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Hi guys, hope you're all well. I've had a busy month or so involving lots of travelling and crossing between Bolivia and Argentina a couple of times.
After my last post I was on the verge of leaving Brazil and heading into Bolivia. As soon as I entered Bolivia I was surrounded by dust and a lot more chaos than Brazil. I met 2 guys from Brazil at the border so got a taxi with them and then a train as we were all heading to Santa Cruz. The train was quite good, although it did rock around a lot, a few times I thought it was going to flip over but thankfully it never. I also had the misfortune of sitting next to the fattest guy I'd seen in South America, he seemed to think he had a right to half my seat and to make matters worse he had 4 phones that kept going off, so annoying!There wasn't much to do in Santa Cruz so I only spent one night there. I managed to do some washing, watched another dismal performance by England and had a nice pizza.
The next day I caught an overnight bus to La Paz, which was a surprisingly nice bus. As I got closer to La Paz I began to get a headache and feel a bit queasy, the altitude had begun to kick in.By the time I reached my room I felt really dizzy and really breathless but after a tea and a coffee the dizziness and headache had gone, but I was still breathless after climbing a flight of stairs.
I went for a curry with some guys in my dorm, I hadn't had Indian food in ages so was really looking forward to it. 2 of the guys had the vindaloo as if you finish it you get a free t-shirt. However the vindaloo smelt terrible and tasted even worse, it took them 3 hours 45 mins to finish and at the end they were vomiting. It was traumatic for me to sit through, the lengths some people will go for q free t-shirt!!
A few days later I rode down the worlds most dangerous road or the death road on a bike. The start of the ride is on a nice smooth road so I was surprised to hear people had injured themselves there, but the actual death road was gravel and really winding, with lots of downhills. The first time I got a glimpse of the drop I almost fell off my bike, the drop was huge! I definitely rode a lot slowest after that but still had a few hairy moments where I lost control momentarily. To make things even more nerve wracking, there were a lot of graves at the edge of the road where people had died and everyone had heard he story of a Japanese girl who had fallen off the edge a few weeks earlier. I was relieved to make it to the bottom but it didn't last long as I found we were driving back up the road in the bus and at one point we were in the clouds and couldn't see a thing. Thankfully we made it back in one piece.
I then went to Copacabana, unfortunately not the beach in Rio but the place where the beach was named after. It is located on Lake Titicaca, which is huge. At times it felt like being by the ocean. Copacabana didn't have much to see or do besides climb a hill for a view over the town and a nice church. The next day I took a boat to Isla del Sol, and walked from the north to the south. The island has some Inca ruins and it was a pleasant walk.
After returning to La Paz, I stupidly decided to sign up to climb a mountain just outside of La Paz. The mountain was Huanyi Potosi and stands at 6088m. We arrived at the base camp and did some ice climbing training, which was really cool but really difficult due to the altitude. That night was freezing cold and I didn't get much sleep. After lunch the second day we began our ascent to the 2nd base. We had to carry big backpacks full with our ice climbing gear and sleeping stuff. To start with it was ok but then we were going higher faster and I became tired really quickly, plus my left calf muscle was hurting. I ended up lagging behind and was then told by the guide that I wouldn't make it to the top. I told him not to worry, I'll make it! With about 200m left to climb, we had to wear crampons as we were walking on snow, this last bit was so tiring as it was so steep and we were again ascending very fast. I was glad to reach the 2nd base and be able to relax. After some food, we went to bed around 5-6pm as we were getting up at 1am. I got no sleep as it was so uncomfortable and in the end was awake wishing 1am would come around.
Finally we got up and started walking at 2am. I was with a guide and another guy, and there was another guide and 2 other guys. We had to be tied to each other, which got annoying later on. Again the ascent was fine to begin with, but once it got steeper it got harder, and to make things worse the guide was reluctant to stop for breaks. After an hour the guy I was with had to go back as his legs had gone and he couldn't continue, so my guide went back with him and I joined the other group. The guide was trying to get me to go back too, but having got this far and paid so much I wasn't about to agree, although it did cross my mind loads to give up. This was one thing I was determined to do no matter what. I'm always told that I start things but ne'er finish them, by a few people so I wanted to prove to them and mainly to myself that I can! The ascent only got harder, exhaustion was kicking in, altitude sickness was coming on and I was getting more and more annoyed as we all needed rests but our guide insisted we continue. The last section before the summit in involved walking along a ledge no wider than 30cm, with a huge drop either side. By this point I was finding every step almost impossible to take, my legs had no energy and I was struggling for air. After one last push we made it to the top, I fell on the ground happy for the break!
The view was amazing, the sun had just come up, but looking back I couldn't fully appreciate it. We had a few photos and 15 mins later we had to head down the way we had come up. We were still tied together and going down was difficult. Being tied up infuriated me as the guide was behind me, and on steep downhills we would be running down and then the guide would yank the rope and I would be sent all over the place, and quite a few times I would fall just because my legs were like jelly and my big toes felt like they were bleeding. Everytime I was on the floor resting, I just wanted to sleep. Walking became impossible with the pain in my feet and I felt like I was some sort of slave being tied up and yanked around.
We made it to the 2nd base and all I wanted to do was sleep. Instead we had to leave pretty soon for base camp. I was so tired I struggled to put my crampons on. Going down was a nightmare with my feet just hurting even more and as I passed people who were going up I told them how hard it was, but everyone knows it difficult before they start. I finally got to the bottom and all I wanted to do was get back to La Paz, shower and eat something nice and sleep. At the time and even a few weeks after I still wondered why I put myself through it, I didn't enjoy it at all, even after I didn't really feel any sense of achievement, but now I'm glad I did it, and it is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. A guy I know who owns a trekking company in the UK and had told me about this climb, said one of the problems is you need longer to acclimatise, and also that the guides as end too fast. It's put me off any similar climbs for the time being but I'm sure if there's something in the next few months I'll have forgotten about the pain and suffering from this one!
I had a few days in La Paz to relax and not do much, went to the cinema and slept. My toes hadn't been bleeding but both my nails on my big toes had gone blue,'nice!
I decided to head north to the Amazon Basin and go to the Amazon Rainforest. I took a bus which hardly anyone does, but it wasn't a bad journey. I met Dustie and Catie on the bus who I had met in La Paz, as well as Becky. We signed up for a 5 day trek in the jungle. Our guide, Jose Luis was really cool and we had an American guy from Cuba join our group. The first day we took a 3 hour boat to the lodge, and did a walk around that area looking at trees and plants. The weather was warmer and a lot more humid than La Paz.
The next day we did a 5 hour walk to our first camp. We were joined by Sylvia our cook. Sleeping in the camp consisted of a thin roll mat, a mossie net, and a sheet under the mat and one over all the nets. It wasn't the most comfortable sleeps I've ever had those few nights in the jungle.
We did some fishing, I failed miserably, those fish are smart. They took the bait without getting caught. We did a few walks each day, although during the day the mossies and sand flies were unbearable at times, so I retreated to the safety of my mossie net. One night our guide said he could hear a jaguar so he started making a jaguar noise. I thought I heard the jaguar that night, and the next morning our guide said it was close, mainly because one our group was snoring which attracted it! We also saw the footprints that day, it had been 200m from our camp.
That night we went for a night walk, the American decided not to come. We saw a few spiders, frogs and mouse like creatures, and when we flashed our torches into the river we saw alligator eyes. We were having a rest by a tree with all the lights off when the guide flicked his torch on and he did a quick scan of the area. He stopped and starting saying something to us with his torch fixed on one area. There was an actual jaguar lying there, no more than 20m away. It got up and began to leave when our guide called it back. It stopped and then started to come towards us, at this point I was a little nervous, but it stopped, stayed there for a few moments and then left. It was amazing to see an actual jaguar, they are so hard to see and it was the first our guide had seen this year. We told the American the next morning but he wouldn't believe us, and when he finally did you could tell he was gutted!
The next night we went for another walk but to an area where lots of animals were supposed to go as the earth had some special properties. However, instead of only being 5 of us like the night before, we now had the American and the cook. We saw spiders and frogs again but didn't see much else but bats.. This was probably because our guide was too preoccupied talking to the cook and the American talking to the guide loads. Again we sat in the dark and then out of nowhere the cooks husband arrived, on his own in the middle of the jungle and dragged her away. This seemed to disturb our guide, and he and the American continued talking quite loudly. The rest of us were stood there, I'm sure I heard some things moving but the guide wasn't interested and we began to wonder whether it's worth being out there. When we got back to the camp, the cook and her husband were there. It was really awkward and I really wanted to go to bed but they were right by my net. In the end I just told them I was going to sleep.
I was glad to leave the jungle by the end. I hadn't showered for 5 days, I had only eaten pasta and rice mainly, and I really wanted some coke and ice cream, so I had all these on my return to the town of Rurrenabaque.
The next day we got the bus back to La Paz. It had begun raining and the roads weren't the best. We got stuck in one part for 6 hours, although our driver wasn't very good and could have got us through a lot quicker. All the locals were worried the bus was going to topple over so they ran out at one point and stood just outside which was even more dangerous, although the bus wasn't ever going to topple. We had to be pulled through by an earth digger and when we got through the earth digger somehow hit the bus and made a big hole in the side. We got stuck a few more times and 30 hours leaving we finally got to La Paz.
The next day I got the bus to the Argentinian border, but not before buying a Copa America sticker book and 50 packs of stickers. I spent 4 hours on the bus sticking them in, much to the amusement of the Argentinian guy next to me and 2 peruvians on the other side of the aisle. They were fascinated with it! The bus was freezing cold and I didn't have many layers on. The border town was really cold too and I crossed into Argentina and got a bus to Cordoba, the 2nd biggest city.
I arrived there early morning and explored the city, it's really nice. I was told it had the best looking women in Argentina and it was true. The next day I went to a town just outside of Cordoba to visit Che Guevarra's house that he grew up in. It's now a museum but it's really good, it had lots of items from his life including his norton motorbike that he rode around South America on. I also saw the toilet he used! I was glad I got to come to Cordoba just to see that.The next day, my friend from home, Adam was arriving. He's travelling with me for 3 weeks. I was to meet him in Cordoba and then get an overnight train to Salta to make it for the Copa America game we had tickets for. It all started to go wrong when his flight from BA was cancelled due to volcanic ash. He ended up getting a bus to Salta but it was touch and go whether he'd make it in time. I got my ticket to Salta, and found there was only one left so it was a good thing he couldn't make it to Cordoba!
I even managed to watch Argentina play while on the bus thanks to the guy in front of me who had an iPad and a 3G connection. When he saw I was straining my neck to watch he was really nice and made sure I could see.I arrived in cold Salta and met Adam who was a few hours late. We had to get a taxi to Jujuy where the game was. We ended up sharing a taxi with 4 Colombians, who were also going to the game. 2 had to share the passenger seat and 4 of us were at the back. They were really cool, and gave us beer. Thy taught us some swear words in Spanish and vice versa, and all in all they were crazy, but really cool. We got to the ground 30 mins before kick off and after much running around and thanks to a really helpful volunteer we found that the ticket office was closed and we couldn't get our tickets. All that running around for nothing. It was a rubbish start to Adam's trip so we returned to Salta and had steak!
After a couple of days in Salta we crossed back into Bolivia and made our way to Tupiza and then got a bus to Uyuni. It was snowing in Uyuni and we ended up getting stuck in the snow on the way. It was so cold, and we had to wait for morning, so we spent 6 hours not moving on an uncomfortable bus. In the morning we all wanted to get out for a toilet break but we were locked in and the driver was asleep. Finally he awoke and I managed to do my business, the longer variety, in the snow which was an experience.
We made it to Uyuni and visited the salt flats which was really good. It's a big flat piece of land that used to be a lake but is now just salt. It's so flat that apparently you can see the earth curve, which proves the earth is round. That evening we got a bus to La Paz.
We arrived in La Paz, my 5th time now, and we did some shopping and saw some sights. It was nice to relax and not have to get on another bus. We watched Bolivia play on a big screen with loads of locals in a plaza, they lost but there was almost a riot because they had trouble finding the channel the game was on! I also managed to complete my sticker book, an achievement as it's my first ever one, although I'm pretty sure I was robbed by the seller, as he took all my shineys as if they were normal stickers but charged me double for the shineys I needed..... I'm going to do the Euro 2012 sticker book if anyone is interested in joining in?!
After 2 nights in La Paz we left and got a bus to Peru, which is where I'm writing this. I really like La Paz, its easy to walk around the main area of the city, the people are friendly, and it's so cheap! We just crossed the border, which was a little chaotic and we're now on our way to Arequipa, then Nazca to see the weird lines and then Cusco for Macchu Picchu.
I'm hoping the weather will begin to get warm again, I'm bored of the cold! I've now been away for 11 months so I only have 3 months before I come home, I'm not really sure what I'll do when I'm back, besides eat all the food I missed and sleep loads.
Apologies again for a massive long post, it was an action packed month, and I'll try and do the next one sooner so it's not so long. Until then take care.
- comments
Catie Erskine Haha! Sanj, Great account! I think Anzul would have a fit to know he is referred to as "the american"... and you also missed out that I caught an awesome fish that tasted delicious! Hope you`re still travelling well! xxx
Baasit I bet the american dude was a jaguar! did you notice you never saw both at the same time!x
sandra and richard Hi Sanj - just wanted to say hi and wish you well as you continue on. I'm really enjoying the posts and very amusing too. Take care, Sandra and Richard. x