Ahh Lake Titicaca, not sure exactly how I feel about it...
I toured Lake Titicaca for a total of 3 days. First Isla del Sol in Bolivia then the floating Islands containing the Uros and Taquila in Puno Peru. It was an interesting experience. I felt like I was invading the peoples land, and I felt obliged to buy things from them. In addition, the children sang to us in every language and it was clear that this is not what they want to do, but they have no choice but to do it...weird..I had a hard time with the fact that everyday these people wait for the tourists, spend the first 8 hours of there day with strangers and then go about there normal lives. What kind of life would that be to entertain people in your home on your island everyday? Thing is these islands are very small, there are over 40 islands with 5 to 8 familys per island. It was a sight to see, but way to touristy....
The island of Taquile was better, a natural island, unlike the man made floating islands (which were made to get away from the Incans on the main land). Still the people are so pushy, buy my bracelet NOW!!! NO!! I met a girl in the main square that was no selling anything, she was playing with a string. I start talking to her and teach her some fun stuff, like how to make the witches broom, ad the farmers pants, then I show her cats cradel. A guy sees me playing with her and comes over and we play cats cradel together. The little girl is amazed. She then shows me a lil trick that she knows how to do, which was basic, but cute! I really enjoyed her company, she didnt want any money from me and simly enjoyed playing with me. I wished that I had brougth something in my bag to give to her, like a toy or something...
I arrived back to Puno, the 3rd largest city in Peru, a little to large for me, but I stayed in an amazing hostel for fairly cheap and had my own room, my own bathroom, and a HOT shower!! WOO!
From Puno I went on a bus to Chivay, completly skipping over Arequipa. It was a tour bus with me and 4 other people, ahhh very comfortable. We stopped at different locations looking at a lake, lots of alpacas, and flamingos. I am still in the Andes, and on our journey we peaked at 4900m. Highlight of the ride was when we went through a crazy snow storm, it was awesome! The road was completely covered in snow, it has been awhile since I have seen snow collecting on the ground. However, we were unable to see the volanoes because of the storm, but it was just as fun to be in the snow storm and besides I have seen many volcanos.
So onward to Colca Valley. I went to Chivay first, where I visited the local hot springs, La Calera. It is interesting becuase every terma that I go to is so different. This one was segreageted into 5 different pools, and the water was about 85 degrees. Overall it was nice and relaxing. The mountains surrounding the pools and the river flowing below were all very serene.
I then went to to Cobanaconde, where I would be able to get into Colca Canyon! Upon arriving I check in and meet a girl from the US that was there for the Peace Corp. I hung out for a bit had some lunch and caught the 2pm bus to the Cruz del Condor. Here is a lookout close to a bunch of Condor nests that have been around for generations. I must have seen over 20 condors. They are HUGE! When they fly by you they sound like a plane. This was not my first time seeing the Condor, as I saw them in the Tupiza to Uyuni tour, however, this was the first time that I sat and specifically watched for them. As I was there in the afternoon there were only 5 of us up there. In the morning when I drove by there mist have been 100 people there. Essentially I had the canyon to myself!! As I waited for the bus to arrive I met Melanie and Rob, one from Spain and the other England. We hang out and waited for the last bus to arrive, which should be there at 430 or 5 I was told. At 5, it begins to get dark and cold, maybe we should walk. We walk about 3 miles for about an hour and half up and down the mountain road, when finally at 630pm a bus drives by and we hitch a ride!! I was grateful to be with other people!!
The canyon let me tell you is gorgoeous. At the bottom of the canyon runs the Colca River, and near the bottom is a place called Sangalle. Sangalle is an Oasis, with Palm trees, grass, and pools. I hiked down here which took about 2.5 hours, down a steep, rocky, mountain trail. It zigged and zagged all the way down. I had lunch and then becuase I did not have a guide, like every other gringo had, and it was already 3pm, I hired a mule to take me back up. The walk up is 4 hours, ALL up the steep rocky moutain trail, and it gets dark at 5pm.
With the mule I got up in 2 hours, It was such an odd experience. I was so sad that the poor mule had to work so hard carrying me up, she was sweating. UGhh, at one point I wanted to get off and walk myself. At the end of the trip up there was a down hill section and my girl, Blanca, I named, her slipped a little while running down and I almost fell off superman style! I intinctively grabbed a hold of her neck and my back pack was on and my water bottle went flying out, phew, scary moment!! I was grateful for saving myself from what coulds have been a bad accident, me hitting large rocks and then possibly being trampled by a huge mule!!!
Ohh in addition, the house dog, Osa, followed me down to the canyon and did not follow me back up. When I left Cobanaconde she was still not back! EEK...
The hostel I stayed at was awesome, it was named Pachamama (meaning motherearth), it was cheap, had hot shwoers, a bar, and good, safe, food. Which brings me to my next point, my last night in Cobanaconde I fainted. I do not know what happened, I was talking to a guy, and then I remember saying "excuse me, I am sorry I am suddenly not feeling well". I put my head down on the bar and then looked back up, he was saying something to me but I couldn´t hear, and then I was fighting to keep my vision. I excused myself, stood up, and was attempting to walk to my room, when the next thing I know I hear a Peruvian screaming for Kristin. I look over and realize I collapsed in the middle of the dining room!! Ugh, I felt like such an asshole, I got up and said "wow I am okay, really, I don´t know what just happened". Sucks, maybe it was because I had done down 1100m and then came right back up and my body was confused with the altitude. Cobanaconde is at about 3800m. I am okay, and since then have not had a repeat!!
After a day and a half on buses, I am now in Lima!!! I am SOOOOO stoked to see Dee today!!! Ahhhh!!! I can hardly wait, I have been talking about her non-stop!! I am equally excited to ge to Cuzco and anxious to do the Incan Trail!! I imagine I will have time for one more post to discuss Macchu Picchu before returing home on May 3rd. But the travels don´t stop here my friends, North America (northern USA and southern CA) follows this trip for the summer of 2011!!
Missing you all!!
Andrea
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Lovin La Paz, but on to PERU
What to say about La Paz, on our first meeting I would describe it as high, smoggy, filled with people and little buses!! To say the least I was not too pleased with La Paz. First step I took on the ground began an adventure. The adventure begins with my bus dropping me off in the middle of the street, in nowhere La Paz, NOT at a bus terminal. NO tourist office, just a bunch of Bolivians scrambeling around getting to work and school! It´s 630 in the morning and I have not a clue as to where I am!!! I relax and as opposed to my original plan to walk, I simply hail a cab, but as soon as I start talking he says no and drives away! Hailing another cab, I see two people in the taxi, the driver and another man whom I presumed to be the drivers father. I tell them where I need to go and they agree to take me. Running into a closed road filled with protesting Bolivians, the father is dropped off. The driver then proceeds to tell me, ahhh we can not get down to the city. HUH!? Why not I ask? There are people protesting all the roads are closed!! Shit! I tell him, I am scared because I do not know where I am at and that I don´t know what to do. He tells me do not worry I have a friend with a moped, he can take you, he owes me a favor. OK. Knock knock, nope. No one is home. Do not worry he says, I will take you. We then pull up to his house, we park the taxi, I get introduced to his mom, attacked by his dog, he grabs my pack, throws it on his back, and we are off. We load up into a little dodgy bus and then get dropped in the middle of the largest clusterfuck of traffic and humans I have ever seen. Cars, people, dogs, EVERYWHERE. Avoiding getting hit by the insane drivers and with the lack of traffic laws, I just keep following Jose.
We arrive to a door....this is a Wizard of Oz door, becuase I open it and I see an incredible site, The city of La Paz! It lays in a valley, and so nicely is covered by a cloud of smog. We walked down a STEEP, very STEEP, pathway comprised of ramps and steps, down down down to the city. We must have walked this path for 20 min! I wished that I had my camera handy, but I have no pics of this adventure! about an hour and half after walking we find my hostel. Let me now tell you that the altitude is some 3700m. So walking for an hour and half really exhausted me. When we made it to the hostel I was so grateful, Jose carried my large pack, me my small bag, the whole time! I wished that I could explain to him how grateful I was, instead, I paid him way too much money and gave him lots of hugs!
I arrived to the hostel, and ran into two people I met on a bus to Salta, a long time ago, and then I met a swiss gril, Axel. Axel and I decided to go on the tour fo the Worlds Most Dangerous Road together.
The Worlds Most Dangerous Road!!! Taking a bus, at 730 am, to the start of the ride, we are surrounded by a lake and mountains! 4700m up into the sky, better believe that it was cold! We recieve our bikes! I have an awesome new bike named Barney! The first 20 km we fly down the paved mountain road, racing through clouds, reaching speeds of 36 to 38 miles per hour! Quite exhilirating!!!
FUN FUN, but ok, now for the dangerous road! This road is now hardly used due to the production of a new, not so dangerous, road. During the ride I fell twice! Once under a waterfall, I was stuck behind someone going to slow and blah blah...I toppeled. Then later on a 180 degree turn I was going maybe to fast and slowed down but ran up on to some head sized rocks and again tipped over. This was not bad though, I did suffer some bruises but nothing dramatic. We did however lose two people during the ride, they didn´t die, but were hospitalized!! One girl fell pretty bad, was concussed and needed stiches and plastic surgery! Then a guy from Estonia, fell at the end and disloctaed his shoulder and something bad happended to his elbow, his face was a pretty beat too!! At this point I decided I better go slower, and I did.
At the end of the ride, we went to an animal refuge, where monkeys are rescued from the black market and from people who have trained them to pick pockets. No monkey climbed on me, but they tend to climb up people pick there pockets and run off. They also has birds, like Macaws and Tucans, there was a boa constrictor, and turtles. Pretty neat place aside from the sand fleas. Those little shits are savage, biting you eveywhere and you cant even feel it!! I have some pics...ewe
After the refugee, I zip lined through the valley!! This wasn´t over exhilirating, but on my first run my heart did begin to race. It was simply enjoyable to fly over the valley!
So before arriving to La Paz I was in Sucre. The only thing I want to report is that I went to the worlds largest dinosaur track!! In limestone peaking out of the ground due to natural causes, you can see the footprints of dinosaurs that walked mya, they also have the largest figurine of a, uhh, animal. Pretty neat stuff! My last destination was in Copacabana, near the border of Peru, on Lake Titicaca. Nice little town with character, a little touristy, and full of hippies. I daily battle food poisoning. I went to bed early without eating for the second day in a row, and woke up to go to Isla del Sol. The island contains over 80 incan ruins, has no cars, and no paved roads. I walked up a large case of stairs to see the Incan garden, but quickly had to retreat to the boat, I only went for half day so that I could get to Peru early! Which I did! I am in Peru, in Puno, at Lake Titicaca. Tomorrow I will go on a tour through the floating islands, I will enjoy my single bedroom wiht my priate bath, with HOT water, for two nights, and head to Chivay, to see the Colca Canyon!! I´ll get back to you soon! Caio Andrea
We arrive to a door....this is a Wizard of Oz door, becuase I open it and I see an incredible site, The city of La Paz! It lays in a valley, and so nicely is covered by a cloud of smog. We walked down a STEEP, very STEEP, pathway comprised of ramps and steps, down down down to the city. We must have walked this path for 20 min! I wished that I had my camera handy, but I have no pics of this adventure! about an hour and half after walking we find my hostel. Let me now tell you that the altitude is some 3700m. So walking for an hour and half really exhausted me. When we made it to the hostel I was so grateful, Jose carried my large pack, me my small bag, the whole time! I wished that I could explain to him how grateful I was, instead, I paid him way too much money and gave him lots of hugs!
I arrived to the hostel, and ran into two people I met on a bus to Salta, a long time ago, and then I met a swiss gril, Axel. Axel and I decided to go on the tour fo the Worlds Most Dangerous Road together.
The Worlds Most Dangerous Road!!! Taking a bus, at 730 am, to the start of the ride, we are surrounded by a lake and mountains! 4700m up into the sky, better believe that it was cold! We recieve our bikes! I have an awesome new bike named Barney! The first 20 km we fly down the paved mountain road, racing through clouds, reaching speeds of 36 to 38 miles per hour! Quite exhilirating!!!
FUN FUN, but ok, now for the dangerous road! This road is now hardly used due to the production of a new, not so dangerous, road. During the ride I fell twice! Once under a waterfall, I was stuck behind someone going to slow and blah blah...I toppeled. Then later on a 180 degree turn I was going maybe to fast and slowed down but ran up on to some head sized rocks and again tipped over. This was not bad though, I did suffer some bruises but nothing dramatic. We did however lose two people during the ride, they didn´t die, but were hospitalized!! One girl fell pretty bad, was concussed and needed stiches and plastic surgery! Then a guy from Estonia, fell at the end and disloctaed his shoulder and something bad happended to his elbow, his face was a pretty beat too!! At this point I decided I better go slower, and I did.
At the end of the ride, we went to an animal refuge, where monkeys are rescued from the black market and from people who have trained them to pick pockets. No monkey climbed on me, but they tend to climb up people pick there pockets and run off. They also has birds, like Macaws and Tucans, there was a boa constrictor, and turtles. Pretty neat place aside from the sand fleas. Those little shits are savage, biting you eveywhere and you cant even feel it!! I have some pics...ewe
After the refugee, I zip lined through the valley!! This wasn´t over exhilirating, but on my first run my heart did begin to race. It was simply enjoyable to fly over the valley!
So before arriving to La Paz I was in Sucre. The only thing I want to report is that I went to the worlds largest dinosaur track!! In limestone peaking out of the ground due to natural causes, you can see the footprints of dinosaurs that walked mya, they also have the largest figurine of a, uhh, animal. Pretty neat stuff! My last destination was in Copacabana, near the border of Peru, on Lake Titicaca. Nice little town with character, a little touristy, and full of hippies. I daily battle food poisoning. I went to bed early without eating for the second day in a row, and woke up to go to Isla del Sol. The island contains over 80 incan ruins, has no cars, and no paved roads. I walked up a large case of stairs to see the Incan garden, but quickly had to retreat to the boat, I only went for half day so that I could get to Peru early! Which I did! I am in Peru, in Puno, at Lake Titicaca. Tomorrow I will go on a tour through the floating islands, I will enjoy my single bedroom wiht my priate bath, with HOT water, for two nights, and head to Chivay, to see the Colca Canyon!! I´ll get back to you soon! Caio Andrea
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Getting High in Bolivia
BEFORE YOU READ, to follow along, check out my facebook pics (faya: consult a FB member), I cannot load pics on the blog it takes 45 min for one pic...
I don´t even know how to begin. I just had what may have been my best adventure in South America so far. It started by crossing the border from La Quiaca in Argentina to Villazon. The border crossing was very easy, the only annoyance is that we americans get to pay 135 USD to enter while every other person gets to pass for free. I met a couple of canadians and a girl from the US so we all crossed together. We then hung out all day and waited for a train to Tupiza. After a beautiful relaxing ride, I exit the train and would-you-look-at-that, I run into an Aussie I met in Salta, Neville (I am surely on the gringo trail). I followed him back to his hostel and crashed there, but not before booking my 4 day 4WD Jeep tour through Southern Bolivia to Uyuni, home of the worlds infamous salt falt. Before I start, I want to let you know that I was the only tourist, out of 9 of us (there is another jeep we were traveling with with holding an Aussie and 3 kids from England), that can speak Spanish well enough to understand the guides. I therefore was the translator for the group (Joao don´t laugh)!! I wasn´t so stoked about it at first, but then again, it was GREAT practice and clearly I am speaking the language well which is good good good!!!
Day1: Leaving Tupiza at about 9am, we boarded our jeep, we being two Israelis, Lital and Uval, a Frenchie, Karim, myslef, and Nev. Ohh yes and we can not forget our driver, Edwin, and our lovely cook, Maura. We start our journey going up up up into the mountains. About 4000m´s (thats about 2.5 miles) up into the Andes!! What a ride. It was slow, but beautiful. We stopped at what is called sillar, which essentially was a valley
and then Puerta del Diablo (The devils Gate). Stopping in a small town, San Pablo Lípez, I was suckered into giving two Bolivian girls the rest of my change to support their playing volleyball and basketball and subsequently was followed by three boys and convinced to take a picture with them, cute:) This day is kind of hazy to me now, we were driving for so long and did not stop too often. Alas, we stopped in a town, San Antonio Lípez, to sleep and enjoyed a great meal, courtesy of Maura, and cards (shithead-the official travelers game with too many varieties to debate and play my way)!!
Day2: Offically the best day of the trip (even though the salt flats were quite incredible). We started at 4:30 in the morning, and arrived to the place where we would sleep at 6 pm....Looong day! We first entered Puebla Fantasmo (Ghost Town). Here there were ruins of an Incan civilization, taken over by the Spanish due to the richness in gold and silver. It is thought that now if you were to stay there you would go mad because it is haunted, I think it is probably just because of the altitude ;)
Laguana Morejón, Salare Chalviri (a much smaller flat than the one in Uyuni) were our next sites followed by Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, which lay before Volcano Licanabur. The volcano was home to an Incan civilization. To keep the sun rising they would sacrafice children by pushing them into the volcano. Half-way through the day we arrived to the Termas (thermal pools), however; unlike the other pool in Jujuy, we could only spend 15 min in here due to the high concertation on minerals including Borax (used to make glass). We bathed, we ate (yet another fantastic lunch provided by Maura), and Maura did my hair in braids with the classic Bolivian beads I purchased in Villazon!! Working on fitting in here ;)
Following lunch we headed to the peak, as far as altitude (5000m or 3.1miles), of the trip, the Geysers!!! Due to the volcanos there are boiling deposits of pressurized water in deep holes with steam arising. Here the rocks become full of color. Quite a spectatuclar vision, and smelly too!! Lastly, we arrived to my most favorite location, Laguna Colorada. Imagine a lake full of all the colors of the rainbow (due to the high concentrations of borax, salt, and other minerals), with mountains in the distance and flaminogs amid...can you? No? Let me show you... (here is where you would want to look at FB, hehe)
We slept in Hullajara, close to the lake, in the middle of the desert where the temperatures dropped below 32 degrees F. Burrrrr....
Day3: This days started just like every other, before the sun rose. Our first stop was to arbol de piedra. This literally translates to rock trees. They are unique rock transformations that mimic trees in the middle of a desert, which are, of course, surrounded by the Andes mountians. Venturing forward we visitied many lakes, one of which is used to make soap. We saw another volcano (Volcan Ollagüe) and had lunch in San Cristobál. San Cristobál is worth mentioning becuase it has one of the oldest churches which was completly rebuilt, and we were able top climb up onto it, fun fun! We ended the day in Colchari, a little town close to the flats enabling us to go to the flats for the sunset!! Our hostel, located off the flat, therefore enviromentally consious, was completely made of salt, the ground was salt the tables, chair, beds, etc....All except the toilet, which was a simple hole in the ground, always fun :) We quickly enjoyed some tea and cookies and headed to flat for the sunset. You will notice that at this time of the year it is wet so the flats are under water, which makes for amazing photos due to the reflection!! The downside, we were unable to drive through the middle of the flats, guess I´ll have to go back one day and see them dry! (FB)
AHHHhhh, like nothing I have seen before. A few fun facts for you geeks: the salare is the worlds largest and highest salt flat in the world. It is 12,000 km squared, sits a 3650m high, and is as deep as 125m, as discovered today, and compasses do not work here!
Day4: We started the day at 5:30 and went straight to the salare for sun rise, followed by breakfast at the salt hotel in the middle of the flat, and took picture after picture after picture. What a great day: we laughed, we danced (to MJ), the energy was high, and it ended a trip that I am sure none of us are soon to forget :) Driving back to Uyuni, I was ready to start my next adventure, but it was bittersweet. We had our last lunch together and said our good bye. I nearly cried saying good bye to my dearest Maura, I think she was close to tears too. We hugged for a long time. I will miss her so much. She asked us all ¨will you please return one day to Bolivia¨, I will!!
Now I just depàrted from Potosi, which is a whole adventure in itself. I spent 4 nights here! But not the best four nights of my trip thats for sure. I spent two nights in pain, extremely sick. Inside my belly was gremlin having its way with my intestines...ughhh felt like death. Until Saturday afternoon I had been bed ridden and visiting the toilet every hour. But after 48 hours and some modern medicine (holler Dee), I am beginning to feel better. Thank you to those of you who gave me sympathy, I was very homesick and despertly needed it. On Saturday I finally exited the hostel and went to a thermal pool "ojo del inca" (eye of the inca) just outside the city AND I finally ate after not eating for 2 and a half days!! WOO-HOO!! The thermal pool was amazing it started at about 1.5 meteres and dropped dramatically to 22m (66ft), like a cone shape. The heat comes form the center of the lake! The landscape surrounding the water was colorful and tranquil. We left the terma in a jeep with a Belgium guy and his parents who drove us half way back to Potosi. Returing to the city we hitched a ride with a Bolivian family to the center. To cap the evening a German, a Belgin, two Norwegins, Nev (who has been terribly sick as well), and myself made dinner, shared wine, and played music in the street. I am now in Sucre, tomorrow I will explore the city and then head to... I have no idea!! ahhh the life of traveling...
P.S. Dee will be here in 12 days!!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!! Will be nice to see a sister
Until next time, Cheers, Andrea
I don´t even know how to begin. I just had what may have been my best adventure in South America so far. It started by crossing the border from La Quiaca in Argentina to Villazon. The border crossing was very easy, the only annoyance is that we americans get to pay 135 USD to enter while every other person gets to pass for free. I met a couple of canadians and a girl from the US so we all crossed together. We then hung out all day and waited for a train to Tupiza. After a beautiful relaxing ride, I exit the train and would-you-look-at-that, I run into an Aussie I met in Salta, Neville (I am surely on the gringo trail). I followed him back to his hostel and crashed there, but not before booking my 4 day 4WD Jeep tour through Southern Bolivia to Uyuni, home of the worlds infamous salt falt. Before I start, I want to let you know that I was the only tourist, out of 9 of us (there is another jeep we were traveling with with holding an Aussie and 3 kids from England), that can speak Spanish well enough to understand the guides. I therefore was the translator for the group (Joao don´t laugh)!! I wasn´t so stoked about it at first, but then again, it was GREAT practice and clearly I am speaking the language well which is good good good!!!
Day1: Leaving Tupiza at about 9am, we boarded our jeep, we being two Israelis, Lital and Uval, a Frenchie, Karim, myslef, and Nev. Ohh yes and we can not forget our driver, Edwin, and our lovely cook, Maura. We start our journey going up up up into the mountains. About 4000m´s (thats about 2.5 miles) up into the Andes!! What a ride. It was slow, but beautiful. We stopped at what is called sillar, which essentially was a valley
and then Puerta del Diablo (The devils Gate). Stopping in a small town, San Pablo Lípez, I was suckered into giving two Bolivian girls the rest of my change to support their playing volleyball and basketball and subsequently was followed by three boys and convinced to take a picture with them, cute:) This day is kind of hazy to me now, we were driving for so long and did not stop too often. Alas, we stopped in a town, San Antonio Lípez, to sleep and enjoyed a great meal, courtesy of Maura, and cards (shithead-the official travelers game with too many varieties to debate and play my way)!!
Day2: Offically the best day of the trip (even though the salt flats were quite incredible). We started at 4:30 in the morning, and arrived to the place where we would sleep at 6 pm....Looong day! We first entered Puebla Fantasmo (Ghost Town). Here there were ruins of an Incan civilization, taken over by the Spanish due to the richness in gold and silver. It is thought that now if you were to stay there you would go mad because it is haunted, I think it is probably just because of the altitude ;)Laguana Morejón, Salare Chalviri (a much smaller flat than the one in Uyuni) were our next sites followed by Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, which lay before Volcano Licanabur. The volcano was home to an Incan civilization. To keep the sun rising they would sacrafice children by pushing them into the volcano. Half-way through the day we arrived to the Termas (thermal pools), however; unlike the other pool in Jujuy, we could only spend 15 min in here due to the high concertation on minerals including Borax (used to make glass). We bathed, we ate (yet another fantastic lunch provided by Maura), and Maura did my hair in braids with the classic Bolivian beads I purchased in Villazon!! Working on fitting in here ;)
Following lunch we headed to the peak, as far as altitude (5000m or 3.1miles), of the trip, the Geysers!!! Due to the volcanos there are boiling deposits of pressurized water in deep holes with steam arising. Here the rocks become full of color. Quite a spectatuclar vision, and smelly too!! Lastly, we arrived to my most favorite location, Laguna Colorada. Imagine a lake full of all the colors of the rainbow (due to the high concentrations of borax, salt, and other minerals), with mountains in the distance and flaminogs amid...can you? No? Let me show you... (here is where you would want to look at FB, hehe)
We slept in Hullajara, close to the lake, in the middle of the desert where the temperatures dropped below 32 degrees F. Burrrrr....
Day3: This days started just like every other, before the sun rose. Our first stop was to arbol de piedra. This literally translates to rock trees. They are unique rock transformations that mimic trees in the middle of a desert, which are, of course, surrounded by the Andes mountians. Venturing forward we visitied many lakes, one of which is used to make soap. We saw another volcano (Volcan Ollagüe) and had lunch in San Cristobál. San Cristobál is worth mentioning becuase it has one of the oldest churches which was completly rebuilt, and we were able top climb up onto it, fun fun! We ended the day in Colchari, a little town close to the flats enabling us to go to the flats for the sunset!! Our hostel, located off the flat, therefore enviromentally consious, was completely made of salt, the ground was salt the tables, chair, beds, etc....All except the toilet, which was a simple hole in the ground, always fun :) We quickly enjoyed some tea and cookies and headed to flat for the sunset. You will notice that at this time of the year it is wet so the flats are under water, which makes for amazing photos due to the reflection!! The downside, we were unable to drive through the middle of the flats, guess I´ll have to go back one day and see them dry! (FB)
AHHHhhh, like nothing I have seen before. A few fun facts for you geeks: the salare is the worlds largest and highest salt flat in the world. It is 12,000 km squared, sits a 3650m high, and is as deep as 125m, as discovered today, and compasses do not work here!
Day4: We started the day at 5:30 and went straight to the salare for sun rise, followed by breakfast at the salt hotel in the middle of the flat, and took picture after picture after picture. What a great day: we laughed, we danced (to MJ), the energy was high, and it ended a trip that I am sure none of us are soon to forget :) Driving back to Uyuni, I was ready to start my next adventure, but it was bittersweet. We had our last lunch together and said our good bye. I nearly cried saying good bye to my dearest Maura, I think she was close to tears too. We hugged for a long time. I will miss her so much. She asked us all ¨will you please return one day to Bolivia¨, I will!!
Now I just depàrted from Potosi, which is a whole adventure in itself. I spent 4 nights here! But not the best four nights of my trip thats for sure. I spent two nights in pain, extremely sick. Inside my belly was gremlin having its way with my intestines...ughhh felt like death. Until Saturday afternoon I had been bed ridden and visiting the toilet every hour. But after 48 hours and some modern medicine (holler Dee), I am beginning to feel better. Thank you to those of you who gave me sympathy, I was very homesick and despertly needed it. On Saturday I finally exited the hostel and went to a thermal pool "ojo del inca" (eye of the inca) just outside the city AND I finally ate after not eating for 2 and a half days!! WOO-HOO!! The thermal pool was amazing it started at about 1.5 meteres and dropped dramatically to 22m (66ft), like a cone shape. The heat comes form the center of the lake! The landscape surrounding the water was colorful and tranquil. We left the terma in a jeep with a Belgium guy and his parents who drove us half way back to Potosi. Returing to the city we hitched a ride with a Bolivian family to the center. To cap the evening a German, a Belgin, two Norwegins, Nev (who has been terribly sick as well), and myself made dinner, shared wine, and played music in the street. I am now in Sucre, tomorrow I will explore the city and then head to... I have no idea!! ahhh the life of traveling...
P.S. Dee will be here in 12 days!!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!! Will be nice to see a sister
Until next time, Cheers, Andrea
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)