TravelStream™ news feed for member jamiecaroline on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jamiecaroline en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:04:24 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944380/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:04:24 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

We were a little peeved that we couldn´t go sking in Mendoza as it was just going to be too expensive so we decided to make the most of Buenos Aires and party as hard as we could. We stayed in Tango backpackers in the Palermo district, where we met a good group of people to go out with most nights. We strolled around Palermo, which is one of the nicer areas of BA with boutiques and cafes on every street corner. We had the ´when in Rome´ feeling so sitting outside a cafe at 2pm drinking wine we took an instant liking toward the city. Buenos Aires is vibrant and has a much more European feel that all the other cities in S.America, it instantly became our favourite city so far.
We cooked our steaks washing them down with red wine and went out with Ed and Ron to check out the nightlife. One thing that was going to take some getting used to was the latin way of the later you go out the trendier you are, by our standards going out at midnight was our bed time so we quickly needed to find some stamina! Our favourite night out in BA was our anniversairy night, we went to Cafe Tortini to watch a Tango show, I would strongly recommend to Cafe Tortini to anyone. It was only US$20 and was fantastic, both of us thoroughly enjoyed watching the dancers, music and atmosphere of the place. Our night was not complete with out a steak, so we found JackieOs restaurant which served the best Bife de Chirozo.
Our time in BA was spent doing a lot of sightseeing, one place which was very different as a tourist attraction was Recoleta graveyard (its not much of a yard though with street names and graves like mini mansions) it is also home to the famous Evita now. BA is notorious for Tango and football so we went to LA Boca home to the famous Boca Juniors football club and colourful corrugated-iron houses, which was again, different. We spent a day at Tigre delta, only an hours train ride away from the centre and very pretty, even more so in the summer. It looked like the play area for the rich.
A little disappointed I had not been racing yet in S.America (Chile is the only other country with racing so we hadn´t had too many opportunites) but I got my fix at Pamlermo Hippodrome. The day was full of surprises; the first being that admission was free, the second was that the stands and track was so smart, very pimp (with even a casino inside) and the last surprise was no alcohol is served on the premises - how can a days racing be complete without a drink!!!! True to form Jamie and I didn´t win one bet even with a locals tips.
The thing we did most though in BA was shop, after all we are on holiday!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214944500/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:28:19 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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London, England, United Kingdom

Well it is the end of our 10 month adventure round the world. We have successfully visited Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia (only briefly), Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay and 1 night in Brazil and don´t feel that we have seen any of them fully so will def need to revisit some. We haven´killed each other and we are both extremely broke!

By ways of a round up we are going to list things in categories but in no order.

In numbers:
Flown 7 different airlines
Taken over 30 6 hour + bus rides in South America
Spent 2 nights apart
Visited 16 different countries
Been robbed 3 times
Camped for over 4 weeks
Bought 10 hats
Missed 1 bus
Have lost, broken or maimed 5 cameras
Number of photos taken... too many!
Number of photos lost... too many!
The number of times we got drunk is a lot less than any of you would think


Caroline´s catch phrase: "I need the loo."
Jamie´s catch phrase: "I should have...."

Caroline´s favourite drink: Caiparinhas
Jamie´s favourite drink: Red wine in Argentina and a cold beer everywhere else

Weirdest foods we´ve eaten: Guinea pig, deep fried scorpion, most of the organs of a cow, insects

Best country: Colombia

Best things we´ve done: (Galapagos Islands is in best places)

1: Angkor Wat, Cambodia
2: Hiking in Torres Del Paines, Chile
3: 7 day trek to Machu Pichu, Peru
4: Rodeo, New Zealand
5: Slow boat down Amazon river, Peru
6: Igazu falls, Argentina
7: Salt flats, Bolivia
8: Trekking up the Franz Joesph glacier, New Zealand
9: Climbing the active volcano Villarica, Chile
10: Diving, Thailand and Argentina

As we are so spoilt we had to leave these excellent things out...Halong Bay in Vietnam, Amazon Jungle trip in Peru, biking the death road in Bolivia, The Ghost Town in Cambodia, Kuelap Ruins in Peru, Potosi mines in Bolivia, Road trip with Melissa (Jamie´s sister) in Australia, Bus ride from Cajamarca to Chachapoyas and much much more...

Favourite places we´ve stayed:

1: Railay Beach, Thailand - Climbing mecca of south east Asia. Cool beach and lots of cliffs
2: Staying with Felipe and Family in Santiago - First taste of South American wines and Felipe´s 26th birthday
3: Bogota, Colombia - Salt Cathedral, Botero, Paublo Escobar and a wild night out.
4: Pucon, Chile - The adventure capital of Chile.
5: Valparaiso, Chile - Just damn pretty
6: Sihanoukville, Cambodia- The 4 B´s. Beaches, beers, bars and BBQ barracuda
7: Phou Quoc Island,Vietnam - Lazy days on beaches and motorbike accidents
8: Playa Blanca/Cartagena, Cambodia - Hammock and sand. Nothing more
9: Koh Lippe, Thailand - Beach island away from most of the tourists
10: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - Heaven on earth

Best nights out:

1: Christchurch, with Mark Hoskins that carried on till 7am
2: Koh Chang, Thailand with Henry for initiation after our PADI course. Jamie fainted in a flowerpot
3: Bogota, Colombia with Matt and Rich. Matt bailed but the rest carried on till we nearly missed our flight!
4: Felipes 26th Birthday party, Chile, an amazing night of Tango, live music and getting to bed at 8am
5: Valparaiso with various Chileans watching some local singers and drinking Piscolas
6: Puerto Mont with Laura where Caroline earned her drinks by dancing with the locals
7: Full moon Party in Bangkok with various Thai guys. Didn´t understand a word they said but drank a lot of Sam sun rum
8: Cafe Limon, Galapagos with Dave, Stephanie and Clement and half the local inhabitants.
9: Nha Thrang, Vietnam, Partying in Why not and the Yacht club.... Lost and found a camera!
10: Buenos Aires, Argentina, Steak nights and all night dancing.

Best meals:

1: Caroline's chicken curry served in a hollow pineapple, Railay beach, Thailand
2: Laab in Viang Xai, Laos
3: Pho, all over Vietnam.
4: Our prawn curry soup served to us on a beach in Phou Quoc island, Vietnam.
5: Completos and Empanadas all over Chile.
6: Indian Curry in Penang, Malaysia. Served on banana leaves and used hands to eat! Great choice Liza and Felix.
7: BBQ Barracuda with baked potato's on the beach in Cambodia. $3 well spent.
8: Garlic prawns from a shack on Rabbit island. Lady told us what we had ordered was a bad choice and would only cook us these!
9: Bife de Chorizo in Jackie O´s in Buenos Aires
10: Curanto in Chiloe, Chile. A huge bag or mussels, clams, cockles, potato, chorizo sausage and chicken boiled together with a fish soup.

If there was an 11. then it would be Peru´s Ceviche all the way!

Weirdness on foreign lands:

Horror films on buses: On the whole buses in South America are better than most short haul flights in the UK. The seat recline, food is served and films are shown. Thats were things get odd. In South America they have no problems with showing extremely disturbing horror films to buses full of Children. Not something we´d normally condone in the UK!

Peeing in the streets: IN most of the countries we have visited peeing in public has really not been that much of a problem. In is not uncommon for a man to pee anywhere and in Vietnam not abnormal to find a old lady hitching her leg against a tree.

Queuing: Doesn´t exist in South America. Not in Supermarkets, for buses, going through customs or anything else. There is a burning desire to be the first to everything and if that means taking out a few gringo on the way then so be in....

Indicating when driving in Argentina: Driving skills in most of the countries we have visited are dubious and in some cases non existent. But the best is indicating in Argentina. If you are approaching a junction and you are not sure where it is you want to go then you don´t just stop and work it out you carry on but with you hazard lights on. The thought process behind this one is hazy but the results are mayhem!

People who have made our trip so much easier...

Liza and Felix in Penang, thank you for everything. Poshest room we stayed in all travels, best Indian ever and by far the best motorbike we used.
Roger who lent us his flat in Narrabean Australia. Our stay with Johnny would never have been the same.
Aurora for setting us up with Felipe and his family in Santiago
Felipe, Nora, Fernando and Mario for putting us up and really introducing us to South America. 8am still remains the longest night of drinking on our trip.
Lotti and Mogg who put us up in New Zealand on more than one occasion, even though it was in a horse box!
Janice and Caroline Gobey in New Zealand who had us to stay and even delivered a parcel to the airport with a bankcard that was vital to our trip.
Lucy and David Moger who had us to stay in New Zealand.
Matt in Auckland who put us up for a few nights when in Auckland
Mr and Mrs Tuffin for guiding and paying for us round New Zealand. Who would have thought we could have survived 10 days in a 4 person camper van.
The Ramsay Family putting up with us for so long and giving us a Christmas and New Year to remember.

THANK YOU ALL!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214168340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214168340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214168340/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:04:21 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina

Up in the northeastern corner is a little point of Argentina with a gigantic waterfall. We had the perfect day to explore Iguazu falls and the park around it. I was particularly excited about seeing the falls because I teach them as a wonder of the world to my class at school so had seen lots of pictures of them. Although I soon discovered that pictures can in no way convey the magnitude of this natural construction...the falls are magnificent, a miracle of hydrology. Iguazu is entirely captivating. Before the backdrop of a beautiful blue day, butterflies dance, the swopps dart in and out of the mist and the vultures hover. Rainbows, not unusually present on a day as clear as today, come out to play, fearful of mising out on this perfect landscape. And all around, water courageously leaps to its certain death, the Garganta del Diablo or Devi's Mouth in particular, claiming billions o droplet lives per second, its ferocity unmatched. Amazing. Shocking. Intimidating. Brilliant....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214081820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214081820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214081820/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:44:40 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay

Farming is huge in Paraguay, it was a lot greener than other countries and tractor shops were as popular as corner shops at home. We arrived in Ciudad del Este to find no information about anything at the bus station, it was getting late so we jumped on a bus heading for the centre to find a hostel. Ciudad del Este is on the border with Brazil and Argentina with Iguazu Water falls separating the countries. After 10 mins of sitting on the bus we realised shop signs and road signs were spelt different, luckily a Brazilian lady could speak good English and informed us that we were in fact in Brasil, the bus hadn´t stopped for border control so now were illegally in the wrong country. The lady recommended a cheap hostel and we thought what the hell, we will have a Saturday night out in Brasil. The hostel was a dump and the town FOZ that we were in must be the only Brasilian town with no parties, bars or clubs. Hugely disappointed after spending an hour trying to find somewhere we gave up and had a McDonald's in the shopping mall next to our hostel. McDonalds was the choice of diner as we couldn´t afford anything else - Brasil is the most expensive country in S.America and we were shocked at the prices.

The next day was a complete waste of our time spent trying to work out how to get to the Argentinean side of Igazu Falls (Puerto Iguazu) and waiting for buses. Even though Puerto Iguazu was only 10 mins bus ride away from our hostel we had to get on a bus and go all the way back into Paraguay to get our passports stamped. The whole thing resembled how badly organised Paraguay tourism is and the lack of information left not only us but 6 other tourists confused. Eventually we arrived in Puerto Iguazu at 4pm, the whole day wasted just to get 10minutes from where we originally were! We checked into Peter Pan hostel, which would be wicked in the summer with the pool but not so good for us in the freezing cold.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214064240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214064240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1214064240/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:27:12 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Encarnacion, Paraguay

18 hours after leaving Salta we arrived in Posadas, instantly a taxi man approached us telling us it would be 50pesos to the border and there were no buses that would take us all the way across. Knowing all too well to never trust a taxi man, I found the local bus that took us over the border into Paraguay with no fuss and for only 5 pesos each. Instantly in Encarnacion (the Paraguay border town) you could feel the difference between Argentina and Paraguay. We were back to busy, dirty street markets and found ourselves in total confusion when we couldn´t understand a word they said. Their native language is Guarani but when they speak Spanish they have a strong Guarani accent, which to me sounded like they were drunk and slurring their words. Jamie went off to work out how to get the local currency - as normal we hadn´t thought about this in advance and didn´t realise Paraguay wouldn´t have the abundance of cash machines around as Argentina does. Meanwhile I had a disagreement with a local guy, purely through my complete misunderstanding because I couldn´t work out what the hell he was talking about.

Jamie was very keen on coming to Paraguay to see the Jesuit ruins and secondly because no one else comes here - we now know why! The Jesuit ruins were a couple hours out of Encarnacion in a non-eventful place called Trinidad. The bus was easy to get there and we quickly found the only hotel there; Hotel de la Ruinas, which was 80guaranis ($25) a lot more than we wanted to pay but didn't have much choice. Jamie a little more enthusiastically than me (I was feeling a little ruined out) wandered around the ruins. Back in the 17th Century Jesuit missionaries arrived in Paraguay and built this city to convert the local tribal Guarani people to Christianity - like a kind of social experiment. Now the city is fairly dilapidated and the ruins that are left were for us a big disappointment. You could imagine what the place would of looked like but considering the amazing ruins we had seen in Peru and that we have many ruins in better condition than this in England we didn´t feel it was worth this extra effort and time of our travels. Harsh but that's how we felt. It only took an hour to look round the ruins and then we were left twiddling our thumbs having the rest of the day to spare and nothing to do. I asked the hostel manager if we could check out, which was really cheeky considering we had only checked an hour ago and we were clearly going to be their only customers for the day and probably week! We got all our money back and flagged down the next bus to Ciudad del Este.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213723920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213723920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213723920/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:32:02 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Salta, Northern Argentina, Argentina

After a couple of weeks in Bolivia, Salta is the most sophisticated place by comparison. Things work, there are proper shops, normal cars and everything is clean. Argentina has always been the South American home of cider. No other country has had cider. So the first thing I do in Salta is run down to the local supermarket and acquire a couple of bottles. The Shopping Mall here brings home the contrast with Bolivia. People are all sitting around in designer cloths, sipping expresso and pondering what to buy next.

Our hostel is also lovely. Friendly and extremely helpful people and not that much more expensive than Bolivia. Obviously there was only one option for dinner - steak. Off to the recommended La Monumental grill restuarant we went, and ordered half a cow. After mucho vino and getting very coinfused about what parts of the cow we were eating, Jamie was surprised I bit happily into a cows heart, very tasty indeed! As always there is something going in every day and night in a South American country, tonight was the locals protesting about farmers not wanting to pay tax - car horns blasting and everything come to a stand still in the town centre.

Again, the next day there was something else happening, unbeknown to us though it was the annual celebration of a famous Gaucho- cowboy who helped liberate Argentina. I thought it was a bit odd when I walked out of the hostel and saw gauchos riding down the street, but not nowing this special event was taking place I put it down to normal gaucho behaviour to ride their horses around a city centre - how stupid did I feel when I realised this wasn´t the norm at all. We walked up to the parade and watched bands, army, gauchos parading along the street very proudly. Relaxing in the afternoon, we started to really enjoy being back in civilisation.

The next day, JAmie went off sightseeing on a tour to Cafayate, while I got myself in the saddle. I went horseriding with the gauchos to Sayta, just an hour outside Salta. I really enjoyed it all day riding around the countryside, gaucho style. Lunch proved to be good fun, when we were pumped full with vino, the 2 other English girls were wasted and I wondered how the hell we were going to cope staying in the saddle in the afternoon - but were survived. That evening I dined with Enrique, the owner and a Icelandic girl who worked there and thankfully could speak much better spanish. Again, I drunk far too much wine and woke the next day with a stinking headache, they assured me it was organic wine made by the local monks so I wouldn´t have a hangover - what a load of rubbish!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213047360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213047360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213047360/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:39:27 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Potosi, Bolivia

Keen to get out of Uyuni as there is really nothing there we jumped on the local bus to Potosi, warned about road blocks before we set off, we wondered how this journey was going to go. Driving through dry, baron nothingness we really didn't want to be stranded by road blocks, but luckily it wasn't too bad. We were stopped for an hour waiting on the bus not sure what was happening, then there was a mad rush to get off the bus and walk over for a km past the trucks blocking the road and onto another bus the other side. It was another couple hours before we were stopped by the next road block this time we were a lot nearer Potosi and the locals blocking the road looked a lot more annoyed than the others. It looked like a long walk to Potosi and we were struggling carrying our bags up the hill with the altitude but thankfully a truck driver stopped to allow a few of us on the back, hanging on to the oil drums for dear life we bounced along into Potosi.
Disappointed to find the only decent hostel full, we found refuge in La Casona, despite being freezing cold was the only one with atmosphere. It seems these road blocks are because the locals are demonstrating against the government raising mining taxes for the workers, so you can't blame them really but it is a pain the arse for travelers stuck in Potosi, unable to move on. Realising we could be here for a while; we didn't rush and spent the next day looking round the city.
I really liked the city, it is full of contrasts and has had a tragic past- it used to be the wealthiest city in the world during its era and bigger than Madrid, Paris and London, all down to the fact that it had its own pot of silver in its backyard. There was a saying at that time that there was enough silver in Potosi to link South America and Europe together by a bridge of silver. Europe and the world profited from this richness and although the mine is still opened today and operated by a cooperative of miners, they have bled dry Bolivia who is now one of the poorest countries in the world. The Bolivians gave the soul of their earth along with their blood to the world, as 8 millions natives and African slaves died in the mines of Potosi. The city is a shadow of its former self, with many homeless beggars and dilapidated buildings. We waddled down to La Casa de la Moneda - The Royal Mint museum to see the grand building and machines that used to make the coins for the rest of the world, ironically now all Bolivia's currency is made in Canada, France and Spain.
Discovering the Potosi cinema was a treat, so we gathered up Gayle and Gavin ( another couple we had met on the bus to Potosi) and purchased our ticket for 50p and loaded up with popcorn. A Bolivian cinema is an experience in itself, the speech was all muffled, rock hard seats, and half way through it shut down for 10 mins as they changed the roll on the film. All of us were sat there in our jumpers, coats, gloves, woolly socks and hats...still cold!
The initial draw to the city is to experience first hand the mining conditions Bolivian miners still endure on a day to day basis. We signed up to a mine tour with our hostel and set off with 6 others to get kitted up in overalls, a helmet and the all important headlamp. Johnny our guide had worked down the mines himself for 3years so could tell us from first hand experience what it is like to work down the mines. We went via the miners´ market to buy coca leaves, fizzy drinks, pure cane alcohol and some dynamite - all of this was given as gifts to miners, although a couple sticks of dynamite were for our own use.

There was a strange atmosphere entering the Cerro Rico (rich mountain), as there are strikes on at the moment, workers were hanging around chewing coca outside the mines not knowing what to do with themselves. We all felt like complete tourists and charity dispensers but I suppose that is to be expected when a tourist attraction has been created out of a workplace where conditions are so appalling and life expectancy is about 15yrs.

We were issued with the Bolivian health and safety warnings - i.e none and followed Johnny down the mine shaft hoping none of us suffered from claustrophobia as we ventured deep into the heart of Cerro Rico. Our first point of call was the ´mining museum´ which was no where near as grand as it sounds just a collection of newspaper cuttings and Tio. Tio is the devil God created by the Spanish, the miners believe they will stay safe while down in the mines if they worship and offer Tio gifts. Every mine had a Tio, we gave him cigarettes, coca leaves and alcohol (only after a few of us tried the 96% pure alcohol).

We poked around the mines going down to the 3rd level (they are 5 in this mine but the 5th was too dangerous to access for tourists). Even though there were not any miners down there I felt cramped and the air inside was fetid with dust and gases clogging our breath. Miners risk their lives everyday for a measly 50Bolivians a day (US$7 or 3.50pounds). They can start at the tender age of 12 and most die from silicosis before they reach 35 - on average 2 miners die a week from silicosis and they were 32 accidental deaths down in the mines last year. At one point Johnny made us turn off our head lamps and walk for only a few metres but that was scary enough, you don´t want ti imagine what it is like to work down there for 12hours a day.

Back outside we had to do the touristy thing and set off some dynamite, the blast was so loud it stopped our camera filming! Later we sat down t watch ´The Devils Miner' a documentary that follows a 14yr old mining child. The whole day made us realise what a different world they live in and how working conditions haven´t changed in centuries.

We went out for drinks with Gayle and Gavin to a local bar, a little suspicious at first as there were only men in there, we merrily drunk away making our exit when a drunken fight kicked off between locals. Jamie awoke the next day feeling awful, his Bolivian belly was back with revenge. So I spent the day working out if it was safe or possible to get out of the town - which is wasn´t, still blockades surrounding the area and went sight seeing instead. Walking through the Plaza, the miners were still in the same place they had been when we arrived, playing football on the streets, sat around eating ice creams, dozing on benches or sleeping in the tents they had camped out on the streets in. Finding interesting things to do was hard, so I went to the Santa Theresa Convent where a very nice lady told me all about how the nuns used to live in isolation from the rest of the world as they were part of the Carmalight order which basis was contemplation so when they were sent there by the parents at the age of 15 they never left again. It´s still occupied today by nuns but rules are a little slacker now. It was all abit unsettling learning about a hidden facet of the Colonial Church, there is still a skeleton in the old dining room and evidence of lots of flagellation.

The next day we were desperate to get out of our hostel as it has to go down as the world´s stingiest and least helpful hostel (Jamie spent a small fortune on toilet roll, as we had to pay for it) and considering we were stuck in the town they gave us no help on the road blocks situation, eventually we made it out heading to Sucre with our fingers crossed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213561860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213561860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213561860/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:21:31 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Sucre, Bolivia

After our trying experience in Potosi we finally made it to Sucre safe and sound! It niggled me that we may not have been brave enough and should have tried to taxi it through the blockades. These thoughts were quickly dispelled when we met some friends who had braved it... Dynamite thrown under their taxi and an 18km walk with backpacks on doesn´t sound fun to me! I however managed to continue my spell of Bolivian Tummy problems. Hopefully Caroline´s purchase of medicine designed for Cholera, E Coli, Pneumonia and Salmonella will work out! Slightly worried about the line on the packet saying "Effectos Adversos.. Hepatitis"

Anyway were arrived safely and were immediately confronted with the Bolivians inability to think out side the box. When asking a taxi driver for hostel Wasi Wasi he told us to jump in. Only half way to town did he finally confess that he didn´t have a scooby where it was so dropped us in the centre of town. After a quick look up on the internet it turned out to be Wasi Masi. How different is that... really!!!

Wasi Masi turned out to be a great recommendation of a hostel. Very cool Japanese style rooms with en-suite and all the trimmings including breakie for as little at 100b... (for those in pounds thats about 6 quid!)

Caroline went for a walk round the town as I watched a splendid performance of rugby genius by Scotland. Caroline managed to find our first Bolivian Supermarket.... Quite a novelty for us at the moment!

Due to the nature of my tummy we opted to go to the Gringo hangout pub Joyride. The place is very nice and surprisingly reasonable.... The information there on what you can do is excellent but highlighted we were running out of time and money.

Having successfully eaten for the first time in 2 days we headed to a local orphanage birthday party. The set up was great and the only music act we saw was fantastic... Sadly our time there was cut short after a need to return to our en-suite bedroom!!!!!

Sunday morning in Sucre brought the surprise of a street rally and a urgency to work out what we were to do next! With all the roadblocks in Bolivia and our pressing need to get to BA we had to rethink out plan. Instead of heading across Bolivia we have opted to duck south to Salta in Argentina and do some wine tasting, eat steaks and maybe some adrenaline sports. So today is out only day in Sucre...

We went down to the centre of town and watched the motor racing which was quite cool. Slightly outdated rally cars flying through the streets or into cement bags in some case!!! Bolivia seems to have a never ending thirst for things going on. If its not racing its street bands, blockades, or just hanging on the streets....

Sucre appeared to be the most sphisticated city we had seen in Blovia, known as ´the white city´ due to all the white colonial architecture. After a quick lunch with Simon, Gavin and Gail we headed out for a bit of shopping. Those of you who are expecting presents then don´t get your hopes up... we are very poor, have no room in our backpacks and unless you want a Alpaca oven glove then there isn´t much tasteful stuff here. Hopefully we´ll be presents enough....

Argentina here we come!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213536000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213536000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213536000/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:22:09 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Villazon, Bolivia

Will be short. This place is bloody freezing!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213046880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213046880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamiecaroline/theworld2007/1213046880/tpod.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:52:17 -0400 Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Uyuni, Bolivia

For 80 Bolivianos each (6 pounds) we caught the overnight 12hr local bus to Uyuni, fully prepared with our sleeping bags and winter woollies to keep us snug. Although we were prepared for the cold we were not expecting frost all over the inside of our bus window. Wisely I had chosen the aisle seat but didn't realize an old Bolivian woman would be sitting on the floor of the aisle for the whole journey. I did feel sorry for her but my sympathy couldn't overcome my feeling of nausea from the horrendous stench wofting from the lady.

As always our plan of signing up to a 3 day salt flat tour as soon as we arrived succeeded, not through any planning or booking , may I add, just pure luck that there was a tour company man waiting to snatch up any tourists as soon as we stepped off the bus. We signed up with "Expediciones Lipez" for US 75 each, with our only stipulation was that we had a fun group, oh and a reliable truck, as you didnt want to brake down and get stuck in the middle fo nowhere. As we had been told all the tour companies take you on similar routes around the Salt Flats, but as you are stuck with the same people 24/7 in the truck you need to get a good group. We ended up in a totally different group from what we were told when we joined up - one thing I am learning about Bolivians is that they tell you what you want to hear and they are not afraid to lie to your face. Luckily it didn't matter this time because we had a great group, 2 Canadians ( Carolyn & Ryan), 1 Aussie (Jerry), 1 Dutch (Roseanna) and another English guy (Liam) all of us got on well and despite a few tummy problems a few members were suffering from we had good fun.

Ruben picked us up in the 4X4 crammed all 7 of us in. It didn't take long to notice that the cook every tour is supposed to have was missing and we wondered about Ruben's culinary skills as he appeared to be a very grumpy Bolivian man. Not long after setting off and a quick visit to the train cemetery, Jerry (the Aussie) realized there was one essential missing item - alcohol. After a few grunts and groans from Ruben we went back into town and loaded the truck with beer and rum, happy now we were in our terms prepared for the 3 day tour. We drove straight onto the Salar de Uyuni which is the world's largest salt flat, over 4000 square miles, basically 40,000 years ago it was a giant prehistoric lake that dried up, and now apart from being stunning and fascinating, 25,000tons of salt is extracted annually.

Some bumping around later, we were at a village where they earn their money, what little they can earn, from processing the salt from the flats and selling it as table salt. As you can imagine there's not much money in that business, so they have a sideline in selling tourist gifts carved from rock salt. Whilst driving along I had to keep mentally slapping myself and reminding myself that it was salt and not snow - I think it has to be the wierdest landscape I've ever been driven across, and certainly one of the most beautiful.
By the time we arrived at the Isla de los Pescados, we started to appreciate that this was going to be a tour of jaw dropping sites. I still don't understand why they call it the Isla de los Pescados (Island of Fish) as it is in fact covered in giant cactii, but there you go. They grow at around 1cm per year, considering most of them were over 1200 years old - pretty cool...
That night we stayed at one of the many salt hotels, from the outside it looked a concrete hole but it all the furniture inside was made of salt and it was a lot cosier than we expected. The cards came out, along with the alcohol and we all got to know each a bit better.

Shocked the next morning when we found out our other bottle of rum had gone missing, unable to pin the blame on any of the locals, we reluctantly got in the truck still peeved about it all. The second day was all about lakes and rocks. We saw coloured lakes (red, blue, grey), lakes with flamingoes, you name it. A couple times we stopped off in little villages stuck in the middle of nowhere, they were like ghost towns, I was half expecting some tumbleweed to roll down through the streets. We went to some pre-inca grave site, where lots of skeletons were left in risen graves for tourists to look at. I particularly enjoyed the flamingoes as there are such strange animals and it was a good chance to see hundreds of them in their natural environment. We stayed at hostel that night, with 2 more very dull tour groups, we didn't need them to have fun as they were all in bed freezing by 9pm, we stayed up playing silly games, with the theory that the alcohol would help us sleep in the artic conditions we were enduring.

Despite our late start we made to the geisers, which also necessitated a 5am start so as to see them at sunrise - ouch! They were incredible though, the sun rising through the steam and sulphur clouds rising from the geisers is not a sight easily forgotten. Next were the thermal baths, and by far the nicest ones I've ever been in (most natural hot pools in my experience smell of farts, thankfully this one didn't!).Getting out wasn't nice though, we were after all at about 4000m above sea level, in most countries there'd be snow all around at that attitude! Pleased that Ruben was not an alcoholic like the drivers from other tour groups and that he was obviously a wannabe rally driver, as we would be the last to leave but always the first there, cainning it past other trucks on the way.

We didn´t bother going to the Green Lagoon as at the moment it is not green just another blue lake, so we got back to Uyuni earlier than we expected. I think Jamie, Jerry and Ryan we fairly pleased to reach civilisation again as they were not enjoying stopping every 5 mins to relieve their bellies on the salt plàins. We all met up that evening and ate in a superb pizza place (Minuteman, on the edge of town, really the best pizzas we've had the whole time we've been away), and generally feeling quite happy with ourselves. We said goodbye to the guys as they were catching the bus to La Paz, and Carolyn and I sat down to enjoy a couple bottles of Bolivian wine (which is suprisingly rather good), while a very tired Jamie went to bed.





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