Goodbye Bolivia - Hello Peru!!!

After all the excitment of the jungle we thought we would spend a few days in La Paz recovering and reaclimatising ourselves back to altitude...but relaxing is not in our vocabulary so biking the 64km most dangerous road in Bolivia seemed a great thing to do. What a day, it was exhilirating and absolutely worth doing. The dangerous road is still open to traffic but there has just recently been a new road opened so not as many large trucks zip by you which is a relief! Most of it was downhill mountain biking and the majority is on a dirt road with many bumps and stones to negotiate...all part of the fun.

It was hard to leave La Paz as it was such an interesting city with tons to do. We couldnt leave without taking a local minibus up to the lookout so we could look back over the amazing city which is set in a huge basin, we have never seen anything like it. The photo doesnt do it justice but you get the idea.

After La Paz we headed up to Copacabana which is a gorgeous little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It was a perfect place to catch our breath (literally in altitude!). We went on a couple of walks, one around the outskirts of Copacabana and then the following day a trip to Isla Del Sol which looked like a greek island but the water was definitely not warm like the Medetteranian!! You can see the island from the mainland and we thought it would be a short boat ride there but honestly the engine on the boat didnt stagger past an idle and it took over 2 hours...it was like torture seeing the destination and crawling our way there no faster than a turtle stampeding through peanut butter. Well worth it of course, with ruins to see and photos with Alpacas to be taken...Chris was quite fond of spit roasting the little one for dinner. On our last morning in Copacabana we rented a motorbike so we could have a look around...was great fun but dont think the roads suit a cracked rib to be honest.

Copacabana was our last stop in Bolivia, we crossed the border in Peru and headed towards Puno so we could visit the floating reed islands. The islands are still on Lake Titicaca as the lake is HUGE but the port wasnt as picturesque as Copacana with green sludge greeting you. The floating islands themselves were fantastic, but VERY touristy unfortunately. Still worth the visit as it is amazing how they live on reeds compacted down so much that it is like being on land.

We are now in Cusco in a desperate attempt to relax for a few days before heading off on our 4 day Inca Trail trek. Chris is not feeling the best today so is recovering in bed, hopefully whatever he has disappears in time for the trek as he is supposed to be carrying our gear...hee hee. If he isnt good tomorrow I will have to visit a pharmacy as you can get ANYTHING here, it is just describing what you want which is the hardest part.

See you on the blog after the trek readers!!

The Mighty Amazon

After being at altitude and in the cold for so long what a welcome relief it was to touch down on the grass landing strip in Rurrenabaque and feel the tropical heat and be able to breathe easily. Rurrenabaque is a gorgeous little town nestled in the Amazon basin with a big touristy feel. There wasnt much time to relax as we had already booked our tours so we tried to make the most of the afternoon we had with a hike in the surrounding jungle.

It seems that my misfortune has not yet come to an end as not only has she cracked a rib through coughing when we tried to find the trail for our walk we came across some particularly unfriendly local dogs, one of which took a nip out of my ass. Well, that put an end to the walking idea but luckily it was a domestic dog and not a roaming ferril one. Feeling sorry for myself we fortunately found a local soccer game to watch instead although we sat and watched the opening match instead of the feature event!

Onto the good stuff, we started our Amazon adventure with a 3 day pampas tour. After enduring a 4 hour dusty rollercoaster 4wd ride with 2 flat tyres to the entrance of the National Park we were soon rewarded with more animals than you can shake a stick at (or point a camera at!) Aligators, monkeys, many birds, turtles, pink dolphins (yes pink...), capibarra, caimans and more than enough insects.

There was so much to see on the water, but there was more for us to find, on the second day we headed out on the hunt for anaconda. A 3 hour walk through the humidly hot pampas grasses wearing clothing that covered all of us to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitos and we had nearly given up hope. On the way back to the start our guide heard rustling and much to our delight was the beloved anaconda! No glory photos around the neck, guides are not supposed to disturb them anymore, but we were happy! That night we cruised out and went pirana fishing. Man those little freaks can eat a piece of meat off the end of your line in about 2 seconds! Chris raked in the 2 biggest and was salivating at the thought of scoffing them that night for dinner, which we did. Quite tasty little morsels, not much meat on the bones though.

Our final day was topped off very nicely with a swim in Amazon with the pink dolphins. We all waited paitently in the boat until our guide dived in as we were a bit tentative about aligators, piranas and other lurking creatures of the deep. We all survived though and the dolphins were shy until we left on the boat and they came to life jumping in front of us and escorting us off the premises.

After an excellent 3 days in the pampas we wondered if it could get any better. We had a nights turnaround to shower and freshen ourselves which ended up being a night out with the other tour members, well actually a night to destroy the English and Isreali at pool, and then it was off to the jungle for another 3 day stint.

A more relaxing and stunning boat trip of 3 hours and we were at our base camp. Very basic but comfortable. One of the first sights that greated us was an Isreali traveller with more mosquito bites on his legs showing than skin. We quickly dug out our long pants and drowned ourselves in deet.

The jungle tour was very relaxed, that afternoon we prepared for a 3 hour walk into the jungle, just as we thought about leaving the heavens opened and we were treated to a tropical downpour. Off we went anyway, it is all part of the experience right! We came across a baby turtle, deer, pigs GALORE (unfortunately we were unable to snaffle one up for dinner as they are protected), tarantula, giant snails, gorgeous butterflies and frogs. We were supposed to go again that night but it was too wet.

2nd day and we woke leisurely in the heat for another 3 course meal (all meals are ridiculously huge) and then set off into the jungle again. What a walk...not only did we see the beloved Tucan, Macaw, monkeys, parrots, some squirrel thing, hundreds of pigs, millions of ants and learn about the versatility of tree species in the Amazon (we are talking rubber trees, milk trees, blood trees, poisonous trees, healing trees) Chris actually had a tarantula on his head and here is the photo to prove it!

After such an action packed morning we welcomed the chance to go fishing for salmon in the afternoon. Our hopes were high but our catch was non existant. The camp guru (aptly named Mr Miagi) showed us all up by dragging in a monstrous salmon, he must know the good spots...and probably for 50 bolivianos would have shown us.

Last day in the jungle and we got to make necklaces and rings out of natural Amazon stuff, I loved it and surprisingly Chris seemed to as well. After all that stress we went tubing down the river before being picked up and taken back to civilisation.

It was sad to leave the Amazon, not only for the hot weather but for the amazing things we saw and experienced. We are back in La Paz now struggling for breath and wheezing like old men. Tomorrow we are mountain biking the worlds most dangerous road...the fun never seems to stop in Bolivia, there is so much to do.

Salar de Uyuni

Hello Readers

We have just returned from a four day 4wd expedition in the Bolivian high country leaving from Tupiza and arriving in Uyuni. What an amazing experience for so many reasons.



Day 1 - We arrived at the tour agency ready to leave at 9am. The Toyota Land Cruiser was loaded and we began our journey. First through town to pick up a shopping bag full of cocoa leaves then to find the cook. The first day consisted of some amazing quebradas, cactus and Julies first turn for the worst.

Day 2 - The night was cold and for Julie a very bad experience. Fever and vomiting were soon joined by a bad case of altitude sickness that no local cocoa plant could fix. At this stage everybody was worried and we were going to turn back if there was no improvement over night. Morning came bringing a crisp blue -15 c and a stable but still sick Julie. We pressed on with a 12 hour day ahead driving between 20 and 60km/h over dusty 4wd tracks. The scenery was breathtaking. We passed 400 year old Spanish ruins, a tribute to the lucrative gold rush of the time. It is important to note that the Bolivian high country is rich with minerals and not so much with vegetation. We climbed our way, passing multi coloured salt lagoons, to the crater of an active volcano at 5000m above sea level. The air was thin and it was -20 c. After descending 1000m we were greated with a well earned hot pool surrounded by a salt lake.






Day 3 - This is hard to believe for those who know Julie well but day three was her third day without food. She had improved and was taking on lots of fluid but still no food. Our cook still prepared food for Julie and another 6 people who didn´t exist. I have never eaten so much before. I thought the soup was dinner so had three servings only to be told that there were 2 more couses of llama meat to come. No complaints from me though. Day three was another spectacular day which was topped off by the wildlife. Flamingos, vultures, foxes and more llamas. That night we stayed in a hotel with salt floors and beds. They served beer so I thought I would test the altitude rumour. Yes folkes it is true. At 4200m my limit is a dismal 5 beers.



Day 4 - This was the icing on the cake. Up at 6am we headed out to catch the sun rise over the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world. Thousands of years ago the earth rose as a result of massive seismic activity. During this upheaval sea water was trapped like a large rock pool.





Nearing the end of our tour, the noticable subsidence to Julies four day illness was not the return of her appetite or lack of altitude headaches but instead her laughter. 4 sorry days of no laughter were brought to an end by the killer llama. A young frisky llama who was having the time of his life chasing unexpected tourists. The misfortune was too much. One English man made the mistake of running. He was chased for 2 hundred metres until he was run down and mounted by the llama. As you can imagine Julie had no sympathy just fits of laughter.


We are of to La Paz tonight on the overnight tain. From La Paz we head to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon Jungle for a six day trek. Julie is getting her strength back now and is looking foward to the more humid and lower amazon. I can´t wait to catch an anaconda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dehydration Hits

Lets start this blog with a pic of our current favourite snacks - Empanadas and Tamales...mmm.

After leaving La Rioja and the superb National Parks, we made our way up Argentina to Tucuman (where everyone you meet wants to talk about rugby and the injuries they have sustained from the game), Cafayate (which is a stunning little town with a laid back feeling) and finally arriving in Salta (very ethnic Argentinian city).

Not much to report about Tucuman apart from getting our stinky laundry done, well actually the lady mentioned that Chris´ washing was "poo" and mine was ok...there was no disagreements from Julie.

Cafayate was a little gem and a great place for us to relax and unwind...or so we thought. After arriving Chris got chatting to others in the hostel and hooked up a trip to the local waterfall outside of town. We went along with a german cyclist who was resting up in Cafayate and two Argentinian women travelling up on their own. We all left enthusiastically and lets just point out that there was NO marked tracks, the instructions were to follow the stream up for 2 hours until you get to the waterfall. After stumbling over rocks and getting cut through pampas grass, but all set in a stunning landscape of cacti and red rock formations, we gave up our hunt for the 10m waterfall after 1 1/2 hours. On the way back in the heat, in true NZ styles, Chris was the only one to take the plunge into an icy pool much to the delight of the others.

After all the fun of the walk, the heat of the day and the 6km walk back into town nearly took 2 victims of heat exhaustion and dehydration, it had to be 30 plus. Here we were sweltering in the heat and locals were biking past in their polarfleeces and winter gear - um yeah - spot the tourists with their tops wrapped on their heads and cowering under the shade for relief!!

It was hard to leave Cafayate and we werent looking forward to another big city going to Salta. We arrived weary at the hostel about 10pm and were immediately offered a BBQ, traditional music and dancing...our spirits lifted immediately! We may have dreamt about steak due to the amount consumed but it was a nice welcome to Salta.

We are making our way to Bolivia in the next couple of days and will be off on a 4 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) which will be amazing.

Not sure when our next post will be but watch this space!

Friendly Argentina

Well we have to say that so far the Argentine people have been nothing but friendly and helpful! More than once we have been saved by the kindness of the local people, whom without we would still be standing stranded at the bus station in La Rioja. Either being dropped into town at the tourist office, or being ordered taxis to get to our hostel, it has been fantastic.

From La Rioja we did an amazing tour of 2 National Parks in the San Juan and La Rioja district which was the highlight of our trip so far. It was so nice to not be in town and to get out onto the road and see some of the natural wonders of Argentina.

Our first stop was Parque National Talampaya. Basically it was like valley of large canyons which were absolutely amazing. Second National Park was a little different but equally as interesting, the Argentine name is Valle de Luna and it literally did resemble the surface of the moon. Freakish rock formations and the different colours from the minerals was impressive. We had to put some photos up for you all to enjoy.

Heading North through Argentina we left La Rioja and headed up to Tucuman. The landscape changed significantly from desert like to lush green which was a great change for us as we were missing the colour green.

We have met some New Zealanders in Tucuman, some of the first tourists we have come across so it was nice to be able to speak English and talk some rubbish! Next stop...Salta at this stage but our plans are changing day to day depending on our moods and what we feel like seeing.

Peace and love...