Man I was grumpy this morning! A 4am rise after the new idiot in the dorm room decided to read and scratch until 2am, felt like I hadn´t slept at all. Not digging dormville at all! I did get my own back though a few hours later after he finished by turning on my bedside light and pointing it directly at him! Inconsiderate dumbass. Lol.
I´d planned well (of course) and was fully packed and prepared for the 18-20hour bus ride to El Calafate from Ushuaia. A very, very cold walk to the bus area and I was ready to rock. After meeting a chatty Aussie at the bus area, I somehow found myself isolated by two Italiens who didn´t speak any English. Of course, I don´t speak Spanish really and so it proved to be quite an interesting ´conversation´. It appeared that we were going to see a beautiful sunrise as we left Ush if the big ball of fire was able to break through the cloud. Fatigued for sure, I thought about sleeping! Ignore the blatant security risks Terry...just ignore them.
Two minutes into the journey and I realised that sleep was the last thing on my mind due to the fact that we were driving through an amazing valley squashed inbetween steep, steep jagged edged snowy mountains. Every peak felt like it was a stones throw away and I imagined climbing each one of them for a second. Why doesn´t every human being fall in love with these works of art by Mother Nature?? I pretend to myslef for a minute that I knew what I was talking about and was convinced that I knew the best and safest route up one particular gigantic slope. Lol.
The rest of the landscape was flat and visibly sodden with ice melt. We even passed under a ski lift spanning the road taht I´m sure went up to an incredible piste. Blogging, I´ve decided is healthy for the lone traveller. I´m convinced it helps keep the person travelling by themselves company as it allows them to maintain an internal monologue thus giving them somebody to talk to.
I also decided at that point that I´m disgusting as I realised I´d been wearing the same stinking trousers for the last 3 days!! Gross!!
As we climb higher into and through the valley, snow started to appear on the ground all around us. Waterfalls also dotted the seemingly converging off ramps from the peaks. I guessed the water would be safe to drink due to it being snow/glacier melt but still wouldn´t like to try it unless I absolutely had to, like Bear Grylls did (or didn´t) when he was in the Patagonian region. Even though I´d be absolutely freezing, somehow I´d still love to be out there trekking in the snow.
I turned from gazing out of the window, jaw ajar, bit into an apple and tried to imagine how different it would be if I were in the UK at that moment. After discovering the apple I picked out of the ´freebie´cupboard back in the hostel was bruised and old all the way through, I then randomly caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a London Underground ticket on the floor of the bus. Good timing based on my ´train of thought´ (no pun intended).
Three hours later and I was rudely awoken from my partial snooze to swap buses in Rio Grande. One slight problem prevented me from doing so however...my name wasn´t on the new list! A ticket screw up in the office back in Ush meant that I had to queue up at an office and somehow tell them in order to get a new ticket issued! ´Nombre es no lista´ is what I said and it worked! With the seat next to me still free and a ´Stayling Alive/Rock Your Body´ remix playing through the sound system, I was heading towards my first border crossing EVER without the help of my gorgeous girlfriend. J La, where are you at a time like this??
One exit down, two entrances and one more exit to go. I reaslied at that point that we´d be leaving Argy, entering Chile, then leaving Chile back for Argy in the course of a few hours! Crikey! One guy had it right though, he had a green bomber jacket with heaps of zip pockets for all his stuff! Although, he did also appear to be donning a crazy, 80´s style wig...so maybe he didn´t get everything right eh!
The ´buff´is by far the second best invention in the world behind marmite only!
Once we crossed into Chile, the landscape changed dramatically from steep and spikey to wide and flat. There were grasslands as far as they eye could see with sporadic patches of sheep. I knew that there were more changes in store today as we were heading back to Argentina. Eventually I would arrive in El Calafate which at that moment in time seemed like a lifetime away!
It was 1pm and I´d been on the bus for 8hours already. There was an old woman knitting across the row from me and llamas kept appearing out the window every so often. Despite the interesting scenery, I needed to get off the bus big time!!!
At around 1.30, to my surprise, we arrived at a ferry point. I discovered at that very moment that Ush was technically an island and that we needed to cross to get back to ´the mainland´. I´d arrived by plane and so didn´t know! The turbulent ferry ride only lasted 15mins. I decided to site for a while toward the end of the journey so as to grammar check my new blog entry when I needed to go for a number one. Stupidly, I kept the pad under my left arm and proceede to flush the chain when I dropped the damn thing into the ´soiled´bowl!!!!
I´m not kidding, the thing was dripping wet with my own urine!! I clearly spent too long trying to mop it up as when I emerged, the bus was leaving the ferry withouth me!! I had to run to get back on!! Not cool.
Another two border crossings and we arrived at Rio Gallegos to changes buses once more for El Calafate. Inbetween the bus changed I played an hour of Yahtzee with John, the Aussie I´d met in the morning. We planned to meet up and possibly do some trekking together. The ´W´trek was discussed, details exchanged and I boarded the minibus for a further 4hour journey to El Cal.
Along the way I got to know two German lesbians who´d been living in Ireland and were equally disillusioned with Western living. We all reached the conclusion that I probably wouldn´t have time to do the 4 day ´W´trek and see the Moreno Glacier and go to El Chalten/Fitzroy Range by Dec 7th ready for my flight back to BA. Time to make a hard decision.
Miss Edmonds...where are you in these crucial times....??
Saturday 28 November 2009
Friday 27 November 2009
Just give me my free hot chocolate!
I didn´t sleep well last night as my worst fear came true. You guessed it...there was a snorer in Dormville! To be honest, thats a bit of an exaggeration as my worst fear would probably be being bitten by fire ants whilst being stabbed in the balls and then thrown into a shark infested aligator pit! Lol. Damn that snorer though! Thid dude could really imitate an obese hog with chronic breathing problems that could only result in one outcome...crazy hog-snoring!
To add insult to injury it was a 5am start for Mr Snorer. He was to get the bus outta here (thank god). Or hes just plain annoying!
I awoke after a few hours peace and quiet at circa 07.30 to see a small furry creature sleeping at the end of my bed....No, luckily it wasn´t a rat, it was the hostels cat called ´chiclo´I think. Im sure that translates to ´corn´or something. Odd name for a cat. But then again, what do I know...I can´t speak Spanish.
Eventually, after some conversing with the (as I discovered), equally stingy German dude sleeping in the dorm bed next to me, I decided to get up and go eat the exciting breakfast of plain bread rolls and black coffee.
Breakfast was how it sounds, pretty lame, but after adding some cheese and making myself two rolls for lunch, I was quite pleased I´d saved myself at least 10pesos (1 pound 80). Sweet!
Even though the morning looked quite grim it was time to bite the bullet, layer up and go to the national park that lies 12kms out of Ushuaia. At around 11am the bus took three of us (myself and an old French couple) to the start point of the various treks we could do over the course of the day. They say 3hours to do one particular trek around the bay and into a furry forrest with mega mud and another 1.5hours to do a trek to Arias Point, the furhest point in the National Park the general public can access.
I completed this 8kms (5mile) trek and the 4.4kms (2.7miles) trek in 3hours 10mins total. I saw a woodpecker doing his thing, saw a very casual fox just walk on by, plenty of birds and throughout this trek thoroughly enjoyed listening to the sounds of mother nature. I truly am a nature lover and have decided to alter my cv to reflect this fact. Lol. I also managed to pass every person I saw that day including the slow coach old Frenchies even though I ventured off the track at every opportunity to take a closer look at the various peat bogs and rocks in all their different shapes, sizes and geological makeup. Maybe I should´ve been a geologist I´m starting to think. Rocks are awesome!! I collected a few beauties today.
Once I´d arrived back in Ush I decided to take advantage of my free hot chocolate voucher I´d been given on the penguin tour yesterday. The lady, of course, tried to upsell me by 7pesos to a ´grande´ number. Not a chance sister, serve me my freebie please! I don´t think the affluent locals appreciated my blatant cheapskatedness!
Jen would be in her element in that shop...theres about a million different posh chocolates. I just drank my freebie and left though as it really didnt interest me. Man it tasted good though!! Tastes so much nicer when it costs NOTHING!
Haha. Time to get my butt into gear and sort out a hostel for El Calafate, the next stop on the Terry tour! Oh yeah, theres an 18hour bus ride inbetween that commences at 5am tomorrow! Not cool!
To add insult to injury it was a 5am start for Mr Snorer. He was to get the bus outta here (thank god). Or hes just plain annoying!
I awoke after a few hours peace and quiet at circa 07.30 to see a small furry creature sleeping at the end of my bed....No, luckily it wasn´t a rat, it was the hostels cat called ´chiclo´I think. Im sure that translates to ´corn´or something. Odd name for a cat. But then again, what do I know...I can´t speak Spanish.
Eventually, after some conversing with the (as I discovered), equally stingy German dude sleeping in the dorm bed next to me, I decided to get up and go eat the exciting breakfast of plain bread rolls and black coffee.
Breakfast was how it sounds, pretty lame, but after adding some cheese and making myself two rolls for lunch, I was quite pleased I´d saved myself at least 10pesos (1 pound 80). Sweet!
Even though the morning looked quite grim it was time to bite the bullet, layer up and go to the national park that lies 12kms out of Ushuaia. At around 11am the bus took three of us (myself and an old French couple) to the start point of the various treks we could do over the course of the day. They say 3hours to do one particular trek around the bay and into a furry forrest with mega mud and another 1.5hours to do a trek to Arias Point, the furhest point in the National Park the general public can access.
I completed this 8kms (5mile) trek and the 4.4kms (2.7miles) trek in 3hours 10mins total. I saw a woodpecker doing his thing, saw a very casual fox just walk on by, plenty of birds and throughout this trek thoroughly enjoyed listening to the sounds of mother nature. I truly am a nature lover and have decided to alter my cv to reflect this fact. Lol. I also managed to pass every person I saw that day including the slow coach old Frenchies even though I ventured off the track at every opportunity to take a closer look at the various peat bogs and rocks in all their different shapes, sizes and geological makeup. Maybe I should´ve been a geologist I´m starting to think. Rocks are awesome!! I collected a few beauties today.
Once I´d arrived back in Ush I decided to take advantage of my free hot chocolate voucher I´d been given on the penguin tour yesterday. The lady, of course, tried to upsell me by 7pesos to a ´grande´ number. Not a chance sister, serve me my freebie please! I don´t think the affluent locals appreciated my blatant cheapskatedness!
Jen would be in her element in that shop...theres about a million different posh chocolates. I just drank my freebie and left though as it really didnt interest me. Man it tasted good though!! Tastes so much nicer when it costs NOTHING!
Haha. Time to get my butt into gear and sort out a hostel for El Calafate, the next stop on the Terry tour! Oh yeah, theres an 18hour bus ride inbetween that commences at 5am tomorrow! Not cool!
Thursday 26 November 2009
Dormville looks like the only option! Damn!
Hi guys! This is the worse half of the Jen and Terry team...the better half (Jen) has flown home to the lovely sunny UK (lol) after an insurance ´recommendation´(cough....no choice there then). I thought I´d share my day with you, the trials and tribulations, the issues and the basic sheer panic that set in as soon as Jen left and I realised I´d have to pick up the pieces and start doing some organisation of the trip! Overall summary of today....5/10...lots of room for improvement!
I started my day at 02.30 this morning in Buenos Aires. I was to fly down to Ushuia, the most southern city in the world...aka ´The End of the World´...love it. My taxi, that Jen and I arranged to pick me up outside our hotel at 03.00, surprisingly, didn´t show so it left me to wonder the somewhat dodgy streets of BA to find an alternative! Luckily after a few minutes searching, one was located and the short journey to the domestic airport began! Of course, it wasn´t meant to be smooth for me at all and the idiot taxi driver took the long way round. A journey of 20pesos costing me 40 as I blatantly couldn´t communicate with the dumbass (or maybe im the dumbass for that reason?).
Its official, I hate taxis! It was the first time I´d taken a taxi in about 6months...I think im just destined to have a rubbish experience in each and every one of them! I hung about in the airport for a bit and then checked into my flight at 04.40am. Gate 10 was the departure area and solitaire beckoned! Sad eh. Still angry with the taxi driver, I played cards for a bit and then boarded the plane, completely oblivious of course to what any of the instructions were about seat allocation etc as I cant speak spanish! Lol.
The plane was full except for the seat next to me which was for Jen. The sadness kicked in. It was real...the other half of my brain was officially missing and I was on my own!! A new plane was a good sign, but the leg room for a midget who was used to living out of a matchbox meant that it was gonna be a tight ride! The guy in front of me also really smelled bad and refused to have his seat in any other position than as far back as it could go! Thanks Mr Argie!
After trying (and failing) to sleep for a bit, I decided to face my fear and take a look at the Lonely Planet (LP). This of course, was totally Jens dept and I hadn´t even opened one in my life...oh dear! Just reading it made me miss her more and more as I didn´t have anyone to ´discuss the options´with..and so I ended up embarrassing myself by talking out loud; often posing questions to myself! HAHA. Brilliant.
Heaps of turbulence and a short landing in El Calafate to refuel and swap some passengers and I was getting to grips with the LP. Only this time, I was in for a nice surprise when little miss ´I´m going to kick you in the back forever´was seated behind me. Great.
After some more nerve wracking turbulence we arrived in what looked like a Swiss chalet resort...it was in fact Ushuia airport and resembled a large, cold sauna with a short patch of tarmac they use to fly the planes in and out! A pain free luggage collection and I decided NOT to take the taxi for the 4.5kms into central Ush...I was walking baby! Thats right, somehow I managed to ask someone for directions, have no idea what they said and then still find the place. Another success. It was hostel mission time!
The first 4 hostels seemed to think I was born yesterday and tried to charge me 70pesos (11pounds) for a dorm or 170 for a single room. Don´t think so sunshine...I´m off to find a cheaper one (I swear I have Jewish blood). So, after 5 attempts, I found one for 45pesos...but, big BUT...IT WAS A DORM! Agghhh...my worst nightmare had come true....I was to sleep amongst the snorers and the fornicators and the crazys!! Bring back Miss Edmonds so we can get our own room please!
Nonetheless and ignoring the dormville issue, it was tourist time...it was time to put my plan from the LP research into action and achieve everything I could in the rain and grim conditions with no real grasp of the language they speak here, haha.
I decided I´d spend 2-3 days here in Ush and see the Tierra del Fuegas (Fire earth or something), the glacier, go to see some penguins and then get a bus outta here up to El Calafate where Im told its friggin awesome!! On my walk into town I stumbled upon an amazing veggie takeaway place that wasn´t too expensive. A pumpkin and veggie lasagne with cheesy potatoes whilst continuing to walk and I was ready to plan some stuff (and unfortunately pay as well!).
The plans changed over the next few hours and after booking the penguin tour of 6hours for 200pesos, finding out where to get the local bus to the glacier and national park in the morning and paying the 250 pesos to get the 18hour bus to El Calafate in two days time, I found myself on teh 15.30 penguin tour boat! Only 12 ish hours after waking up, I was in a town very, very south and on a friggin boat tour...completely knackered.
A catamaran with circa 60 people on it from Germany and the UK with a twist of Israeli, I really started enjoying the trip. The weather was clearing and the scenery was simply breathtaking. I dont know what it is these days, but I´m in awe of the snowcapped mountains to the extent that I simply want to climb/conquer each and every one of them! There is literally 100 of them all around here, all unique, with different spikyness, height, other characteristics and snow deposits. I´ve definitely found my vocation in life!
It got to 19.00 after seeing the birds, sea lions, penguins and a cool lighthouse and we were on our way back to Ush. Oddly though, it didn´t actually get dark here until 22.00! A pretty lame attempt at cooking meant I had soup and pea pasta with some black pepper...and made far too much!!
I calculate that I could have 6days in El Calafate and 8 in Mendoza. Perfect. The only thing that isn´t perfect is that my baby isn´t here and Im missing her bad already! Pathetic you´re probably thinking, but I dont care! I will try my hardest to make the most of the rest of the trip I have here...or fly home early from BA...
Have to wait and see if I go voluntarily or get deported for killing a ´snorer´in their sleep for keeping me awake! HAHA. Dormville sucks in my opinion (as a light sleeper).
I´ll keep you posted.....
Peace out
Tel
P.s. One anti climax I forgot to mention...they played ´march of the penguins´on the way back to Ush on the boat trip....awesome film/documentary...but they dubbed it with pop music and random, weird kid voices for the baby penguins. Not cool Argies...not cool!
I started my day at 02.30 this morning in Buenos Aires. I was to fly down to Ushuia, the most southern city in the world...aka ´The End of the World´...love it. My taxi, that Jen and I arranged to pick me up outside our hotel at 03.00, surprisingly, didn´t show so it left me to wonder the somewhat dodgy streets of BA to find an alternative! Luckily after a few minutes searching, one was located and the short journey to the domestic airport began! Of course, it wasn´t meant to be smooth for me at all and the idiot taxi driver took the long way round. A journey of 20pesos costing me 40 as I blatantly couldn´t communicate with the dumbass (or maybe im the dumbass for that reason?).
Its official, I hate taxis! It was the first time I´d taken a taxi in about 6months...I think im just destined to have a rubbish experience in each and every one of them! I hung about in the airport for a bit and then checked into my flight at 04.40am. Gate 10 was the departure area and solitaire beckoned! Sad eh. Still angry with the taxi driver, I played cards for a bit and then boarded the plane, completely oblivious of course to what any of the instructions were about seat allocation etc as I cant speak spanish! Lol.
The plane was full except for the seat next to me which was for Jen. The sadness kicked in. It was real...the other half of my brain was officially missing and I was on my own!! A new plane was a good sign, but the leg room for a midget who was used to living out of a matchbox meant that it was gonna be a tight ride! The guy in front of me also really smelled bad and refused to have his seat in any other position than as far back as it could go! Thanks Mr Argie!
After trying (and failing) to sleep for a bit, I decided to face my fear and take a look at the Lonely Planet (LP). This of course, was totally Jens dept and I hadn´t even opened one in my life...oh dear! Just reading it made me miss her more and more as I didn´t have anyone to ´discuss the options´with..and so I ended up embarrassing myself by talking out loud; often posing questions to myself! HAHA. Brilliant.
Heaps of turbulence and a short landing in El Calafate to refuel and swap some passengers and I was getting to grips with the LP. Only this time, I was in for a nice surprise when little miss ´I´m going to kick you in the back forever´was seated behind me. Great.
After some more nerve wracking turbulence we arrived in what looked like a Swiss chalet resort...it was in fact Ushuia airport and resembled a large, cold sauna with a short patch of tarmac they use to fly the planes in and out! A pain free luggage collection and I decided NOT to take the taxi for the 4.5kms into central Ush...I was walking baby! Thats right, somehow I managed to ask someone for directions, have no idea what they said and then still find the place. Another success. It was hostel mission time!
The first 4 hostels seemed to think I was born yesterday and tried to charge me 70pesos (11pounds) for a dorm or 170 for a single room. Don´t think so sunshine...I´m off to find a cheaper one (I swear I have Jewish blood). So, after 5 attempts, I found one for 45pesos...but, big BUT...IT WAS A DORM! Agghhh...my worst nightmare had come true....I was to sleep amongst the snorers and the fornicators and the crazys!! Bring back Miss Edmonds so we can get our own room please!
Nonetheless and ignoring the dormville issue, it was tourist time...it was time to put my plan from the LP research into action and achieve everything I could in the rain and grim conditions with no real grasp of the language they speak here, haha.
I decided I´d spend 2-3 days here in Ush and see the Tierra del Fuegas (Fire earth or something), the glacier, go to see some penguins and then get a bus outta here up to El Calafate where Im told its friggin awesome!! On my walk into town I stumbled upon an amazing veggie takeaway place that wasn´t too expensive. A pumpkin and veggie lasagne with cheesy potatoes whilst continuing to walk and I was ready to plan some stuff (and unfortunately pay as well!).
The plans changed over the next few hours and after booking the penguin tour of 6hours for 200pesos, finding out where to get the local bus to the glacier and national park in the morning and paying the 250 pesos to get the 18hour bus to El Calafate in two days time, I found myself on teh 15.30 penguin tour boat! Only 12 ish hours after waking up, I was in a town very, very south and on a friggin boat tour...completely knackered.
A catamaran with circa 60 people on it from Germany and the UK with a twist of Israeli, I really started enjoying the trip. The weather was clearing and the scenery was simply breathtaking. I dont know what it is these days, but I´m in awe of the snowcapped mountains to the extent that I simply want to climb/conquer each and every one of them! There is literally 100 of them all around here, all unique, with different spikyness, height, other characteristics and snow deposits. I´ve definitely found my vocation in life!
It got to 19.00 after seeing the birds, sea lions, penguins and a cool lighthouse and we were on our way back to Ush. Oddly though, it didn´t actually get dark here until 22.00! A pretty lame attempt at cooking meant I had soup and pea pasta with some black pepper...and made far too much!!
I calculate that I could have 6days in El Calafate and 8 in Mendoza. Perfect. The only thing that isn´t perfect is that my baby isn´t here and Im missing her bad already! Pathetic you´re probably thinking, but I dont care! I will try my hardest to make the most of the rest of the trip I have here...or fly home early from BA...
Have to wait and see if I go voluntarily or get deported for killing a ´snorer´in their sleep for keeping me awake! HAHA. Dormville sucks in my opinion (as a light sleeper).
I´ll keep you posted.....
Peace out
Tel
P.s. One anti climax I forgot to mention...they played ´march of the penguins´on the way back to Ush on the boat trip....awesome film/documentary...but they dubbed it with pop music and random, weird kid voices for the baby penguins. Not cool Argies...not cool!
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Dynamite, dinosaurs, despair and darn beautiful sights!
The last week has been kind of a blur. Swaying back and forth on a rocking chair in a bright orange room, with the smells of 2 French people cooking bacon and Lost on the TV, I finally have the time to write down the week events that could potentially change my life!
The week has been filled with excitement, confusion, disaster, despair, lots of tears, lots of laughs and total amazement. A week ago, I was laid out in a bed in central Bolivia having blood tests, 5 days ago I was on a night bus in extreme pain hiding the smells of a tummy upset, 4 days ago Terry was climbing through the highest mine in the world and blowing things up, 3 days ago I was walking across lakes made of salt in awe of the magic it presented, 2 days ago I was cruising in a 4x4 watching flamingos search for their dinner in the bright blue lagoons of Uyuni and 1 day ago I was in the set of a ´saw´ horror movie having electric impulses pushed through my brain. Who else can say they have had such a diverse week?!
Bolivia was completed on a high. Crawling through the mines of Potosi, the highest of its kind in the world, watching thousands of men breathing in asbestos and other just as life threatening diseases, to do everything they can to make a Boliviano for their families was inspiring yet overwhelming to see. Terry blew up dynamite and dressed in bright yellow overalls pretending to work for a few hours, amazing fun as you can imagine for Mr. enthusiastic. I recovered from probably the worst night of my life in yet again probably the highest hostel in the world.
From Potosi we moved on, with our new travel buddies Sam and Ade, to Uyuni, the home of the Salt flats and the classic salt flat ´must do´ photos.
Six of us all jumped into a brand new 4x4 and headed to the train cemetery, attempting to translate what the driver was telling us to the rest of the car in my dodgy Spanish. After the train cemetery we headed into the heart of the trip, the salt flats. The heat was pounding down on all of us as it bounced off the white floor and back into our faces. Scorching. We all tried to get the classic picture of us standing on marmite jars and Pringles and then headed to our hostel for the night..of course all made out of salt. A night of cards and beers followed and an early knock on our doors arose us to day 2.
(That dinosaur was seriously scary!!)
Day 2 was spent catching flies..with our mouths wide open in awe of our surroundings...molten lava everywhere, desert sands, volcanoes, colourful lagoons and flamingos. The wind picked right up too and any attempt to walk around the lagoon was met with a faceful of sand and sometimes even rocks. Two steps ended up feeling like five miles. But it was worth it. Our new number one most beautiful place in the world goes to…….the red lagoon and volcano alley in Bolivia.
Day 3 was spent waking up at literally the crack of dawn, freezing cold to the bone, stripping off to our underwear and lazing in the thermal baths the local volcanoes had provided. We saw geysers as high as two Terrys and more amazing landscapes only pictures can describe. 
We managed to book ourselves on the next train to Argentina and said our goodbyes to our lovely travelling buddies Sam and Ade as they headed north to Peru.
Welcome to Argentina! Argentina looks different, smells different and does everything different. Bus prices are fixed, wine is served, music is loud and proud, no one bargains or haggles with you and everything is double the price of Bolivia. Hmmm…a bit of a shock to our systems, oh and it rained for the whole 8 hours to Salta.
We have been in Salta for what seems like forever now, well 5 days to be exact but in travelling terms that’s a lifetime, we actually have things on our bedside table now and food in the kitchen. What is going on I hear you say...well Argentina has presented itself to be the place where I have had to have tests on my wonderful brain. Having had a random seizure in La Paz (cant call it a fit to the fact that people use the word fit for when you are angry so a website tells me) I was sent to see the lovely Dr Emilio Benitez in the neurology department on Salta.
Then as described above the horror movie scenario began and I was tied to the oldest chair in Argentina and had electricity glued to my head to read my brain. Consequently I was informed, all in Spanish, I may have epilepsy. As you can imagine, tests, epilepsy, abnormalities in my brain and the fact that no one spoke English, made me extremely uncomfortable. Not only my brain but my Spanish was also put to the test. I am having more tests tomorrow to determine whether we should come home or not. It´s in my opinion to finish our trip as we had always planned, sunning ourselves in Rio. Life’s too short to worry about tomorrow and plus we should always do as an wonderful friend in New Zealand once told me,
Always rejoice in the impossibilities, the incompletions, from within which alone the future is shaped and given meaning. Listen to the whisper of the thunder on a distant shore...
The week has been filled with excitement, confusion, disaster, despair, lots of tears, lots of laughs and total amazement. A week ago, I was laid out in a bed in central Bolivia having blood tests, 5 days ago I was on a night bus in extreme pain hiding the smells of a tummy upset, 4 days ago Terry was climbing through the highest mine in the world and blowing things up, 3 days ago I was walking across lakes made of salt in awe of the magic it presented, 2 days ago I was cruising in a 4x4 watching flamingos search for their dinner in the bright blue lagoons of Uyuni and 1 day ago I was in the set of a ´saw´ horror movie having electric impulses pushed through my brain. Who else can say they have had such a diverse week?!
Bolivia was completed on a high. Crawling through the mines of Potosi, the highest of its kind in the world, watching thousands of men breathing in asbestos and other just as life threatening diseases, to do everything they can to make a Boliviano for their families was inspiring yet overwhelming to see. Terry blew up dynamite and dressed in bright yellow overalls pretending to work for a few hours, amazing fun as you can imagine for Mr. enthusiastic. I recovered from probably the worst night of my life in yet again probably the highest hostel in the world.
From Potosi we moved on, with our new travel buddies Sam and Ade, to Uyuni, the home of the Salt flats and the classic salt flat ´must do´ photos.
Six of us all jumped into a brand new 4x4 and headed to the train cemetery, attempting to translate what the driver was telling us to the rest of the car in my dodgy Spanish. After the train cemetery we headed into the heart of the trip, the salt flats. The heat was pounding down on all of us as it bounced off the white floor and back into our faces. Scorching. We all tried to get the classic picture of us standing on marmite jars and Pringles and then headed to our hostel for the night..of course all made out of salt. A night of cards and beers followed and an early knock on our doors arose us to day 2.
(That dinosaur was seriously scary!!)
Day 2 was spent catching flies..with our mouths wide open in awe of our surroundings...molten lava everywhere, desert sands, volcanoes, colourful lagoons and flamingos. The wind picked right up too and any attempt to walk around the lagoon was met with a faceful of sand and sometimes even rocks. Two steps ended up feeling like five miles. But it was worth it. Our new number one most beautiful place in the world goes to…….the red lagoon and volcano alley in Bolivia.
Day 3 was spent waking up at literally the crack of dawn, freezing cold to the bone, stripping off to our underwear and lazing in the thermal baths the local volcanoes had provided. We saw geysers as high as two Terrys and more amazing landscapes only pictures can describe.
We managed to book ourselves on the next train to Argentina and said our goodbyes to our lovely travelling buddies Sam and Ade as they headed north to Peru.
Welcome to Argentina! Argentina looks different, smells different and does everything different. Bus prices are fixed, wine is served, music is loud and proud, no one bargains or haggles with you and everything is double the price of Bolivia. Hmmm…a bit of a shock to our systems, oh and it rained for the whole 8 hours to Salta.
We have been in Salta for what seems like forever now, well 5 days to be exact but in travelling terms that’s a lifetime, we actually have things on our bedside table now and food in the kitchen. What is going on I hear you say...well Argentina has presented itself to be the place where I have had to have tests on my wonderful brain. Having had a random seizure in La Paz (cant call it a fit to the fact that people use the word fit for when you are angry so a website tells me) I was sent to see the lovely Dr Emilio Benitez in the neurology department on Salta.
Then as described above the horror movie scenario began and I was tied to the oldest chair in Argentina and had electricity glued to my head to read my brain. Consequently I was informed, all in Spanish, I may have epilepsy. As you can imagine, tests, epilepsy, abnormalities in my brain and the fact that no one spoke English, made me extremely uncomfortable. Not only my brain but my Spanish was also put to the test. I am having more tests tomorrow to determine whether we should come home or not. It´s in my opinion to finish our trip as we had always planned, sunning ourselves in Rio. Life’s too short to worry about tomorrow and plus we should always do as an wonderful friend in New Zealand once told me,
Always rejoice in the impossibilities, the incompletions, from within which alone the future is shaped and given meaning. Listen to the whisper of the thunder on a distant shore...
The IIama wanted to say goodbye...
Thursday 5 November 2009
Aliens, jungle, snow and long long buses
The bright lights that illuminate the grand plaza, cathedral and restaurants of a typical well established (and affluent in comparison) Bolivian town like Santa Cruz were no more. The paved streets and expensive sandwiches were gone. The weird alien like people who were scattered across this town with their dungarees and weird alien/religious/evangelist look about them were no more (Terry was actually so intrigued by these people he asked one of them were they were from, they said from Bolivia but didn’t speak Spanish, only German and were also apparantly from from mexico…..work that one out!).
We travelled from the luxurious part of Bolivia, Santa Cruz with its palm trees and rich inhabitants through the night for 12hours by bus to the northern region in Beni, a town called Trinidad. A dusty town full of motorbikes and ice cream greeted us and with floors covered in beetles we immediately purchased our next journey to the Bolivian Amazon, a remote place called Rurrebaque.
A 10 hour journey on the dodgiest bus took us to San Borja where we were literally stuffed into a mini bus to head to Rurrenbaque, another 5 hours in the blistering heat with no windows and 3 Bolivian men sat next to us on a minibus jam packed with 16 people in total!
As our bags were loaded on top of this 1950´s rusty old mini bus we were asked to make 3 seats enough for 4, oh the chlosterphobia! Little did we know that the bus would fill to the brim with people and there was no quick exit if we needed to get out. It was a very bumpy ride and rocks were constantly bashing the side of the bus. I couldn’t help but wonder how some of us at home would feel if one small rock hit our cars, it makes you realize how important these journeys are for the drivers.
Several steamy stops along the way to resecure the luggage on the top from falling off and to regain feeling in our legs and we made in to the town. We hopped onto motor-taxis, with our backpacks on our very tired backs after a total of 34 hours (including waiting around in bus stations!) to a random hostel from the Lonely Planet. With no idea if it was still a hostel or if the motorbike drivers has any idea where they were we were off. Such a feeling of freedom when riding with no helmet or seatbelt and only a huge backpack to comfort any fall.
The wind finally in our hair (well mine considering im the only one with hair), after a full day of soaking in sweat we arrived to be greeted by Luis, a lovely Bolivian man who owns a little bit of paradise in the town, a beautiful hostel with the comfiest beds ever and cheap rooms.
We had spent all day and night surviving only on water and chrisps so our next mission was food. At the end of the 34 hour journey, we were finally fed, showered and ready for bed. As we retreated to our room and a cold shower, we were greeted with 2 large frogs and a huge moth by our door. We said Buenas Noches and shut our eyes.
Jungle Adventure take 3
The colours of Bolivia change with every city, the reds, yellows and greens of the Bolivian flag are starting to show their relevance. Yellows and reds for the sandy desert towns and vast landscapes and greens for the Bolivians share of the Amazon. Mix the yellow with the red to make the brown, the colour of most muddy towns and mix the green with the yellow to make the perfect blue sky, without a cloud to disturb it.
The heat has soared as we traveled down in altitude, over 30c in the Bolivian Amazon! It takes us by surprise and drains all of our salts and water. The shadow offers some respite but only a few degrees cooler. We booked a 3 day tour for 430Bs into La Pampas, a savanna area of the Amazon. We met our group the next morning and drove 3 hours in a mini bus along the same dodgy streets as before to the river. We had lunch (rice and yucca, nothing exciting), before heading on the river boat for 2 hours to camp.
Along the river, we were staggered by the amount of wildlife. We saw 389 alligators of all shapes and sizes (yes of course Terry counted, he was as excited as a 4 year old) in a 2hour journey on the river boat, tons of capybaras (huge hamster like creatures), lots of river birds, turtles and hundreds of monkeys, squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys. We stopped and were overrun by monkeys at one point.
By now our drinking water was hot enough to put in a tea bag and have some tea and our faces were burning when we reached camp. An opening in the trees, small buildings made from local wood and a row of hammocks overlooking the river. We spent the afternoon relaxing to the sounds of the jungle as squirrel monkeys came to play with us and the alligators made themselves at home around our boat.
We watched the sunset and took a night boat ride to see the Caiman. Even though we saw nearly 400 aligators that day, there were literally 10 times the amount on the river that night with their evil looking red eyes only visable with a flashlight from a river boat by nightfall!
Our guide stopped the engine at one point and we turned off our lights to freak each other out, was pretty scary considering it was caiman, alligator and pirana invested waters below. The night was hot and pretty scary, we spotted a poisonous snake before we went to bed outside the bedrooms so you can imagine I was freaked out a little.
We had material instead of mosquito nets over the beds that provided a free sauna service for protection. It was noisy and the nocturnal animals were playing around us, creating a beautiful midnight orchestra. The next day we trekked in the Pampas itself to search for, yes get this, anacondas and cobra!
I cannot actually believe now that I am writing that I agreed to go, but yes, upon arrival at a specific swamp like area, we were told to spread out and search for the 4 metre long snakes in the tall grass! Oh yeah, and if we found one...just dont annoy it our guide said! We walked for maybe 15 minutes, for me hoping we would be unsuccessful, and then our guide runs towards us swinging a giant snake around his head. He had found a 2 metre long Cobra. And yes thats Terry holding it!!
Everyone got a chance to hold the Cobra, apart from me of course I was metres away from it.
The rest of the day was relaxing back at the camp area. We swam with the pink river dolphins in the afternoon and then had a few games of dice and cards and went to bed. Nothing too hectic when you are in that kind of searing heat!
Our last day was spent Pirana fishing, Terry and one other vegetarian ironically were the only ones to catch one and it was served up for dinner. Tel felt extremely guilty he had caught one and wanted to release it but our guide told us it would be eaten by the other Pirana immediately.
Once we returned to Rurrenbaque we stayed in the same hostel and had a great night out with the group we met before jumping on the long journey at 11am back to cold, cold La Paz (sounded like heaven). We have literally just got off the grueling bus journey now. 18 hours of stopping and starting.
We had to move trees from the road that the locals deliberately cut down in protest of high fuel prices, fix broken brakes, and stop and wait for a protest to end. Pretty epic journey.
When we reached the protest our friends from the Pampas who took the previous bus the night before were there, they had been there for about 12 hours waiting for the Bolivians to end the protest already! Here we are at the protest and with our Israeli friend, Or.
It seems that it was over gasoline. We had to wait around for about 3 hours and then we headed for dinner of course (no logic in buying some dinner in the protest town the locals said, lol) and then up, up and away to the capital.
Tel decided to help out with the trees that were cut down throughout the protest and left me in the dark bus alone for half an hour. He didnt come back when the bus started to drive off so I panicked like crazy and was practically banging the door down shouting ´donde esta mi novio!!¨´....it was so scary i thought we were both going to be separated and stranded!! Luckily he was running towards the bus and i could eventually stop crying!!
This is me signing to leave the protest as everyone had to sign to say they agreed not that we knew what was going on! Also Terry made some friends on the bus!
We went from hot, hot, hot to freezing snow covered roads and mountains in one journey. Bolivia has it all in terms of scenery; it’s a constant surprise each corner turned!
Next we wait for our friends Sam and Ade to arrive from the UK (via Peru) where we will travel south to Potosi and Uyuni together before we enter Argentina! We hear theres not much for veggies down in this steak obsessed country...surprise surprise...no food for the veggies, lol.
We travelled from the luxurious part of Bolivia, Santa Cruz with its palm trees and rich inhabitants through the night for 12hours by bus to the northern region in Beni, a town called Trinidad. A dusty town full of motorbikes and ice cream greeted us and with floors covered in beetles we immediately purchased our next journey to the Bolivian Amazon, a remote place called Rurrebaque.
A 10 hour journey on the dodgiest bus took us to San Borja where we were literally stuffed into a mini bus to head to Rurrenbaque, another 5 hours in the blistering heat with no windows and 3 Bolivian men sat next to us on a minibus jam packed with 16 people in total!
As our bags were loaded on top of this 1950´s rusty old mini bus we were asked to make 3 seats enough for 4, oh the chlosterphobia! Little did we know that the bus would fill to the brim with people and there was no quick exit if we needed to get out. It was a very bumpy ride and rocks were constantly bashing the side of the bus. I couldn’t help but wonder how some of us at home would feel if one small rock hit our cars, it makes you realize how important these journeys are for the drivers.
Several steamy stops along the way to resecure the luggage on the top from falling off and to regain feeling in our legs and we made in to the town. We hopped onto motor-taxis, with our backpacks on our very tired backs after a total of 34 hours (including waiting around in bus stations!) to a random hostel from the Lonely Planet. With no idea if it was still a hostel or if the motorbike drivers has any idea where they were we were off. Such a feeling of freedom when riding with no helmet or seatbelt and only a huge backpack to comfort any fall.
The wind finally in our hair (well mine considering im the only one with hair), after a full day of soaking in sweat we arrived to be greeted by Luis, a lovely Bolivian man who owns a little bit of paradise in the town, a beautiful hostel with the comfiest beds ever and cheap rooms.
We had spent all day and night surviving only on water and chrisps so our next mission was food. At the end of the 34 hour journey, we were finally fed, showered and ready for bed. As we retreated to our room and a cold shower, we were greeted with 2 large frogs and a huge moth by our door. We said Buenas Noches and shut our eyes.
Jungle Adventure take 3
The colours of Bolivia change with every city, the reds, yellows and greens of the Bolivian flag are starting to show their relevance. Yellows and reds for the sandy desert towns and vast landscapes and greens for the Bolivians share of the Amazon. Mix the yellow with the red to make the brown, the colour of most muddy towns and mix the green with the yellow to make the perfect blue sky, without a cloud to disturb it.
The heat has soared as we traveled down in altitude, over 30c in the Bolivian Amazon! It takes us by surprise and drains all of our salts and water. The shadow offers some respite but only a few degrees cooler. We booked a 3 day tour for 430Bs into La Pampas, a savanna area of the Amazon. We met our group the next morning and drove 3 hours in a mini bus along the same dodgy streets as before to the river. We had lunch (rice and yucca, nothing exciting), before heading on the river boat for 2 hours to camp.
Along the river, we were staggered by the amount of wildlife. We saw 389 alligators of all shapes and sizes (yes of course Terry counted, he was as excited as a 4 year old) in a 2hour journey on the river boat, tons of capybaras (huge hamster like creatures), lots of river birds, turtles and hundreds of monkeys, squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys. We stopped and were overrun by monkeys at one point.
By now our drinking water was hot enough to put in a tea bag and have some tea and our faces were burning when we reached camp. An opening in the trees, small buildings made from local wood and a row of hammocks overlooking the river. We spent the afternoon relaxing to the sounds of the jungle as squirrel monkeys came to play with us and the alligators made themselves at home around our boat.
We watched the sunset and took a night boat ride to see the Caiman. Even though we saw nearly 400 aligators that day, there were literally 10 times the amount on the river that night with their evil looking red eyes only visable with a flashlight from a river boat by nightfall!
Our guide stopped the engine at one point and we turned off our lights to freak each other out, was pretty scary considering it was caiman, alligator and pirana invested waters below. The night was hot and pretty scary, we spotted a poisonous snake before we went to bed outside the bedrooms so you can imagine I was freaked out a little.
We had material instead of mosquito nets over the beds that provided a free sauna service for protection. It was noisy and the nocturnal animals were playing around us, creating a beautiful midnight orchestra. The next day we trekked in the Pampas itself to search for, yes get this, anacondas and cobra!
I cannot actually believe now that I am writing that I agreed to go, but yes, upon arrival at a specific swamp like area, we were told to spread out and search for the 4 metre long snakes in the tall grass! Oh yeah, and if we found one...just dont annoy it our guide said! We walked for maybe 15 minutes, for me hoping we would be unsuccessful, and then our guide runs towards us swinging a giant snake around his head. He had found a 2 metre long Cobra. And yes thats Terry holding it!!
Everyone got a chance to hold the Cobra, apart from me of course I was metres away from it.
The rest of the day was relaxing back at the camp area. We swam with the pink river dolphins in the afternoon and then had a few games of dice and cards and went to bed. Nothing too hectic when you are in that kind of searing heat!
Our last day was spent Pirana fishing, Terry and one other vegetarian ironically were the only ones to catch one and it was served up for dinner. Tel felt extremely guilty he had caught one and wanted to release it but our guide told us it would be eaten by the other Pirana immediately.
Once we returned to Rurrenbaque we stayed in the same hostel and had a great night out with the group we met before jumping on the long journey at 11am back to cold, cold La Paz (sounded like heaven). We have literally just got off the grueling bus journey now. 18 hours of stopping and starting.
We had to move trees from the road that the locals deliberately cut down in protest of high fuel prices, fix broken brakes, and stop and wait for a protest to end. Pretty epic journey.
When we reached the protest our friends from the Pampas who took the previous bus the night before were there, they had been there for about 12 hours waiting for the Bolivians to end the protest already! Here we are at the protest and with our Israeli friend, Or.
It seems that it was over gasoline. We had to wait around for about 3 hours and then we headed for dinner of course (no logic in buying some dinner in the protest town the locals said, lol) and then up, up and away to the capital.
Tel decided to help out with the trees that were cut down throughout the protest and left me in the dark bus alone for half an hour. He didnt come back when the bus started to drive off so I panicked like crazy and was practically banging the door down shouting ´donde esta mi novio!!¨´....it was so scary i thought we were both going to be separated and stranded!! Luckily he was running towards the bus and i could eventually stop crying!!
This is me signing to leave the protest as everyone had to sign to say they agreed not that we knew what was going on! Also Terry made some friends on the bus!
We went from hot, hot, hot to freezing snow covered roads and mountains in one journey. Bolivia has it all in terms of scenery; it’s a constant surprise each corner turned!
Next we wait for our friends Sam and Ade to arrive from the UK (via Peru) where we will travel south to Potosi and Uyuni together before we enter Argentina! We hear theres not much for veggies down in this steak obsessed country...surprise surprise...no food for the veggies, lol.
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