TravelStream™ news feed for member 50odd on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/50odd en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:22:32 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/50odd/1/1258129723/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/50odd/1/1258129723/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/50odd/1/1258129723/tpod.html Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:22:32 -0500 Europe, India, Southeast Asia and South America

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Sucre, Bolivia

13th November 2009

Hostal Dolce Vita, Sucre, Bolivia

Absolutely perfect

There was me, thinking I'd have plenty of time to do my blog once we settled in somewhere to do our Spanish lessons. It hasn't quite worked out that way. Our lessons are in the afternoon, 2.30 to 6.30, so we've got into a bit of a routine. After breakfast (papaya, yogurt and muesli) the morning is spent doing homework, and going over what we've done the day before. About 12, we go to the market where we have a frutilla con leche smoothie (strawberry with milk) from one of the juice vendors. There are about 12 of them, all lined up at the back of the market, their stalls are raised up on a platform and there are stools in front of them where the customers sit. All the fruits and vegetables are available, plus you can add oats, nuts, quenoa, eggs and any number of herbs or malt drinks to perk you up, they cost between 2 and 9 Bs per drink, depending on what you have.

From the drinks stalls we wander over to get our bread, small rolls called Maraquettas (5 for 3 Bs) and our fruit and vegetables. A medium sized papaya costs about 6 Bs, a kilo of tomatoes about the same, delicious chorizo (enough for 2 meals) for 12 Bs, 10 eggs for 6 Bs. It doesn't work out cheaper to cook your own food in Bolivia, given that you can eat a 2 course lunch anywhere in the city for 12 Bs, but it means we get to eat a varied diet and plenty of fruit and vegetables, sadly missing in the Bolivian diet. We've also discovered some great places to buy organic yogurt and food and I'm going to check out a German centre not far from here that does yoga and salsa classes.

The dolce Vita is a very popular guest house and when you're here it's obvious why. It's often full so if you fancy coming to stay for a while book up in advance. We didn't realise how lucky we were just turning up on the doorstep and getting a room for 7 days (although we have extended to next weekend (21st) but since we've been here the 'completo' sign has been up more than not. Most people staying here are doing Spanish lessons and/or voluntary work, one woman is studying quechua (the indigenous language). The evenings are very sociable times with most people cooking for themselves, and we all manage to work around each other in the kitchen, somehow!

We are having one to one tuition at the Bolivian School of Spanish (www.bolivianspanishschool.com ) which costs 6.50 usd an hour. It's easy to find private tutors for about 5 usd an hour, but as a teacher I think it's important that the person teaching has at least some idea of teaching methods and materials. I've heard stories of people paying for private tuition only to find there is no structure and no materials. The Bolivian School has a good reputation both in Sucre and la Paz and we have had personal recommendations, so we are happy to pay the 6.50. Tonight we are staying on at the school for some 'games', chicken and vodka! We're hoping the charades in Spanish comes before the vodka, otherwise it could be a bit messy!

We also found a small bike shop (on Junin, between olaneta and Estudiantes) that had a pair of 26 inch, 32 hole rims (250 Bs), they're not Mavic but they're ok and hopefully will do us for the rest of the trip. All dave has to do now is fit the spokes, sounds simple but I don't think it is and it's certainly very time consuming, a job for tomorrow.

Every other day there is a fiesta or celebration in Sucre. I watched several hundred youngsters marching through the city a couple of days ago with their home made hoola hoops, yesterday the bands were playing and everyone was dressed in their traditional costumes celebrating something to do with Potosi. Potosi is a city not far from here (a few hundred metres higher) famous for it's silver mines. People are divided as to whether a visit to the mines is a good thing or not. If you're even a tad claustrophobic it's a difficult thing to do, emotionally it's quite tough as the conditions are apparently awful. Because we're staying on in Sucre a bit longer than we first thought we probably won't go to Potosi now, which means the decision is taken away from us. There's a famous film (name unknown) which is run in Sucre quite regularly, I'll try and get to see that.


Laters

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Sucre, Bolivia

16th November 2009

Dolce Vita Hostal, Sucre, Bolivia

sunny and warm

Friday the 13th turned out to be a good day after all, even the games night at the school was fun. I didn't completely disgrace myself by imbibing of too much vodka and I even shone a little bit when it came to the egg and spoon race (yes, it still goes on in educated circles). Afterwards we all adjourned to The Amsterdam Bar (does what it says on the tin) where we shared some beer and good conversation till the early hours. The Amsterdam Bar is one of those places where all the profits go to help local street kids. Tonight they have bingo and tomorrow a quiz night, plus they do book swaps (popping there later to see what I can find) and it really feels like a bar in Amsterdam. To top it off it also, according to Ben the Aussie, has the fastest wifi in Sucre.

Afer chatting with Jamie and olivia from the school things became a lot clearer with regards to all the fiestas and people last week. This weekend saw the beginning of the South American Games and Saturday was the inaugural ceremony. We decided not to go (I'm sure the atmosphere was great but sitting on a stone bench for 7 hours didn't really appeal) but we could hear all the celebrations from the terrace of the hostal. Apparently Evo Morales (el Presidente) was boo'd, he's not very popular in (mostly) middle class Sucre. He took a pay cut, which I think is very admirable and he definitely leans towards the poorer classes but it seems that he may be alienating other sectors of the population. He has threatened to close all private schools whereas it might be better to try and bring the public schools up to private standards. Afka, a dutch woman who volunteers with the street kids here in Sucre, was helping one of them with their English homework and what the teacher had asked him to do didn't make sense at all, no wonder he was completely confused. Maybe the teacher training in Bolivia could be improved?

Snr Chavez (el Presidente de Venezuela) tipped up yesterday and he's a different ball game altogether. His anti US (since we've been in South America he has also taken an anti Colombian something to do with US air bases in Colombia) stance is making him even less popular outside of Venezuela, but since when did the Venezuelans care too much what others thought? We met a Venezuelan woman in Ecuador who told us the day Chavez came to power the tenants in her apartment decided to stop paying rent. Six years later she managed to get them evicted but no rent was recovered. Power to the people!

yesterday we walked up to The Mirador with Afka to have lunch with Cat and Miles, an English couple we met at the school. The view of Sucre was wonderful and we suddenly realised how small it is, despite feeling like a great sprawling metropolis when we first arrived on the bus. The rest of the day was spent reading, doing some Spanish and generally relaxing.

We are in Sucre for the next 6 days, our intention is to leave early on Sunday. our Spanish is coming along, albeit slowly, and we are determined to be speaking Spanish by the time we get home to the UK. We will have some more time in Guatemala and Mexico to do lessons, by which time we will have been practicing the bits we have learned here plus what we have picked up along the way. I am now following in dave's footsteps and using the Hugo Simplified System, Spanish Self Tuition in 3 Months book (circa 1963) that we found in rose and Chris's apartment in Spain last summer. There are some things in it that make us smile, like the reference to 'servants' and some of the grammar, which is quite dated, but all in all it's still a very good book.


The fact that you can go into a shop here and buy ´potable´ alcohol is a little bit worrying. Maybe they make the drinkable version to stop people buying the industrial stuff and going blind as a result. Anyway, it comes in plain, menthe and a variety of other flavours and colours, but basically it´s pure alcohol. People generally collapse in a heap after imbibing too much, making it very difficult for pedestrians to get around as the pavements are very narrow. I saw a man the other day who had taken up residency on a piece of cardboard over a drain on the corner of a very narrow street. Drivers were being most considerate, I thought, giving him a wide berth and not crushing him to death.

As we walked towards the bus stop yesterday to catch a micro to el Castillo, we passed a man sitting on the pavement changing his trousers, his manhood displayed for all the world to see. Jobhanna, my teacher, waving her forefinger in a circular motion around the side of her head said ´loco´, crazy man, you have them in England? Not at all, I said.

hasta luego

laters



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Potosi, Bolivia

25th november 2009
Hostal Carlos V, Potosi, Bolivia
Absolutely perfect in the solarium
yesterday - the cemetary to Potosi 83
kms, a steady climb

After the live sheep on the roof rack business in the morning it was all a bit dull, except for the people who went out of their way to wave and clap and generally be wonderful human beings. Water wasn't a problem as it never really got hot enough to be a worry, at 4000 metres the air is incredibly thin and dry, and we do need to drink (your throat feels like the bottom of a bird cage actually) however the thirst we feel is different, we FEEL as though we're ok, it's only later in the day when you haven't pee'd all day and then having had several glasses of water, coke and probably beer you STILL find you pee a thimble full. Today my lips are threatening to just dry up and fall off; I need some humidity.

The Carlos V is a very nice hostal, however, because we've been staying at the dolce vita in Sucre,everything else pales into insignificance. only time will dull the memory of dolce vita and then we can start thinking that hostels are 'quite nice' again. We like Potosi, well, the bit we're staying in anyway. The area we passed through on the way into the centre wasn't very attractive, but they rarely are. The five people we asked directions of when we arrived were all drunk, a sign of a harsh environment perhaps? They were nonetheless very friendly, if incoherent, and their directions eventually led us to where we wanted to be. There are some beautiful churches, some of them look like temples but with indigenous carvings, and are quite lovely. We haven't been in any as a day 'off' is a day off after all, none of that sightseeing business.

The morning was spent shopping for gafas (sunglasses) for me and a hat for dave. My 3 usd gafas I bought in Guayaquil finally gave up the ghost and dave lost his hat in Sucre. The hat was easy to find; dave now has a burnt orange baseball cap with a slightly enlarged peak. My gafas, on the other hand, were a bit of a challenge, but then we only had to find the 'gafas alley' and we'd have been fine. lumping 'stuff' together is great as long as someone gives you a map of the area, 'fine rubber hoses' this way, 'rectangular, aluminium fings' 2nd floor and anything 'plastico' over there, but of course they don't, it's all trial and error. I even asked la Snra who sold us dave's hat where the best place was to buy gafas (in my best Spanish) she just guessed and I knew it. Cycling across The Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) without a pair of sunnies would be downright silly, it's possible to get a kind of snow blindness because of the glare from the salt. We've also been told to put suncream EVERYWHERE as the reflection from the salt burns like hell. Sounds interesting!

We've heard from Sonja, Ali and James (cycling pals we have met, one we haven't) who are just about to get to la Paz, we're so hoping we can get to meet up with them but it's all a matter of timing. We're keeping everything crossed. We are heading down to the Salar, but we are entering from the northern end, making it easier to navigate to Isla de Pesca (due south) then east to Colchani, then Uyuni from where we can catch the train (a magnificent journey pparently) to oruro, then back up to la Paz. We estimate (depending on the weather and state of the roads) it may take us 10 days to get to Uyuni. We'll be camping most of the way and there are no ATMs. I doubt whether we will have internet connections.

hasta luego

laters

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Potosi, Bolivia

23rd november 2009
Behind a cemetary, 70 miles from Potosi
howling a gale and raining profusely


We said our goodbyes to all the lovely people we met in Sucre by going to a charity bingo evening. Afke has been working for nante, an organisation that helps kids who work on
the streets. So Friday night we met up with Jamie and olivia, Myles and Cat, ben & Gillian, Erica and Afka and played bingo for the star prize of a television. luckily we didn't win.

Our Spanish lessons lasted 2 weeks, dave was with Jorge and I was with Jobhanna. Because dave has been studying from books for the past 18 months he has learned a lot of
grammar and the correct way. I, on the other hand, have learned a bit piece meal and the incorrect way. That has now been rectified and I'm on the path to speaking Spanish properly. We both know now what we have to do to improve our Spanish. The sheer lack of
vocabulary is a handicap so there's no way around that, we just have to learn it. you can't have too many verbs, is what they say, so that's also on the list of things to learn. The one other thing that will improve our Spanish tremendously is to speak it as often as we can, which as you might appreciate, without the vocabulary it's not easy. Still, we are trying and it seems that people understand us even if we don't understand them every time.

The ride from Sucre has been an exhausting one. Apart from the fact we haven't cycled for almost 3 weeks it has been stinking hot, and, we're now back at over 3600 metres, we think. The road has a good surface though, which we should thank our lucky stars for in Bolivia, so good in fact they've just had a big cycle race on it. The road is up and down for about
50 kms but we felt as though we had dropped more than we had gained.

Sucre is at 2800 and Potosi 4100, so we would have rather been climbing than losing altitude, and then it started. The climb lasted 25 kms, but it was steep and we both felt exhausted. We stopped frequently and even had a nap around 1pm when the sun was at it's zenith. The other slight problem was that we were very quickly running out of water. We had filled up the bottles
around the 50 km mark (there was a small pension there but we decided to go on) but it was so hot we were going through it really quickly. We stopped off at one little finca (mud hut actually) and asked a young man if he could let us have some water, 'si' he said and pointed to my left. I wandered over to where he had pointed, looking for a tap or a pump, but all I could find was a manky looking pool of greenish water, worse than any pond I've seen in the UK. 'Gracias' I
said, but no thanks, under my breath.

Several more kms we came across an elderly couple sitting outside their hut and they were happy to let us have some water. Mama came back with a bucket of water, we have
no idea where she got it from, it was probably collected rain water, but at that point we didn't much care. We chatted for a few minutes, thanked them for their hospitality, and cycled on. This particular part of Bolivia is very dry and water is a precious commodity, we were very grateful they had shared their water with us.

Despite the dryness of the landscape this is the start of the rainy season, although luckily for us showers tend to build up during the day and we get the rain later on, or sometimes, just a lightening show. The rain clouds began to gather and there was a lot of thunder and lightening so we decided now was the time to find somewhere to pitch the tent. The terrain was rather flat at this point, with hills in the background, so anywhere we chose would be visible. Even though we feel perfectly safe in Bolivia, we still like to tuck ourselves away from prying eyes, that's when I spotted the cemetary surrounded by a wall on all sides, with a small building at the rear, a perfect spot to camp, the wall and the building providing us with a little corner to tuck
ourselves into. We had just pitched the tent and sorted everything out when the first spots of rain hit, we dived into the tent and that's where we stayed till the next day. The wind howled pushing and pulling the tent every which way, and the rain was so loud we couldn't hear each other speak. The thunder and lightening circled us for about 2 hours and then eventually died away. Mother nature was letting off steam.

As we left our little camping spot the next morning one of the first things we saw was a car, full of people, and a live sheep tied to the roof rack. Unfortunately they were moving at speed otherwise that would have been a great photo.

laters

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Sucre, Bolivia

10th november 2009
Dolce Vita Hostal, Sucre, Bolivia (80 Bs)
Very hot considering we're almost at 3000 metres

Last known destination Samaipata with the intention of cycling to Sucre when everything went a bit wonky for a while. Dave set about fixing his back brake that I had managed to damage dropping my bike onto it, at which point he discovers his rim has a huge crack in it, so much so that he can't pump his tyre up to maximum as it starts to bow out. not good when you know the next 4 days are going to be on dirt roads. After a lot of 'what if we do this' and 'what if we do that' and getting onto the internet searching for bike shops in Bolivia. If only we were in Colombia or Peru, there would be lots of choice but sadly, we're in Bolivia and the only shop we can find is in la Paz. We mail them, only to find that the rim we need is not available online, you have to go to their shop in la Paz to collect it. Grrrrrrrrr.

As beautiful as Samaipata is it is still only a mountain village so we decided to get ourselves to Sucre on the bus in the hope that we will be able to find a rim in Sucre, but also we wanted to start Spanish lessons and if we were going to have to wait for a part better that we do something useful with our time. So another bum numbing overnight bus journey along dreadful mountain roads we finally arrive in Sucre, the outskirts of which made my heart sink. I thought to myself 'I can't stay here a week or 2', it was really grubby, half finished as a lot of Bolivian cities are and very down at heel. But like a lot of places, once you're in the historic centre (usually quite a small area) they are lovely, and Sucre didn't disappoint.

After much asking around we managed to find a little bicycle shop with a few flashy looking parts that had some 32 hole 26 inch rims, 250 Bs for 2. We have also signed up for a week of Spanish classes with the Bolivian School of Spanish, one to one lessons cost 6.50 usd and we are taking 4 hours a day. After taking the assessment test yesterday I realise how little I know, so the next 7 days could be somewhat tiring, although I'm hoping they will be fun too.

We are staying at THE best place we have come across yet, it's not in the guide books (because they have only been open 2 years and the books are 2 years out of date, they will definitely be in the next edition) it was recommended to us by the language school. It's clean, funky, well maintained, has a (clean) kitchen we can use and there's lots of relaxing space, inside and out. Most people staying here are 'long termers' doing either voluntary work or language classes.

Considering how high we are (2750) it's very hot in the day but it cools down enough in the evenings to make it very comfortable but not cold. The air is dry though which means my skin is complaining bitterly, I'll probably go through a bottle of moisturiser in the next week.

Now that our future is certain I can start writing my blog again. I find it very difficult to write when things are 'up in the air' as they have been for the past several days. Indecision is very difficult to write down in a coherent way, for me anyway, I just feel as though I end up rambling. Talking of rambling ............

laters
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Trinidad, Bolivia

29th october 2009
Alojamiento Santa Cruz, El Puente, Bolivia (70 Bs)
Very, very hot

Trinidad to Santa Cruz (650 kms)
Summary

There is accommodation at the following places between Trinidad and Santa Cruz
Ascencion de Guarayos
El Puente
San ramon
4 Canadas
Crossroads 3 Cruces/Santa Cruz (2 basic pensions)

Food and Supplies
Casarabe (basics, no cooked meals)
San Pablo (basics and cooked meals)
San Pedro (basics)
Santa Marta (couple of almuerzo stalls, basics)
Guarayos (tiendas, supermarket, several pollo eateries)
El Puente (market, tiendas, couple of eateries)
San ramon (tiendas, market, small eateries)
San Julian (huge market, tiendas, eateries) - we came through on a Saturday
los Troncas (1 large restaurant, couple of stalls, basics)
4 Canadas (market, stalls, tiendas) - we came through on a Saturday
Crossroads 3 Cruces/Santa Cruz

ooh, this has been an interesting few days.

The road from Trinidad is long and straight, and apart from a section of several kms on the first day, it has a decent surface. If it wasn't for the wildlife (of which there is plenty, more of that later) and the odd finca, there's pretty much nothing in between places on the map. I'm reluctant to even call them towns because I fear that would be misleading, some places being no more than a collection of huts.


I don't think either of us knew exactly what to expect, although we could see there were long stretches of nothingness on the map. We didn't stock up in Trinidad as we talked about doing because on the map was a little place 60 kms from Trinidad, 'we can do it there' were my famous last words. When we got 'there' (Casarabe) we had to hunt around for any kind of shop that sold anything, let alone come across a large supermarket where we could buy every last thing we needed in order to camp out for a few days. The little lady who ran the only tienda in town was very happy when we left, not only had she made a few quid she was watching the Simpsons! When we came through Casarabe there were no eating places but there was a stall advertising Empanadas, it was closed.

t's possible to buy bits and pieces at all of the places on the map, in San Pablo there are a few decent tiendas and several little eating stalls but we didn't see any hotels. In Santa Maria there were a couple of stalls selling almuerzo, and that was pretty much that. Ascencion de Guarayos, the provincial capital, is a small town with several shops, restaurants and lots of accommodation. Hotel Guasu, which is in the rough Guide, is worth avoiding in my opinion as it suffers from dillusions of grandeur, the kind that only comes from knowing you're in a guide book, they wanted 120 Bs for a very average room. We stayed at a little residencial (name escapes me) for 70 Bs, on the road on the way out of town, there are several to choose from. El Puente, where we find ourselves now, is a small one-horser of a town but the little Alojamiento is absolutely fine (turn right at the sign on the main road, then left at the huge tree, it's on the left).

The terrain between Trinidad and Guarayos is flat with swamp and savannah either side of the road. despite the openness of the aspect it was in fact quite difficult to find places to camp. Most of the way there is only a thin strip of land between the road and the fences that separate fincas, and most of the time this was flooded. The first night we camped on an unused track, the only bit of land that was raised high enough not to be flooded. The second night we asked at one of the fincas they had a small laguna and some raised land around it where we could not only pitch our tent but build a fire too, much needed to dry stuff out after our drenching.

And so to the last few days. The wildlife has been amazing. All the birds we saw on the Pampas tour we have seen on this trip, and more. We sadly came across an owl that had been hit by a vehicle, it was still alive when we passed by. The kindest thing would have been to put it out of its misery but we had nothing to do it with, it clearly wouldn't survive as it's body was completely mangled, poor thing.

The first day we had torrential rain, the kind that absolutely soaks you to the skin in about 10 seconds flat, but then the sun shone and we were dry quick enough. The panniers are completely waterproof but anything we carry on top of the bikes is liable to get wet. We had planned to buy a couple of the fake ortlieb top bags we saw so many of in Asia but wouldn't you just know it, we haven't seen a single one in South America.

Camping in this part of the world is a mixed blessing. The noises are amazing, I lost count of the number of different frogs and toads we could hear within spitting distance of the tent. The sounds range from high pitch industrial-type sounds, to low belly flopping grunts. The food chain dictates there is a lot of food to fill those frogs and toads and that means insects, particularly mosquitoes. Both nights we were badly bitten, I have 35 on my left buttock, I know because I made dave count them. The night we had the fire meant that we could sit out a bit longer than usual the fire giving us light and the smoke keeping the mosquitoes away. dusk hits fast and furious the closer to the equator you are, at 6.15 it's getting dark and 15 mins later it's pitch black.

The birds, as usual, are a complete delight. The parrots and parrokeets sqwawk and squabble in the trees and when flying, zipping across the sky in flocks of 20 or 30, Pairs of beautiful Macaws, flashing blue and red, the pinkness of the Spoonbills, the hugeness of the Jabiru, the elegance of the Ayinger and the familiar outline of the Kingfisher sitting on power lines above the water waiting for a fish to dare show itself. yesterday we both stood in awe as several Toucans flew across the sky in front of us. After the rains on the 2nd day we spotted several Tarantulas and snakes, many of them dead, but quite a few alive and crossing the road. I photographed a couple of the biggest Tarantulas, they were huge, much bigger than my hand. The rain must have flushed them out from the undergrowth onto the road where they had been squidged but considering this is a road that sees vehicles every 30 minutes or so there must be an awful lot of them that have survived.

last night we stayed in Ascencion de Guarayos but the residencial had no running water, it was due on at 6pm but it would be 11pm before we saw any, so we had to shower 'Indian Style' using a bucket. We think there may be some kind of load sharing with water like there was with electricity in India, so when it comes on you fill every receptacle you have just in case you don't have any for a while. Most of the villages we pass through have central water pumps and that means carrying heavy buckets home to do even the most basic tasks and that usually means women's work.

We walked into town in search of dinner, having eaten almuerzo at 11am and by 7.30 were feeling rather hungry. There were very few choices so we avoided the chicken and went for the burger, which was a mistake. Cold chips, cold burger which had clearly been cooked a while, with wet limp lettuce on a soggy bun. I think it was the worst meal we've had so far in South America. I can understand that cooking chips is a pain, so getting them fresh might be a bit of a big ask, but burgers? That's just plain lazy, it takes less than 5 minutes to cook a burger so cook them when ordered NOT in a batch and wait for the punters to come and order. Grrrrrrrrrr......................

Guarayos was full of smoke, it looked and smelt like a very hot Fireworks night in the UK. like a lot of farming communities we have come across (all through Thailand, Vietnam and laos) they use the lazy 'slash and burn' technique of clearing the land and in 1999 it all went disastrously wrong. International aid was called in to help rebuild the communities devastated by the runaway fires, 700 houses and 400,000 hectares of agricultural land destroyed. you imagine they might reconsider that practice wouldn't you?

We have had the whole range of weather these past few days. The first day was a mixture of sun and cloud with torrential rain. day 2 it rained first thing in the morning meaning we couldn't pack up the tent and get going until 11.30, then it was overcast with drizzle for the rest of the day. yesterday and today it has been so hot we're melting. I looked at the forecast before we left Trinidad and the predictions were 35 yesterday and 37 today, it feels about right. Today we only cycled 63 kms because of the heat and the fact that the terrain since Guarayos has changed. We have left the flat swamp and savanna behind and now we're hitting the hills, only small ones, but hills nonetheless. There's less wildlife, inevitably, because there's less water hanging around, and the fincas seem more 'manicured'.

All along the way we come across Campesino villages and these generally have small, thatched buildings with mud walls. The bigger places have brick built farms with proper animal enclosures, driveways, hedges and gardens.

We could, at this point, choose to divert to the Jesuit Mission Circuit but we have decided to go straight to Santa Cruz. I am intrigued by some of the people I have seen en route. To all intents and purposes they look European, the men wear denim dungarees or plain shirts and drill trousers, some sport beards, and the women wear very fancy bonnets with ribbons and generally look as though they've just left church. They are all very fair skinned, even in this heat they don't seem to have cultivated the skin to be outdoors for more than 5 minutes. Today we saw several of them on buggies, driven by horses, I think they may be Mennonites or similar. I feel like I'm taking part in a photo shoot for The German Farmers Annual, circa 1957.

laters
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Samaipata, Bolivia

5th november 2009
Hostal Andrena, Samaipata, Bolivia (110 Bs)
Absolutely perfect
Santa Cruz – Sampaita (130 kms)

Yesterday was a long day which began at 6.30 and ended at 7pm. Thankfully, the weather began a little overcast in Santa Cruz, but by the time we had left the rush hour traffic and the suburbs behind the sun was out in all her glory. round about the same time as the sun came out the scenery began to change, we could see mountains up ahead and the sandy brownness of the city gave way to lush, green gardens and we caught glimpses of beautiful weekend retreats lurking behind hedges and fences.

Pretty soon the homes we could see became occasional rather than usual, and we had for the first time in a while, wide grass verges and plenty of shady trees with cut logs and planks strategically placed for weary cyclists to sit on. At la Angostura (not on our maps) we went through the peaje, and the sign told us it was 53 kms to Samaipata, it turned out to be 65. It was from this point that the road began to climb, very gradually at first and with only a couple of kms of downhill for the rest of the day, we were in for a long ride we just didn't know it at the time.

Eventually the road began to follow the river and we started to wind our way up and around the mountains. The road surface all the way from Santa Cruz was, for Bolivia, ok, but every now and then it descended into huge potholes, and/or sand and rubble. It seems to be Bolivian practice when fixing a road to completely confuse road users by dumping the materials they are using to do the fixing in the middle of the road, so that only when you get right up close can you see there's a diversion that you must go round. In places the road is only single track making life a little difficult for us cyclists because Bolivian drivers do not see us as valid road users. Vehicles overtaking in the opposite direction simply flash their lights and beep their horn to warn you they are coming through, GET OUT OF THE WAY! Several times they would have seen 2 very angry faces screaming obscenities and making rude gestures coming the other way. Probably did absolutely nothing for Bolivian-Gringo relations but boy, it made us feel better. We love Bolivians, it's nothing personal, really, but please don't drive!

I'm not sure at what point yesterday we decided to do this ride in one, rather than 2, days, but we knew it would be tight daylight wise, but we didn't know quite how tight. We lunched at Bermejo and asked around for accommodation but the only place was the very oddly named Golf Eco resort; since when has ANY golf course been eco friendly? We decided to continue as we had enough water and food to wild camp if we needed to. We very nearly stopped off at the parking area of Cuevas, where there are some waterfalls. By then we knew it was only another 18 kms to Samaipata so we trundled on.

At some point we came across Nazareth. We noticed the verges on the road were grassed there were white fences, and there were huge Agave plants along the road. There was even a man with a lawnmower cutting the grass, how odd, we thought. Then we noticed the amazing house at the end of a promintery. The wonderful verges continued (we were coveting them as potential camping areas) until another 2 or 3 kms around the mountain road we came across another wonderful property. We could have spent some time relaxing in both places.

We passed by Ginger's Paradise (a footbridge across the river) where you can volunteer to work on the land and carried on through Achiras. We had seen a sign for camping in Achiras but when we got closer the sign led down a very steep, gravel path, and we had no way of knowing how far down it was, or, even if it was open. It was another 9 kms to Samaipata and it was 5.40, we would be cycling in the dark. The road continued to climb until we eventually reached our destination and yes, it was dark. Any thoughts of pitching a tent had gone out of the window by this time, we needed to get clean, get fed and get a beer!

Andrena's is just about the most perfect little hostal we have been in so far. Andres is himself well travelled with his beautiful photos all over the guest house. There is tons of information about the surrounding area, he links travellers up with local business (no commission) with everything from organic honey to having your laundry done to several day treks in the surrounding area. The slightly hefty 110 Bs includes a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit salad, tea or coffee and toast, but for an extra 5 Bs you can have 2 fried eggs too! If time wasn't tight now we would be staying here a week.

We ate at the Black Sheep across the road, a hearty meal of chilli con carne (which was just perfect) and there we bumped into dan and rachel, an English couple who have decided to make their life in Bolivia. dan has lived 'the good life' for many years both in the UK and Spain but has never been able to afford land of his own. not to be defeated, he decided to cast his net a bit further afield and settled on Bolivia. rachel and he met at a Techno party and she decided to join him, I never did ask her what her mother thought of her daughter's plans to run away to south America with someone she had met 6 weeks earlier! Good luck to them, we both thought it was great that there are still people in this world willing to take that leap of faith and 'have a go'.

They also gave us a lesson in coca chewing, which apparently is very good for when you want a bit of a lift (when you've just finished a 12 hr, 130 km ride this strikes a bit of a chord). In just about every market you can buy coca leaves but you also need some supplemento to make it 'work'. you tear the leaves and put them into your mouth and chew, you chew and chew until you have a 'quid' (a bit like chewing tobacco I think). The supplemento is alkaline and apparently good for your teeth, it looks like a block of grainy chalk and it is the combination of this with the leaves that produces the desired effect. It supresses hunger, takes away aches and pains and generally makes you feel pretty good. We're going to have a go, I'll let you know the outcome!

laters
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Santa Cruz, Bolivia











3rd november 2009
Hotel Amazonias, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
(140 Bs)
A tad cooler than of late

And so back to civilisation - Santa
Cruz, it's hot, sticky and today, very windy indeed. We arrived on
Sunday which also happened to be a holiday, All Saints and day of the
dead, which would explain the hoo hah going on at a couple of large
cemetries on the way into Santa Cruz. Monday was also a holiday, so
the city was on go slow, however, we found the main market open for
business. Having holidays and closing down your business is what the
middle classes do, the rest of the population (the majority) still
have to feed their children and put clothes on their backs.


on the way into Santa Cruz we stopped
off at a cafe/bar for breakfast, it was in the middle of nowhere.
The video juke box was blaring out a variety of music at heart
thumping levels and several of the locals were partaking of the local
beer. I wondered what it would be like to be on my 3rd
beer at 9am on a Sunday morning! Still, they all seemed friendly
enough and of course we were the butt of many questions and, I think,
jokes.

As we got closer to the city the
traffic became heavier. The road is being widened, so we were forced
onto the new lane, still under construction and merely sand and
rubble, by the worst drivers we have encountered yet. I said that
famous phrase 'you b*****d' several times in the last couple of hours
on the road. We had head winds all the way too, which only added to
the pain of getting into the city. The city is pretty
straightforward though, with 10 ring roads from the outskirts to the
centre, however, all the budget accommodation is in the centre so
it's simply a case of 'straight on'.


The number 1 hostel was full, number 2 hostel was REALLY grotty, the 3rd one we tried
was REALLY grotty too, but it was cheaper (still expensive though at
90 Bs) and had private bathroom and TV. We stayed at no. 3 for one
night then left. Bolivian cities, outside la Paz, seem to get away
with charging silly prices for their rooms, my advice would be to
stay away from the areas in the books and see if you can get simple
Alojamientos for the 'real' value price.


My suspicions were correct regarding
the Mennonites, they are (according to our book) German-speaking
Mennonites from Canada and Mexico, which would explain why a lot of
place names were of Canadian or Mexican origin. There was such an
economic boom here during the 50s and 60s that an open invitation was
issued to those looking for land to settle in Bolivia, the government
conveniently overlooking the fact that 'empty' land was in fact
occupied by indigenous tribes. In any case along with the Mennonites
came some Japanese rice farmers and a small group of influential
nazis.


James Pratt, our cycling pal (who we
have yet to meet) we've been tailing (we're leading now since we took
the bus to Bolivia) since Venezuela, we have discovered has met up
with Sonja and Aaldrich our other cycling pals we met in Colombia.
Jeez it's a small world. We're kind of hoping that seeing as we're
all heading for la Paz, albeit from different directions, there's a
possibility we might all get to be in the same place at the same
time.

We've had a nice couple of days off the
bikes, relaxing, catching up on mail and stuff, eating lots of fruit
(I feel like I've eaten my body weight in beef since being in
Bolivia) and drinking lots of batidos and fruit juices, my body is
thanking me at the moment.
laters





















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Santa Cruz, Bolivia

31st october 2009

Alojamiento ??????, 4 Canadas, Bolivia

Still stinking hot

San ramon – 4 Canadas (85 kms)

We left San ramon at 6 anticipating more heat and more hills, the heat didn't disappoint but lucky for us it was as flat as a pancake. We weren't sure what we were going to do today, the heat and terrain being paramount, so we set off expecting to camp. We lunched (at 10am) at the crossroads town of los Troncas and decided to keep on going and see how we felt. The next place on our map was Santa Ana, another 50 odd kms on the road towards Pailon. We could have taken another route to Santa Cruz, via Puento Benegas and Montero, but part of the road is dirt track and it looks like it comes to a halt by a river, where there is probably a ferry crossing. In any event, the mileage is the same whichever way you decide to go, we took the easy route.

Some 26 kms from los Troncas we came across the busy market town of 4 Canadas, a strange name but there you are. By this time it was 12, the road was beginning to melt, dogs were slinking into shadows, old men were napping under trees and still there wasn't a cloud in the sky. This place wasn't even on our map (we have 2 maps and it wasn't on either) carrying on any further wouldn't have made much difference to when we get to Santa Cruz, so we called it a day and checked into our little Alojamiento.

yesterday we stopped off at the side of the road to have a drink and a snack and the smells transported me to Italy. There was an orange tree in blossom and we were walking on wild oregano, the smells were amazing. I can feel a pizza coming on the minute we hit Santa Cruz!

We have cycled past places in the past few days with names like new Jerusalem, 4 Hermanos (4 brothers), 8 Hermanos (!), los Angeles, San Francisco and The Pentagon. The best ones were Bonanza and, yes you've guessed it, The Ponderosa, I'd like to think that someone has a sense of humour rather than it being mere coincidence that these two properties are right next door to one another. At exactly the same time dave and I started singing the theme tune to Bonanza but if you're under 45 you probably won't have a clue what that might be. next time you're online Google 'Hoss, little Joe, Pa(w) and Bonanza', see what you get.

As well as being flat again, the land is now dedicated to farming on a much larger scale. Gone are the little Haciendas eeking a living out of growing a few bits and pieces, now it's acres and acres of sunflowers for oil with large, Southfork-style ranches with fancy arches and gateways welcoming you to 'el rancho'. The advertisements along the way tell me that G23 and G35 are very good hybrids if you want more oil from your sunflowers, Bayer advertise their drugs and concoctions and then there's always Stihl, you're always going to need a chain saw!

Talking of concoctions, we stopped off at San Julian (before los Troncas) for a cold drink and the market was in full swing. We saw several stalls selling 'health' drinks, some of them weird and wonderful mixtures and colours, and lots of people drinking them. I should try them, when I pluck up the courage!

laters
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Trinidad, Bolivia

30th october 2009

Hotel Manguari, San ramon, Bolivia

Stinking hot

El Puente – San ramon (62 kms)

We had a really good meal last night at the most unlikely looking place. The food advertised wasn't available, so then we were offered Chuleta, which we accepted but 5 minutes later we were told that wasn't available either, it was Biffa or nothing. Fine by us, we just wanted food. Clearly he didn't have any Biffa, so we watched him stroll over to the mercado, pick up some Biffa, stroll back to the restaurant and waited for him to cook it. We had steak, egg, chips, salad and the inevitable rice, it was bloody lovely.

We left El Puente early but even at 7am it was hot. The sky was completely cloudless witout even a hint of a breeze. We're kind of hoping it rains soon to take the edge of this heat, but it would be helpful if it could do it at night. The paultry 62 kms took us all of 4.5 hours, so we were showering and having a very cold beer at 11.30. By the time we got round to eating lunch it was painful to step out into the sun. Good job the restaurant was about 20 metres from the hotel.

There seems to be more traffic on the road now, perhaps because we are getting closer to Santa Cruz. San ramon is a crossroads town so you can choose to do the Jesuit Mission Circuit, which I think would be interesting but too time consuming on a bike, or continue onto Santa Cruz, lovingly described by our friend Paul as perfectly missable.

We'll have been cycling for almost a week by the time we get there so we're quite looking forward to having a few days off and partaking of all the wonderful things a major city has to offer like pizza, book swaps and ATMs. Today we met Maria luisa, a lovely woman originally from Spain but living in Bolivia for 30 years, she lives in Santa Cruz so I've promised to call her to meet up for a coffee.

laters
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