place to walk around. We have found some brilliant cafes - one shows films at night, so we watched a Mexican film last night, and we are watching a film, Ímagining Argentina´ tonight, about the 1970´s juntas. Doesn´t sound a very nice film but it sounds ´cultural´, so we should probably watch it!
Off to Potosi tomorrow morning to see the silver mine where 6 million people have died, and then we will head south to Tupiza, then Uyuni. Very strange to be on the road again! But liking it just being the 3 of us again though.
Hope all´s good in the UK, and will write again soon. Now that we are doing more each week, I will try to write the blog more often. It is very difficult writing it when I am hungover!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxx
Apologies for not writing recently. We ended up having quite an eventful weekend, and lots of partying the nights-mornings away... Spent some time with our friends too. Helgi (the Iceman who we first met in Mexico), arrived, so J and Laura (another girl who worked at the hostel) went to the Valley of the Moon.
Went to the cemetery on Sunday with Bubs, an English guy who we´d met at the hostel. They bury their dead here, either normally or in a crypt, and then they dig them up again 10 years later, and cremate them. The cemetery was HUGE, and had rows and rows of glass fronted boxes, about 1.5ft across, filled with mementoes of the person. Their life is reduced to plastic flowers, photos and birthday cards, toys that make noises (which then sound horrid when the battery dies down), and other tokens representing the person. The cemetery was busy on the Sunday with people changing the real flowers, but it had a very strange air. Photos to follow later.
Some very drunken nights in La Paz before we left, and we spent time just mooching around the city, doing a little retail therapy, eating at Oliver´s Travels pub where Loki workers get 50% off, and generally enjoying ourselves.
Until Wednesday, when we got tear gassed. We were walking to the pub and saw that there were demonstrations happening. There is a national referendum on the 25th January, and we had been seeing protests and firecrackers going off for days. We thought we were ok, as we were about 3 blocks away from them and walking away from the crowds, but suddenly the crowds came charging down the hill, followed by the tear gas cannisters that had been rolled down the hill by the police.
Been told by Hayley not to worry anyone, and just want to put in now that we are absolutely fine, and have left La Paz. Our instincts have changed as well, so if there is a next time, we won´t just stand there going ´Oh look, there´s tear gas...´! I cannot say it was a nice experience, - definitely not one to repeat. J was brilliant, and when I had stopped walking away from the gas (I couldn´t walk), she pulled me into an underground car park until we could breathe properly again and see. I certainly know now why the tear gas works so well! A vodka and orange soon sorted out the shock though...
Been looking at the Foreign Office website, and it looks like Santa Cruz is also a bit dodgy politically, so we have decided not to go there. After seeing just how quickly protests can change, we don´t want to put ourselves in any unnecessary danger.
So we got a beautiful, comfy bus to Sucre on Wednesday night. The best bus we have been on, with comfy seats and an ok driver. Arrived and checked into a cheap hotel - so strange being just the 3 of us again. Surprisingly, felt really homesick leaving La Paz. It had been our home for nearly a month, and we had a great time (although our bodies didn´t). We had made some great friends, and were sad to say goodbye. The consolation is that they are all leaving soon (if they haven´t already), so it wouldn´t been the same anyway. But I did love that grimy, dirty, polluted and crazy city.
Sucre is the judicial capital of the country (while La Paz is the parliamentary capital). With only 290,000 people, it´s small and beautiful. The white colonial buildings look stunning against blue sky and it´s a lovely place to walk around. We have found some brilliant cafes - one shows films at night, so we watched a Mexican film last night, and we are watching a film, Ímagining Argentina´ tonight, about the 1970´s juntas. Doesn´t sound a very nice film but it sounds ´cultural´, so we should probably watch it!
Off to Potosi tomorrow morning to see the silver mine where 6 million people have died, and then we will head south to Tupiza, then Uyuni. Very strange to be on the road again! But liking it just being the 3 of us again though.
Hope all´s good in the UK, and will write again soon. Now that we are doing more each week, I will try to write the blog more often. It is very difficult writing it when I am hungover!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxx
Friday, 9 January 2009
The continuation...
Hey there again,
Ok am sober now, and wishing I wasn´t! Looking forward to leaving La Paz in order to detox / dry out...
We had a great time chilling at the hotel after the ride - the ride itself went really quickly. Although slightly annoying that I needed the loo the whole time, and the gravel was slightly uncomfortable! We managed to get back to La Paz ok, and had a good night at the hostel and a local bar.
Work went alright this morning, although I kept on forgetting to charge things to people´s bills, - usually remembered in time, but slightly frustrating as making money is kind of the point of a bar! J and I picked up the CDs of the biking yesterday - unfortunately they don´t all seem to be in focus (it was the driver taking the photos), and there was a splodge on the lens that means that every photo has a black mark on it! So apologies for that (the photos that don´t are the ones that I took). I will edit them and crop them when I get back to the UK, but they´ll have to do for now.
Still deciding what to do about the monkey sanctuary - whether we can actually get there or whether we are going to have to ditch the idea. Will let you know when we know!
Gotta head back to the hostel soon as the doctor is coming to the hostel at 7pm to see me - fantastic guy, usually see him in the bar! Still got achy ears so trying to sort them out before they get too bad for diving.
Enjoy the photos - they are now up and labelled!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Ok am sober now, and wishing I wasn´t! Looking forward to leaving La Paz in order to detox / dry out...
We had a great time chilling at the hotel after the ride - the ride itself went really quickly. Although slightly annoying that I needed the loo the whole time, and the gravel was slightly uncomfortable! We managed to get back to La Paz ok, and had a good night at the hostel and a local bar.
Work went alright this morning, although I kept on forgetting to charge things to people´s bills, - usually remembered in time, but slightly frustrating as making money is kind of the point of a bar! J and I picked up the CDs of the biking yesterday - unfortunately they don´t all seem to be in focus (it was the driver taking the photos), and there was a splodge on the lens that means that every photo has a black mark on it! So apologies for that (the photos that don´t are the ones that I took). I will edit them and crop them when I get back to the UK, but they´ll have to do for now.
Still deciding what to do about the monkey sanctuary - whether we can actually get there or whether we are going to have to ditch the idea. Will let you know when we know!
Gotta head back to the hostel soon as the doctor is coming to the hostel at 7pm to see me - fantastic guy, usually see him in the bar! Still got achy ears so trying to sort them out before they get too bad for diving.
Enjoy the photos - they are now up and labelled!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
We survived the Death Road...!
Heyllo everyone,
Am meant to be working in the bar but luckily it´s really quiet so can write this. Love this job! Went out last night and think might have turned my alarm off in my sleep, so overslept - oops - Haz very kindly woke me up at 8.20am. Meant to start at 8am. Oh dear. Oh well! Think we had a great night last night, although don´t remember talking to some guys on my way to bed, so it must have been good!
Ok, so yesterday we decided to mountainbike down the ´Most Dangerous Road in the World´. Haven´t ridden a mountain bike since I was about 8 - much prefer racing bikes - so that in itself was weird. Plus, the suspension was so much that the bike sank down when I sat on it - very disconcerting! Not like my 30 year old bike with no suspension whatsoever! Unfortunately I also forgot that when I get off, the bike goes up again... it hurt my lady bits a lot. Not making that mistake again...!
The first part is tarmac, with traffic. We were so lucky with the weather. The sun was shining, and we were 4,700m above sea level, so the clouds were hugging the mountains. It was absolutely stunning. We made our way down the hill for about 40 minutes (the whole thing is 68km long and you descend 3,600m) until we needed to get back in the van to go uphill. How easy is that! Cheating a lot...
It was the 3 of us girls, with a German couple - he enters mountainbike competitions and she was able to keep up with him. Our guide was called Eric, and he was brilliant. Very safety conscious, and also told us all the gruesome stories about the people killed on the road. The crosses lining the road were a bit of a giveaway... Apparently they didn´t think we could cycle uphill... what a shame!
The next part was the narrow part. I have no idea how trucks etc were driving along that road. Now, there has been another road built so the traffic goes on that. The only traffic we met was the support vans for other cyclists, and of course our van with Vertigo, the company. Again, the views were stunning, and us girls gradually grew more confident going downhill. Basically freewheeled the whole way! Very very easy.
Somehow managed to end up in a ditch though - God knows how! Luckily not the cliff side (some drops are 800m...) The other girls came round the corner and were a bit confused as to what I was doing! Our guide told us that if we fell off the side and fell about 100m, he would come and get us. If we fell 500m he wouldn´t. I have a sneaky suspicion that the rope is only about 100m long!
The ride was beautiful. It took us 4 hours to cycle downhill, and we ended up in a lovely hotel for lunch and a swim.... TO BE CONTINUED
Pictures to follow later today
Am meant to be working in the bar but luckily it´s really quiet so can write this. Love this job! Went out last night and think might have turned my alarm off in my sleep, so overslept - oops - Haz very kindly woke me up at 8.20am. Meant to start at 8am. Oh dear. Oh well! Think we had a great night last night, although don´t remember talking to some guys on my way to bed, so it must have been good!
Ok, so yesterday we decided to mountainbike down the ´Most Dangerous Road in the World´. Haven´t ridden a mountain bike since I was about 8 - much prefer racing bikes - so that in itself was weird. Plus, the suspension was so much that the bike sank down when I sat on it - very disconcerting! Not like my 30 year old bike with no suspension whatsoever! Unfortunately I also forgot that when I get off, the bike goes up again... it hurt my lady bits a lot. Not making that mistake again...!
The first part is tarmac, with traffic. We were so lucky with the weather. The sun was shining, and we were 4,700m above sea level, so the clouds were hugging the mountains. It was absolutely stunning. We made our way down the hill for about 40 minutes (the whole thing is 68km long and you descend 3,600m) until we needed to get back in the van to go uphill. How easy is that! Cheating a lot...
It was the 3 of us girls, with a German couple - he enters mountainbike competitions and she was able to keep up with him. Our guide was called Eric, and he was brilliant. Very safety conscious, and also told us all the gruesome stories about the people killed on the road. The crosses lining the road were a bit of a giveaway... Apparently they didn´t think we could cycle uphill... what a shame!
The next part was the narrow part. I have no idea how trucks etc were driving along that road. Now, there has been another road built so the traffic goes on that. The only traffic we met was the support vans for other cyclists, and of course our van with Vertigo, the company. Again, the views were stunning, and us girls gradually grew more confident going downhill. Basically freewheeled the whole way! Very very easy.
Somehow managed to end up in a ditch though - God knows how! Luckily not the cliff side (some drops are 800m...) The other girls came round the corner and were a bit confused as to what I was doing! Our guide told us that if we fell off the side and fell about 100m, he would come and get us. If we fell 500m he wouldn´t. I have a sneaky suspicion that the rope is only about 100m long!
The ride was beautiful. It took us 4 hours to cycle downhill, and we ended up in a lovely hotel for lunch and a swim.... TO BE CONTINUED
Pictures to follow later today
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
A bit more active in Bolivia... Our prison experience
Good morning everyone,
Sorry about the lack of posts on the blog - the truth is that we have generally been either working, sleeping, eating or drinking... but we decided that enough was enough and we had to do something ´cultural´.
We (Ian, Mike, Hayley, Jono and I - J was busy with Paddy) - went to the Valley of the Moon on Friday. Well I think it was Friday - days all blur into one here! The Valle de la Luna is incredible. Half an hour outside the city, it is an area that literally looks like the moon. The clay soil has meant that when the rain falls, huge stalagmites form. We were able to walk around it (in the rain), and the boys were great company. Spent about an hour or two there, and it was so refreshing to get out of the city. You´ll have to look at the pictures I´m uploading for it!
Went to the Ethnographic and Folklore museum too on Sunday. It was free - yay! Saw the token pots and pans (a very very erotic one gave me a bit of a shock in between all the ceramic plates...!), and some pretty cool textiles, but loved the room of the feathers. There were displays of headresses, painted feathers and carnival type feather objects. Really weird but cool. Also cool was the room of carnival masks. Had everything from realistic masks of old men, or wooden masks of people, to the weird and wonderful beasts with goggly eyes, feathers and some scary serpents... felt a bit better after doing ´culture´!
The evenings all blur into one. Either working or having a bevvy or two - such a hard life here! One of our friends was asked whether she was a ´hippy´(she works with us and is fantastic - Laura). She asked the guy whether he was a ´sleazy bastard´. Hilarious! He won´t stereotype again in a while...
But the biggest thing we´ve done recently is go on an illegal tour to the San Pedro prison. It has been made infamous from the book ´Marching Powder´. Technically, we get fired from Loki if we talk about it, so we´ve had to keep it quiet...!
The prison is 1 city block big, and houses 1500 prisoners and over 500 family members. The prison is run by the prisoners. There are 7 areas, and the prisoners organise their own security and so on, delegating to a few prisoners. A couple of guards (non prisoners) watch over the prison and shoot anyone who attempts to leave. 70% of the prisoners are in for drugs trafficking. 80% of prisoners are still awaiting trial. However, as the prison is filled with criminals related to drugs, they have made a big cocaine factory within the prison. We declined the opportunity to buy 99.4% pure cocaine (apparently).
We were taken in to the prison, registered and had a number written on our wrist (to let us get out again). Had a fantastic guide, however his tours only last until his next cocaine hit, and he was getting quite agitated at the end...! Prisoners buy their cell or rent it. The 7 areas are different in terms of cost, safety, the people who live there... it was really intimidating walking in to begin with, I personally felt quite scared. However it was horrible the way they organise tours for tourists to gawk at the prisoners and families. Also horrid the way we give out cigarettes and sweets, and pay huge amounts to enter the prison, to criminals, while we ignore people homeless on the street begging. A moral dilemma for us.
We walked in and had 4 body guards. Apparently they are in for murder - if they kill anyone they would only do their longest sentence anyway, so they are pretty much free to kill if they want without any repercussions. This was meant to reassure us. Most people in the prison work to pay for their cell. There are shops, a church, swimming pools (where they used to kill child rapists), saunas (made from inserting live electric prongs into buckets of water), schools, football pitches (not rectangular) and so on. The prison is a higgledipiggly mess of narrow corridors, unsafe stairs, and the structure is unsound. The Bolivianos have built a maximum security prison 2 hours away from the city, and there is talk of shutting down San Pedro. It has become notorious and too famous, and can´t really be said to be rehabilitative for drug traffickers or addicts, with the cocaine factory in the middle of it...
There are even ´crack cats´... wild cats that have become addicted to the smoke of crack cocaine. They fight each other on the roofs for the best position to inhale the smoke. The prisoners also try to inhale the smoke, so prisoners paint toy cars on the top of the factory roof to mask the smell... Some prisoners make toys, bracelets, wooden models and so on for money.
Even the ´punishment´area is known to be the best area to smoke weed or crack. I can understand that the prison does not really seem to be working! Families are welcome in the prison - in fact the prisoners have threatened to burn the prison down if families were not allowed. Children and women (most of the prisoners are men - think there are only 2 females) - are so stigmatised on the outside if their husband or father is in prison, that the quality of life is much better inside the prison, and they are allowed to live there.
Found the experience really strange. Very interesting, but an immoral tourist experience. Justified it to myself that I cannot be good all the time, and I am dedicating my life to humanitarian causes so for a once off... came out feeling extremely dazed. (Probably also due to having 1 hour sleep the night before). We were invited to stay the night, play pool, go into the swimming pool... but we decided to try and make sure we could leave! Luckily we could...
Took me a while to readjust to Loki life again, especially when a guy was beating a woman in the park and no one did anything...
As another treat yesterday we went to a Swiss fondue restaurant. Absolutely beautiful. And even managed to get an early night...!
So been to the immigration centre today to extend our (free) visas from 30 to 90 days. Am loading photos onto the internet as well, so will label them in a minute.
Hope all is ok back at home - enjoy the snow! Laura got sunburnt yesterday... bit of a difference here!
Lots of love from us all,
Al, H and J xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry about the lack of posts on the blog - the truth is that we have generally been either working, sleeping, eating or drinking... but we decided that enough was enough and we had to do something ´cultural´.
We (Ian, Mike, Hayley, Jono and I - J was busy with Paddy) - went to the Valley of the Moon on Friday. Well I think it was Friday - days all blur into one here! The Valle de la Luna is incredible. Half an hour outside the city, it is an area that literally looks like the moon. The clay soil has meant that when the rain falls, huge stalagmites form. We were able to walk around it (in the rain), and the boys were great company. Spent about an hour or two there, and it was so refreshing to get out of the city. You´ll have to look at the pictures I´m uploading for it!
Went to the Ethnographic and Folklore museum too on Sunday. It was free - yay! Saw the token pots and pans (a very very erotic one gave me a bit of a shock in between all the ceramic plates...!), and some pretty cool textiles, but loved the room of the feathers. There were displays of headresses, painted feathers and carnival type feather objects. Really weird but cool. Also cool was the room of carnival masks. Had everything from realistic masks of old men, or wooden masks of people, to the weird and wonderful beasts with goggly eyes, feathers and some scary serpents... felt a bit better after doing ´culture´!
The evenings all blur into one. Either working or having a bevvy or two - such a hard life here! One of our friends was asked whether she was a ´hippy´(she works with us and is fantastic - Laura). She asked the guy whether he was a ´sleazy bastard´. Hilarious! He won´t stereotype again in a while...
But the biggest thing we´ve done recently is go on an illegal tour to the San Pedro prison. It has been made infamous from the book ´Marching Powder´. Technically, we get fired from Loki if we talk about it, so we´ve had to keep it quiet...!
The prison is 1 city block big, and houses 1500 prisoners and over 500 family members. The prison is run by the prisoners. There are 7 areas, and the prisoners organise their own security and so on, delegating to a few prisoners. A couple of guards (non prisoners) watch over the prison and shoot anyone who attempts to leave. 70% of the prisoners are in for drugs trafficking. 80% of prisoners are still awaiting trial. However, as the prison is filled with criminals related to drugs, they have made a big cocaine factory within the prison. We declined the opportunity to buy 99.4% pure cocaine (apparently).
We were taken in to the prison, registered and had a number written on our wrist (to let us get out again). Had a fantastic guide, however his tours only last until his next cocaine hit, and he was getting quite agitated at the end...! Prisoners buy their cell or rent it. The 7 areas are different in terms of cost, safety, the people who live there... it was really intimidating walking in to begin with, I personally felt quite scared. However it was horrible the way they organise tours for tourists to gawk at the prisoners and families. Also horrid the way we give out cigarettes and sweets, and pay huge amounts to enter the prison, to criminals, while we ignore people homeless on the street begging. A moral dilemma for us.
We walked in and had 4 body guards. Apparently they are in for murder - if they kill anyone they would only do their longest sentence anyway, so they are pretty much free to kill if they want without any repercussions. This was meant to reassure us. Most people in the prison work to pay for their cell. There are shops, a church, swimming pools (where they used to kill child rapists), saunas (made from inserting live electric prongs into buckets of water), schools, football pitches (not rectangular) and so on. The prison is a higgledipiggly mess of narrow corridors, unsafe stairs, and the structure is unsound. The Bolivianos have built a maximum security prison 2 hours away from the city, and there is talk of shutting down San Pedro. It has become notorious and too famous, and can´t really be said to be rehabilitative for drug traffickers or addicts, with the cocaine factory in the middle of it...
There are even ´crack cats´... wild cats that have become addicted to the smoke of crack cocaine. They fight each other on the roofs for the best position to inhale the smoke. The prisoners also try to inhale the smoke, so prisoners paint toy cars on the top of the factory roof to mask the smell... Some prisoners make toys, bracelets, wooden models and so on for money.
Even the ´punishment´area is known to be the best area to smoke weed or crack. I can understand that the prison does not really seem to be working! Families are welcome in the prison - in fact the prisoners have threatened to burn the prison down if families were not allowed. Children and women (most of the prisoners are men - think there are only 2 females) - are so stigmatised on the outside if their husband or father is in prison, that the quality of life is much better inside the prison, and they are allowed to live there.
Found the experience really strange. Very interesting, but an immoral tourist experience. Justified it to myself that I cannot be good all the time, and I am dedicating my life to humanitarian causes so for a once off... came out feeling extremely dazed. (Probably also due to having 1 hour sleep the night before). We were invited to stay the night, play pool, go into the swimming pool... but we decided to try and make sure we could leave! Luckily we could...
Took me a while to readjust to Loki life again, especially when a guy was beating a woman in the park and no one did anything...
As another treat yesterday we went to a Swiss fondue restaurant. Absolutely beautiful. And even managed to get an early night...!
So been to the immigration centre today to extend our (free) visas from 30 to 90 days. Am loading photos onto the internet as well, so will label them in a minute.
Hope all is ok back at home - enjoy the snow! Laura got sunburnt yesterday... bit of a difference here!
Lots of love from us all,
Al, H and J xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday, 28 December 2008
New photos
Just to let you know that we are still liking La Paz. We are starting work this week in the Loki, have been socialable recently (aka drunk), and I have just uploaded new photos of Bolivia to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73 (or click the black and white photo).
Enjoy!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73 (or click the black and white photo).
Enjoy!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
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