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Hi all
So, what have we been up to since the last update…..
Well, left Mendoza (a bit pickled inside) and headed to Salta in northern Argentina, which was nice. Caught some nice views of the city from a lookout point accessed by gondola / cable car, and views of the Andes were impressive. From Salta we crossed the Argentina/Chile border for San Pedro de Atacama which is in the middle of the Atacama desert - very dry, hot and funky place - quite an incredible little town surviving in the middle of a beautiful but perhaps hostile landscape. We did a bit of mountain biking there - Paul more than me as he was more hardy in tolerating the dust and heat! I was better at reading and quaffing beer!
From San Pedro we ascended even higher (geographically - not sure what else I could mean) on a 3 day, 2 night 4x4 tour of the desert and Bolivian salt flats, ending up in Uyuni. That trip has definitley been one of our highlights so far - the most incredible and beautiful landscapes of desert, mountains (day 1 we reached 5000m above sea level), lagoons, flamingoes, volcanoes, a lot of llamas, a few other 4x4 doing the same trip, thermal baths, mud pools, geysers and much more. The weather was amazing - incredibly cold at altitiude (all our clothes came out to keep us warm) yet bright and sunny. Our driver and guide was Pedro, what a cool guy, who had a penchant for lollipops and unsurprisingly bad dental stats, but was a sweetie, taking really good care of us, spoke only Spanish which was a test of my linguistic memory, and was at heart truly proud to be Bolivian and showing us his country. Very cool. We both suffered some altitude sickness - on the first night I had the worst headache of my life, it felt like my brain was going to burst out of my head which was a touch unusual... I hadn´t even been drinking ?!?!?Anyway, Paul was an excellent nurse.... good hubby duties being fulfilled!
From Uyuni we headed north to La Paz, capital of Bolivia and highest one of it´s kind. What a cool city.Had a hilariously bad journey getting there on a bus that defied suspension on the atrocious roads. Didn´t get any sleep but it was certainly an ´experience´ to be remembered! And we will......So La Paz... yeah very cool, quite compact in size so great to walk around markets, cafes, good food, and so cheap! Had a real local style lunch - 2 courses and fruit for dessert for 60p each!
Then most recently we have taken our best transfer yet - from La Paz down to Coroico in the Bolivian jungle - by mountain bike - on .... duh duh duh .... the WMDR - world´s most dangerous road or more euphemistically put, ´the death road´. AMAZING.What a brilliant experience.We were very reassured by the company we went with who ran a really good operation, and had top notch bikes, which could totally handle the terrain. Initial nerves (on my side) gave way to a brilliant day, with superb views of the mountains, gorges, and jungle as we descended to lower height.Was just superb... needless to say Paul was front of the group most of the day with his ´career downhill prowess´and I was safely nearer the back.... (not always at the back just near it!)As the descent continued the weather heated up and eventually as layers were taken off we reached the beautiful Bolivian jungle, and La Senda Verde (a restaurant, cafe and animal refuge) where we had lunch and I tried not to get scared of the rescue monkeys. Rabies jabs aside, I didn´t want to get too near to them. Some of them were distressed.So was I.We then reached the town of Coroico and a beautiful hostel/hotel/jungle retreat Sol Y Luna where we have spent the last few days, lazing about in hammocks, reading, and enjoying the serenity. Paul is loving all the jungle bird noises waking him up at 6am - boss!I had a gorgeous shiatsu massage yesterday (5th Nov) - funnily enough the last massage before that was 2 months ago at champneys.... after our big day!(Mum you would love this place - very yogic..... gorgeous views.xxx )
Anyway, that brings us up to date.Hopefully the connection will support us uploading some pics too to show you where we have been and the sights we´ve been enjoying.
As always, much love, and let us know your news.
Write again soon,
L&P xxxxxxxxx
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