itchyfeet

the real bolivia

itchyfeet — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 06:52:00 GMT

Ok. It seems my preconceptions were justified and I was not doing Bolivia a disservice at all. Having sat in the station for 3 hours after arriving 4 hours late, our train finally leaves Uyuni at 6 in the morning. 7 1/2 hours late. It gets worse. We crawl along to the next stop Atocha where after sitting and sweating for about an hour we are told the train cannot continue to the border and we have to get off. Its about 11am and we should´ve been at the border 4 hours ago. Now we´re stuck in a no horse town 6 hours from the border and 3 hours from the nearest one horse town, along with countless others in the same boat. Their speed and Spanish enables most of them to organise onward transport before us, leaving us with two options: either hop on a cattle truck (no thanks) or negotiate with a local 4x4 driver. We successfully manage the latter and after a very bumpy 3 hours we arrive in Tupiza, weary and 500 boli´s ($60) worse off. The bus would´ve cost about 100. Now we´re in the real Bolivia.

waiting game

itchyfeet — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:44:00 GMT

Our last day in Uyuni pretty much resembles all the others. Our suite has to be the poshest room we´ve ever stayed in. Its actually got a 3 piece suite and is big enough to get lost in. We bump into Ben from New Zealand and he sows the seed in our heads of going home via his homeland. There are flights from Santiago - Easter island - Tahiti - Auckland. Seriously tempting. Just need to stumble across one of those South American money trees or perhaps an Argentinian cash cow. It seems our train is delayed so we linger over our pizza and wine. The station turns out to have a bar with a pool table and a Liverpool - Watford football game on the telly which seriously eases the pain of the waiting game. Our train finally trundles in at about 2.30am, a mere 4 hours late.

chinese sulphur

itchyfeet — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 06:26:00 GMT

As expected, these days are dragging on a bit. There´s feck all to do in Uyuni and the internet is so slow that even trying to while away the time is frustrating. Stil, we have managed to organise a few things, including accommodation in Brazil. It gets hard to book things around carnaval so we´re constantly having to think ahead. Our room smells of sulphur so we had to buy incense. I ask the woman from the hostel what the smell is and she tells me that some chinese people were eating food in their rooms. I tell her I don´t understand so she puts her fingers up to her eyes and pulls the skin next to them across to make them look slitty. Oh, now I get it!!!! She says tomorrow we can have the suite. Sweet! The only thing getting us through these days is the thought of ´Minutemans´pizza accompanied by a $4 bottle of wine.

yawn

itchyfeet — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 06:21:00 GMT

The first of what are likely to be 3 prety boring days. This is due to the fact that we have to wait until Tuesday to get the train out of Uyuni. There´s gonna be a lot of internetting, eating and drinkng interspersed with with periods of doing precious little. Still, at least we have something to look forward to each evening: pizza!

Salar

itchyfeet — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 06:12:00 GMT

After a shaky start (no hot water) we eat a decent breakfast (corn flakes!) and hit the road for Salar de Uyuni - the worlds highest and largest salt plain. We stop at a token crafts market on the way (as you always do here) and look around the worlds most rubbish museum (made of salt of course) - complete with stuffed armadillos and dead flamingos. Things pick up as we arrive at the salt plains. At this time of year they are under about 3 inches of water which results in a perfect mirror image of the sky - a totally surreal landscape. It feels as if you´re driving through the air. Good weather results in some great photos. We also take a look at the unexciting train cemetary. All in all an amazing day* rounded off with the best pizza in South America so far.

*except for some ignorant monkey-brain Australian telling Sonya to get out of his photo. Tosser!

the rail thing

itchyfeet — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 06:05:00 GMT

We leave La Paz for Uyuni and it´s a long day of travelling. A 3 1/2 hour bus journey followed by a 7 hour train journey. An actual train! In South America! So good to be on a train. With a dining car and everything. A real novelty to eat a half decent meal and drink beer on a train. It seems I´ve done Bolivia a disservice. And we´re not done yet. On Tuesday we take another train to Argentina and its first class this time. Who´d have thought. Luxury in Bolivia. Tomorrow we visit the Salar de Uyuni.

meringue

itchyfeet — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:32:00 GMT

With the amount of stuff we´ve bought and sent home we could open a shop. Albeit a small shop catering solely for hippies. Strangely, even though we´ve had 8 days in La Paz it hasn´t really become boring (despite the lacklustre journal entries - note to self: brush up on those writing skills) and it actually feels like there´s a whole lot more to discover. Our time here has been pretty action packed and it feels like we haven´t stopped, although admittedly we have spent a considerable amount of time in cafe´s. When the lemon meringue is that good what are ya gonna do?

walk etc.

itchyfeet — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:28:00 GMT

Walk, walk, walk. Rain. Walk. Eat. Walk. Rain, rain. Taxi. Walk, walk. Eat...................................................................

......................................................................

................... walk, walk. Eat. Sleep. (can you detect boredom aetting in?)

more shopping

itchyfeet — Tue, 9 Jan 2007 10:20:00 GMT

For a change its me who goes shopping: a hoodie for about 8 quid and a good pair of hiking shoes for about 40. Bolivia is cheap! Looks like we´ll be sending more stuff home. A bad day for Sonya who seems to have come down with something like my affliction. Thankfully we are a travelling pharmacy and mnage to alleviate the symptoms. Nothing for it but to rest up and see the doctor tomorrow and hopefully for the last time.

waiting

itchyfeet — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 10:11:00 GMT

26 kilos. A good guess. 900 Boli´s to post which is about $112 i.e. bloody cheap. Will be a novelty to get home and open bags of goodies. Again I find myself sitting in a doctors waiting room. Why is there never anything for men to read in waiting rooms? Hence the journal entry. Going back to South American smallness: nearly brained myself on the street because they cut the trees to suit the locals not gringos. Its hard to look around and appreciate the city as you could fall down a hole at any moment. Keeps you on your toes I guess. Gonna be here a few more days as Sonya is now sick too. La Paz....man.

shopping

itchyfeet — Sun, 7 Jan 2007 10:07:00 GMT

An uneventful day. Packed two massive bags full of things bought over here. There must be 25 kilos if not more. I don´t know how we do it. That said, I guess we would have to spend hundreds to get the equivalent stuff at home. Here, you spend a fraction of that. Some exploration of La Paz and a monster internet session.

peace

itchyfeet — Sat, 6 Jan 2007 09:59:00 GMT

A change of fortune. We leave one of the worst places we have stayed in and move to a cheaper, nicer and much kitscher place. Lake view photographic wallpaper and all manner of mismatched decor. Great! Hit the markets in a big way today. So much stuff to send home. All in all La Paz has a lot going for it - a good place to kick back for a few days. I guess when the name of your city is ´peace´ there´s a certain obligation to make it live up to its name. We bid farewell to our Danish friends until Rio. Going to bed happier and more optimistic.

liking la paz

itchyfeet — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 09:45:00 GMT

A good day. Kinda. Bought (dodgy) software on the street for about a quid a go. You can buy anything on the street here. Anything. Found a good doctor. Ate some killer lemon meringue at a German restaurant. Have to extend our stay in La Paz and wait for doctors results. No bad thing. A slight digression: why are South Americans so small? My theory is that the more warfaring a nation has been the taller and stronger its people have evolved to be. Sure, you could pick holes in this theory but just look at Europeans as opposed to some of the more peaceful Asian countries. Anyway....

La Paz

itchyfeet — Thu, 4 Jan 2007 09:37:00 GMT

On the way to La Paz. Planning to stay a few nights so hopefully time to get things sorted especially my health. Looking forward to seeing the worlds highest capital city. Will look for some trinkets and send home. Witches market should be interesting, llama foetuses and all. 1st impressions of La Paz: sprawling, noisy, beautiful crumbling colonial architecture; all strangely appealing.

titipoopoo

itchyfeet — Wed, 3 Jan 2007 09:31:00 GMT

Sick again. Funny how being away from home seems like the best thing ever until you fall ill. And they have diseases here you really don´t want to get. I´ve been fighting a parasite ever since we arrived in South America and the novelty has long since worn off. Postponed La Paz until tomorrow. Too sick to move. Will need a doctor when we get there and if he can´t fix me then an early return is an increasing and depressing possibility. Watched Capote (fascinating) and Shrek 2 (necessarily light-hearted).

killer walk

itchyfeet — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 09:23:00 GMT

A hearty breakfast and we hit the road for an 18km walk to Yampupata where there are boats to isla del sol. The ´3-4 hour walk´turns out to be a gruelling 5 1/2 with the sun beating down and the lobster skin to prove it. Annoyingly we get half way to isla del sol only to switch boats and return to Copacabana. We have left it too late to get to the island and glad as we are to be heading for dry land its a bit disappointing not to have even set foot on the island. Solace is found in the form of a hammock on our sun terrace. Its tough this travelling malarky.

feliz año

itchyfeet — Mon, 1 Jan 2007 09:17:00 GMT

A ´non´day and necessairly so as a result of our New Years hangovers. Funny how we start each new year the same way: buckled. Thankful to have the refuge of ´La Cupula´to spend the day at. Watched About Schmidt and Eternal Sunshine, ate soup and relaxed in our honeymoon suite complete with lake view! A few glasses of wine with dinner results in the best nights sleep I´ve had in ages.

puno to copa

itchyfeet — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 09:08:00 GMT

Tracing the shoreline of beautiful Lake Titicaca we make our way from Puno (Peru) to Copacabana (Bolivia), which is not the hottest spot North of Havana. However, we shall be visiting the actual place mentioned in said song in the near future. As we near Bolivia the infrastructure seems to crumble away with the road. The landscape has a bleaker feel with soggy fields stretching out to snow capped mountains. Mud brick houses thatched with straw are dotted around in varying degrees of decay, some on the brink of being reunited with the earth. But lo and behold we arrive in Copa to blazing sunshine and a room with a view so we´ll watch the sun go down on 2006 and look forward to a feliz 2007.