Protests, diversions and delays!

The last time I 'Blogged' I had just arrived in Salta. Salta is a nice little town with some nice architecture, especially compared to where we had been the past few weeks!

I spent the first day here catching up with Lauren who I met in Buenos Aires, and then went for another ridiculous steak dinner in the evening, 1kg of unbeliveble steak! I find it hard to get bored of steak so good for the price it is so i do appologise if I keep harping on about it all the time, I want to bring some back but I think its unlikely!!

Addition: I just realised I missed a very exciting part of my time in Salta! On the morning of the horse riding trek I was taking a taxi to meet the group at about 7-8 in the morning. The traffic in salta has a strange priority system which seems to be a bit ad lib, the taxi I was in was just crossing a bridge when I looked to my left and saw a car coming very fast towards my side, It hit pretty hard and spun the taxi 180 degs, I wasnt wearing a seatbelt which was very stupid, lesson learnt!!! A very scary and exciting experience, the taxi driver just jumped out and had an arguement with the other guy and told me to get another taxi!! craziness!!

The next day we went on a horse riding/lunch/wine tour about an hour outside of Salta at a place owned by a guy called Henrique, he seemed to only know how to make dirty jokes in English whihc was caused a lot of laughter! We went out first on the horses for a long walk whihc ended with a very exciting canter helped along by the gauchos chasing our horses with their big stallions! We came back to a steak bbq lunch that equalled the night before, with amazing salad and unending steak being put on our plate until between 6-8 of us we had polished off well over 10 kilos of steak and unlimited red wine! The red wine led to a very funny journey home!

The rest of the time in Salta was a bit drawn out as we had to wait around to see what the situation was in Bolivia. The miners in Potasi where we were due to head next were on strike and the roads there and to uyuni were closed indefinately! We therefore stayed an extra night and had a fun night out with a couple of french girls from our campsite who were staying in a beaten up old VW campervan with their dog Shogun.

The decision was eventually made to head to La Paz in Boliva via Chile! We all slept for the first few hours and were amazed to wake up in the beginning of the Andes, such a change of scenery! I spent the rest of the day with my face glued to the window as we wound up some amazing roads towards the Argentinian border via some salt flats and the Altiplano (high plain). The highest altitude we reached was around 5000m or so which was a real shock to the system, it makes you feel very dizzy and weak, and for some of the guys who had had a few too many the night before, it makes you chuck! It was here I discovered the amazing effect of Coca Tea, made from the leaves of the same plant that makes cocaine, it really helps with altitude! From here we descended towards San Pedro in Chile near the entry border to Chile. We made the decision to push on into the Atacama desert, the driest in the world, to gain some time for our push the next day to Bolivia.

This turned into a less than simple affair as I will explain! The first event was our bush camp in the Atacama. We pulled off the side of the road just near a small restaurant and drove about 100 yrds before hearing the wheels of Jack our truck slipping and spinning. We were stuck. We all got out and helped Eddie dig Jack out and enjoyed a varied level of success, sometimes moving 5m forwards, sometimes 2-3m backwards and sometimes just ending up deeper in! The problem was that it is not a sandy desert, it is dust! a very fine powder like talc, which offers zero grip for the tyres! Anyway, we persevered using big steel sand matts and eventually Eddie managed to drive jack about 50yrds backwards, but because of all the dust lost the track end ended up stuck again. We were now much closer to the road and managed to enlist the help of a reluctant truck driver to tow us out! he had reason to be reluctant as no sooner had he pulled up behind us than he had become stuck himself. We did our best to help him out however his truck was much heavier and more powerful and nearly destroyed out sand boards and destoyed his exhaust pip under his truck! oops!!

Anyway we were all extremely dusty from this process, dust in our ears, hair, eyes and lungs! it was fun but were all very tired and it was all we could to to cook ourselves dinner at 10 in the evening! The stuck trucks had attracted more attention from the road and a collection of other drivers had congregated and were discussing extraction tactics! they wanted $100 to pull us out but in the end they did if for free and jack was pulled free shortly after midnight! In all the comotion it was hard to appreciate the beauty of the desert at night, the stars were as good as i have seen before so clear and with no light polution whatsoever!

We slept a very dusty nights sleep and awoke the next day excited that boliva was only a few kilometers away! So we thought, a lunch stop in Arica Chile near the Peruvian border revealed to us the toll the previous night had taken on Jack. An air leak meant no brakes and no brakes meant we werent going anywhere!! We ended up staying two nights in Arica, there is not much to do here other than surf and we werent set up or prepared so there is not much to mention other than we got to enjoy the Man Utd vs. Newcastle game live on our cable TV!

Eventually we were able to leave after the part had been sourced and made the 7-8 hour trek to La Paz. The journey up from sea level to La Paz was amazing, the Atacama turned into the Altiplano and the geology (geek) was amazing, a constantly changing yet barren landscape populated by only the occasional bird and a fair few llamas!

We eventually made it to La Paz which is an amazing city at 3500m (highest capital in the world) set in a valley with steep sides. It is an impressive backdrop from which i wright this latest blog. I have spent the past day and a half enjoying the insanely cheap markets and very friendly people!

We have 3 more days here before we head to Puno in Peru. It is a shame we werent able to see Potasi the highest city in the world at nearly 6000m and the salt flats at Uyuni, perhaps an excuse to come back, however we had a different adventure getting here which is what its all about!!

Love to all

Owly over and out!!