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Hi
First installment of my attempt at a blog! From the wonders of south
America! Will try and summerise as well as I can!
Arrived in chile on the 28th July in Santiago. Very European looking
city, kind of like Barcelona. Could not believe the coldness of it!
Missed the English summer instantly. But warmed up with Chilean wine
and hotdogs (a random Chilean speciality!). Met the tour group of 14
in all.
Travelled up to La Serena, a costal town, which in summer would be
gorgeous! Got some sunshine and went on a bike ride along the coast,
on something that resembled a bike but between the group it was a
lottery if your gears/brakes/wheels worked! Plus probably the most
uncomfortable seats ever, could not properly sit down for a few days!
Also visited a pisco factory (the Chileans favorite booze) and drank
65% pisco, it literally burns! Not a favorite. Aided by the booze went
to an observatory and saw Saturn, well they said it was, and many
stars that you don't see up in the northern hemisphere.
Travelled up to a place called san pedro in the atacama desert, think
the deserts hot....wrong! Sunny, yes, hot, nope! But warmed up by
sandboarding, having never snowboarded my attempts were quite
pathetic! And anyone who has ever been on a fair ride with me knows I
scream at everything! This included sandboarding! San Pedro was so
much fun, did a trek the next day, and chilled in some hot springs!
Finally something hot!
After two days in San Pedro with the joy of hot water, heating, and
electricity, headed off to a three day tour into Bolivia in 4x4's,
with none of this!
Crossed the most ridiculous border into Bolivia, literally a barrier
in the middle of an expanse of desert! And headed up into the Bolivian
desert. Saw beautiful scenery, and dealt with the joy of altitude!
Up to 4800ft then to stay at a 'hostel' at 4200ft, that actually
resembled a cow shed! Concrete blocks with matresses, up in the
mountains in Bolivia, with no heating! Obviously required layers and
booze! Minus 20 degrees, in a cow shed...it was an experience (aided
by llama finger puppets). Survived with all fingers and toes, then
travelled down to the salt plains, to stay in a salt hotel, yep
completely made of salt! Saw loads on the way, even some pink
flamingoes! Very noisy it turns out!
Spent the next day devising salt plain pics! Then travelled across the
vast expanse of salt to a town called Uyuni. Here our trip becomes a
little altered! The Bolivian miners are striking as they didn't get
the pay increse they were promised, and they get paid pretty crap as
it is! So they have been blocking the roads all over. So to get out
of Uyuni we took a night bus to La Paz, all I can say is, sitting in
pitch black on a crappy coach, attempting off road driving, and hurtling down bumpy hills, not fun! I definatly said a little prayer to get to La Paz! Watching a bus sway
side to side is not comforting!
But made it! And am gonna fly to Sucre tomorrow to try to fit in all
the bits of the tour (be it in a roundabout way!). That's south
America so far! I can't say it's been boring! x
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