Bolivia photos

Bolivia part 2

The last day was definitely the best of the trip, despite the early start. We headed towards salar de uyuni which is the salt flats. It is blindingly white and you need sunglasses just to look at it. Our first stop was at a random island in the middle of the flats with a massive hill and lots of cacti. We wandered around and decided to try and trek to the top. There was some very impressive views of salt for as far as you could see.

After this we drove for a little while till we were in the centre of the flats. We parked next to a hole someone had made in the salt. It was full of water and Flavio said the salt went down 7-8m and the water was so salty!  We spent the  next hour taking photos on the flats which was very fun, although we did get sunburnt. We then headed out of the flats to a sort of service station with a shop and somewhere to eat lunch. After a good lunch of pasta and vegetables we headed to Uyuni and the train graveyard which was pretty cool, but equally creepy.
We then were taken to uyuni centre where the majority of the group were dropped off. Us and a Spanish couple were heading back to san pedro via another village to spend the night. After three hours driving off road through the desert and a stop to try and cuddle some llamas we reached the hostel which was basic but fine. We slept well but had to leave at 5 am to get to the border for 9 am. The drive was uneventful and thankfully so as we were all so tired. The border procedures didn't take too long and before we knew it we were back in San pedro going through chilean immigration which is the most thorough we've gone through as they scan your bags and you have to fill out various declarations about what you're bringing into the country. By 11 we were back at our hostel ready for a shower and a rest.
In the afternoon we headed into town to try and book some Sandboarding, which was successful, and to buy some food for dinner. The whole day was relaxing and peaceful.
Yesterday was fun as we did the Sandboarding in the valley of death. It was so hard as you have to climb up a sand dune which was about 75m high in the heat. It was pretty hard going. The actual Sandboarding was really fun. After an hour or so we made our way to the valley of the moon to watch the sunset. It was stunning to watch it set over the valley. The walk back to the van included an almost vertical climb down a rock face but we both survived :-) showers were massively needed to get rid of all the sand.
Today we chilled out in san pedro doing some souvenir shopping and having a relaxed lunch. We're taking another night bus tonight to Arica which is near the Peruvian border.

Bolivia

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama around 10:30ish. After a slight detour in the ridiculous heat we found our hostel, dropped our bags off and went into town to sort out our trip to Bolivia.

We were picked up around 8:00 by our tour company, Cordillera Traveller, and we were pleasantly surprised to find the majority of people on the trip were English, having spent so much of our time in previous locations being overrun by Germans. After clearing Chilean passport control, we made our way to the border. The Bolivian immigration wasn't quite as official as Chile, with it being a little shed like building 4500m above sea level and in the middle of the desert. It was fairly cold and you could feel a slight shortness of breath due to the altitude. After a basic breakfast and getting our passports stamped, we were sorted into groups of six and allocated a tour guide and 4x4. We were lucky to be in a group with three English girls, two of which could speak Spanish and could translate what our driver, Flavio, was saying as he didn't speak English, and a Brazilian guy. We then set off through the desert of Bolivia. After buying our national park tickets and carrying on our way, we arrived at our first stop, Laguna Blanco. This was a massive lake where the water displayed a perfect reflection of the sky above which was quite impressive. Our next stop was Laguna Verde, which apparently means green lake. And shortly after arriving you could see why. Our driver told us that the colour of the lake changes as the wind blows. When we arrived there was a small strip of water in the distance which was a green colour. We were then lucky enough to witness the whole lake gradually turn a bright turquoise colour as the wind picked up. This was quite a spectacle. 

Our next stop was a little different. After a 45 minute bumpy ride through the desert, we arrived at a thermal spring which we were able to get into. It was like stepping into a hot bath, it was so nice, and the view was equally as good. After leaving the spring we made our way towards our first pit stop where we would be spending the night. En route, we stopped at some geysers, which were constantly steaming with a strong smell of sulphur. Luckily we didn't spend too long here. Between the geysers and our accommodation we were told we'd hit nearly 5000m above sea level, and you could definitely feel it. Thankfully the little hostel wasn't as high and we stopped for something to eat and a siesta before heading back out. Our last visit of the day was to a another lagoon. This one however had bright pink water with a large number of flamingos in it. 

After this visit we returned to the hostel and settled down for the evening. This was spent eating and chatting to the other people in our group plus two other groups who were also doing the trip with the same company. No one seemed to sleep particularly well that night, mainly due to the altitude, which made the second day a little harder to deal with. 

With everyone waiting for the sun to rise after a pretty horrendous nights sleep, we were fed and on our way by about 7:00. After about 15 minutes of driving, Flavio stopped the jeep and turned around, with none of us knowing why. After driving back and forth a few times he stopped and started shouting at an old woman who was wandering around a lake. After running towards our jeep she was invited in for a lift. It turns out she was looking for her llamas and Flavio had spotted them. So after dropping her off with her escaped animals we were back on our way. The rest of the day was mainly spent travelling through the mountains with the odd stop off at more lagoons to witness the flamingos. 

Later that evening we arrived at our next accommodation, a hotel made of salt. We were given private rooms and there were hot showers so was already a better night. However there was sand and salt everywhere and it became apparent that Bolivia don't appear to agree with having locks on toilet doors, which sort of adds an unnecessary risk to going to the toilet. Once everyone was refreshed we ate. The dinner consisted of chips and a sort of steak. We were told if was beef, but we're still unsure now whether it really was or not. They also clearly forgot about Emily and another girl being vegetarian, so after asking, they were brought a fried egg each, which looked as appetising as the meat. The rest of the night was spend sharing stories from our trips and drinking wine, hoping that the alcohol would contribute towards a better night sleep. It did, sort of. 

La Borena

We're just about to leave La Serena which is a pretty boring place in itself. Yesterday we walked around and went to an archaeological museum which was pretty cool as it had a 2.5 metre statue from Easter Island and some mummified people too. Last night was great though as we went to an observatory, which isn't actually a fancy conservatory! We spent a few hours star gazing and looking through their massive telescope. Apparently Jupiter is in Gemini at the moment. We saw a close up of Jupiter and were able to see the two rings on it which was amazing! We also had a presentation about the different constellations, but we got the giggles and couldn't really concentrate on what he was saying. A fun evening out! 

Now we're going on a 16 hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama where well be visiting the salt flats and sand boarding! Very exciting! 

Valpo

After all the excitement during our last day in Santiago we were looking forward to getting to the coastal city of Valparaíso, which we had heard so much about. And on first impressions, you can see why. 

The city itself is built on and amongst around 45 hills of varying sizes. Some so steep that they require feniculars to get up and down them, for when your legs aren't up to the task. 

As we arrived in the evening our first priority was to look for food. After the whole wallet fiasco and the bus journey, we decided to eat out as we didn't really have the energy to find a supermarket and then cook (that was our excuse anyway). We found a nice little micro brewery which did burgers. The beer was good and the food was excellent, so I think we did well. We then made our way back to the hostel, which was just over halfway up a ridiculous flight of stairs on a stupidly steep hill. Stairs we would have to scale at least twice a day for the next few days. 

After being woken up by screaming seagulls, we got up, had breakfast and found the local supermarket for a bit of a food shop. We spent the afternoon on one of the recommended walking tours of the city. Our guide was a young and enthusiastic Chilean guy, with a bit of an American accent, who you could tell loved living in the city. The tour was very informative and was interesting learning about how it was once one of the most important port cities in the world. Mainly because it was used as a stopover for sailors to enjoy the bars and brothels whilst en route to America for the gold rush. The tour took us up hills and down alleyways where we were shown a lot of graffiti and murals done by local artists. We heard more about the dictatorship and hiked up more steps. Apparently there is a set of over 300 steps known as 'the stairs of death', due to a drunk local who had decided, halfway up, that he could go no further and slept where he had got too. On awakening the next day and taking his first step, he slipped and tumbled back down to his death, so probably quite an appropriate name for them. 

Our second day was spent mooching about the city. After gaining a couple of companions, in two stray dogs, we set about the hills in search of the cultural centre. We came across a place that could've been it, but there were no signs and hardly any people, except a few security guards, so we rejoined our new friends and carried on. Due to needing to use one of the many feniculars around the city, we had no choice but to abandon our little guides. That and the fact they were offered food by another passerby...so fickle. We found a nice restaurant on top of a hill with a good view to have lunch. This was all good except there was a wall of fog coming in from the sea which limited our view. After this we climbed further into the hills in search of a famous poets house (so famous we have no idea what his name was), but it was shut. So after an unsuccessful trip we descended back down the steep hills via a few walkways to look at some more murals, although the majority of these had been graffitied over with absolute tosh. After a brief stop for ice cream we returned to the hostel. 

After walking the ridiculous hills of Valparaíso, I feel we should have no problems tackling the Inca Trail as I doubt some of that will be as challenging as some of the streets here. 

Gringoland

I thought I'd write a bit about how we've found south america as gringos (tourists).

The people have on the whole been lovely to us. Even though we've struggled with the language, they still help us. No one's been rude to us or refused to help us because of the language difference.

The hostels have been great everywhere. I know alot of people imagined it would be like the Hostel films and they'd have grotty bathrooms and bed bugs. Theyve all been clean, many having housekeeping in for 8/9 hours a day. The bedrooms are standard dorm rooms with little detail, but still comfy with clean sheets. You can't really complain about a breakfast that is waiting for you when you get up. Fresh bread, jams, fresh fruit juice,  fruit and tea/coffee is pretty nice.

When you're sharing a room with people who all want the same thing,  there is little room for disagreement. Even after a night out everyone tries to be quiet. The only issue is charging things. Some of the rooms have only had a couple of plugs and you don't really want to leave your phone/camera/ipod lying around, but we've managed so far!

One odd thing about south america is that everywhere we've gone so far, the toilets can't handle toilet paper so you have to use a bin. Not so nice.

The food has been good,  if a little basic. The supermarkets have improved as we've gone along. Argentina was pretty basic and there wasn't much you could really get a part from pizza and pasta without spending a fortune. The same with eating out. Alot of places have pizza, pasta, seafood etc. Jays probably enjoyed eating out more as there is alot more variety of meat to choose from whereas the veggie options have mostly been cheese pizza with the odd exception where they do a veggie burger or something.

Buses have been pretty good too. Alot better than British buses as it's the main form of transport for people in south america. Although when we got onto our bus to valperaiso,  someone was changing their baby's nappy on our seats.

The weather has been good throughout the whole trip. Weve had sun most days with temperatures in the twenties. There's been odd days of cloud or rain,  but mostly lovely weather.

Cristobal & the police

On our second day in Santiago, we decided to go up Christoball mountain which is the highest view point. The hill has a fenicular which is a kind of train that goes up and down the hill. We chose not to do that and walk it as we had all day. Somehow we ended up walking up the biker track which was pretty vertical in places! In the 30 degree heat it was hard work. After half an hour or so of scaling the mountain we found the proper path and carried on up the mountain. The view from the top was amazing and well worth the hike. We sat with drinks at the top and enjoyed the view. However we got the fenicular down which was fun.
We had lunch in a restaurant where we could sit on the balcony overlooking the mountain. I had some amazing homemade lemonade. We spent an hour or so enjoying the view and then headed home for some relaxing in the sun before a late dinner.

On our last day in Santiago we climbed a smaller hill called Santa Lucia which was in the centre of all the skyscrapers (you can see it in the first photo). The views were pretty good. We went and looked at some of the big political buildings and some more of the city before going back to the hostel the sunbathe. We decided to try an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was pretty nice, but nothing on English curries! We were upgraded to a private room that night as the owner needed a space in the dorm for someone which was lovely!

Today we headed to valperaiso, a city a few hours away by the sea. We checked out of the hostel and got on the metro. When we had to change stations Jay realised his wallet was gone. After retracing our steps it was clear it was gone for good. We rushed back to the hostel to cancel bank cards. The hostel owner was so kind and said we could stay at the hostel another night for free in a private room if we wanted to. We only lost about 10,000 chilean pesos which is about £10 and the cards were all blocked. However they did have our driving licences in and after a bit of googling we decided we needed a police report in case we had to claim for anything.

The police officer we spoke to didn't know English and our Spanish was limited. We struggled by with hand signals and one word questions. Then a lady who might as well have been the fairy godmother came and asked if we wanted help with translation as she'd lived in London for 20 years. An hour later we were done and on our way back to the hostel to pick up our stuff.

We're now in valperaiso so we'll see what this cities like!

Andes

We left mendoza at 1pm heading for Chile. As we left mendoza, we started driving towards the Andes. We'd seen them from a distance when we arrived in mendoza but they were 100 times more impressive this time.
We arrived at the chilean immigration at 4ish where we had our passports stamped twice. Once to leave Argentina, the next to enter Chile. We then all got back on the bus. It drove a 200m and they asked us all to get off again while they unloaded all our bags and put them through a scanner and had sniffer dogs check all our hand luggage. Very cautious! We werent allowed to bring in any raw food, animal products or plants. Not sure why, but the whole process took about 2.5 hours. We were supposed to arrive in Santiago at 7, but as it was 10.30 and we were at 10,000 feet high in the middle of the Andes that seemed unlikely.

The views coming down were amazing as the sun was setting too. Unfortunately I didnt agree with the altitude too much. Its taken almost 24 hours for my ears to fully pop and so have had no hearing out of one ear. A big sneeze soon popped it though so I can hear again now! We arrived in Santiago at 9.30 and searched for the metro. No luck. We decided to pay for a taxi to be on the safe side. Also we were both tired and hungry.  Apart from the taxi driver asking for directions twice, we got there safely. After checking in and making our beds (I thought I'd never have to make beds for a long time!  How wrong was I!) We went out to find some food. A pizza later we headed to bed. This is the first hostel with a duvet which I was pretty excited about!  Jay doesn't feel the cold so much, but with the air con on, I miss my duvet!

Today we went for a food shop and had lunch by the pool. We then went on a walking tour of santiago. They're free and just rely on tips. It was really fun and our guide,  Filipe, was enthusiastic about this history which helped us not to zone out. We tried the Chilean drink, pisco sours, which was nice! After a walk back through the park and dinner,  we're definitely ready for bed!

Mendoza

Thankfully our bus to Mendoza was less memorable than our last journey, which can only be a good thing. 

The night we arrived coincided with the start of the Mendoza wine festival (and this was definitely a coincidence), so we took a walk into the centre to see what was going on. It was very busy with people lining the streets, so we decided to find a spot on the side of the road and wait to see what all the fuss was about. 

After about 20 minutes the carnival started, with people going past on horses in costume. It was like a set for an American western film. The carnival also included a lot of floats, which we concluded were from all the different wine company's, each one had a theme and girls dressed up in fancy clothes. It turns out they were all competing to become queen of the festival. The carnival was good to see, even though we had the constant fear of receiving a pear to the face as the people from each float insisted on throwing random bits of fruit into the crowd. We still have no idea what this was about.

The next day we spent walking around the city a bit. We thought it would be a little quieter but it was just as busy as if turned out there was another parade. We stumbled across the location of where it started and found a spot to watch. It must be a big deal as it seemed to be being televised. After a band, some dancers and more of the same floats we saw the night before, we moved on. This was mainly due to how ridiculously hot it was standing in the sun, plus it didn't really seem to have the variety you might see during the Blandford carnival. 

The next day or so was spent chilling out and wandering around different parts of the city. 

Yesterday was more of a busy day for us. We decided to take advantage of an offer our hostel had which was a days free bike hire in Maipu for spending 4 nights there. Maipu is the area where a lot of the wineries and vineyards are. After a half hour bus journey we arrived in Maipu and collected our bikes. We decided to visit the furthest away winery first. The map made it look like it was just up the road, but it was in fact 10km so we were already feeling tired when we got there. After a quick tour we were able to taste 4 of their wines. Neither of us are massive wine drinkers but we didn't mind, was all part of the fun. Unfortunately Emily sustained a bad cycling injury to her ankle which inhibited her cycling. 

After this we cycled to a nice little beer garden where we sat for an hour in the sun. We then visited another winery and a place where they made olive oil, jams, chocolate and liquors. The chocolate was good, the liquors not so much, although we did like a mulled wine one. We left feeling a little sick. By this time we had to return our bikes to Mr Hugo, who was probably the nicest person we have a met here. We didn't have a clue what he was saying, but he was smiling and laughing a lot so we can assume it was all nice. It was a pretty long day so our evening was less than productive. 

Today we move on again, leaving Mendoza and Argentina for our next stop, and next country, Santiago, Chile. 

Cordoba

We arrived at our hostel for about 10.30am. We had decided to go for a private room so we could relax for a few days. Dorms are fun and a great way of meeting people, but theres only so many times you can have the same conversation with everyone in your room.

The room was pretty nice with a balcony. We went out exploring the city, but soon realised it was a bank holiday, carnival, and everything was closed. We searched for a supermarket as we hadn't had a decent meal for a few days. Carrots were not filling. After the horrendous nights sleep last night we chilled out at the hostel and had an early night.

Yesterday we headed to a big park and spent a couple of hours wandering around the walked back up the "cultural mile" to the city centre.

We decided to go out for dinner, try one of the local veggie restaurants. However most of the restaurants were still closed for bank holiday. We found such a nice one though called "Don't worry". It was out in the open and had fairy lights. The food was good too. We strolled back to the hostel after through the city centre. It was still pretty lively and had a good atmosphere.

Today we had a cultural day of going to a museum about a torture facility which was really creepy as you could see where it all happened. We then went to see the cathedral which was amazingly detailed.

Cordoba is a nice city, not a huge amount to do, but it had a nice feel to it :-)

We leave for mendoza tomorrow night with another overnight bus. Hopefully better than last time!

Carrots and Coffee

Our bus from Buenos Aires to Cordoba wasn't exactly a highlight of our trip so far, but we still thought we'd share the experience. 

We arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to spare so that we could sort ourselves out and find out where to go. It got to about 15 minutes before our journey for a bus to Cordoba to be displayed. We queued up only to be told this was not our bus. Luckily we bumped into a girl from our hostel who was also getting the same bus. She could speak Spanish too, which was an advantage. We found out that we were in fact looking for the wrong bus and, after trying and failing to get on another bus, were told ours would be late. The bus eventually arrived about 45 minutes late. 

The seats were not very comfortable and the bus sounded like it had seen better days. 

After a couple of detours down some roads, in a pretty dodgy looking neighbourhood, that clearly weren't designed with large buses in mind, it became clear that we were lost. That, and the fact the driver had to pull over to ask for directions. When we eventually found ourselves out of the city, it was dinner time. Luckily there was both meat and a vegetarian option. Both looked as appealing as the neighbourhood we had previously been lost in. It was a salad which mainly consisted of carrot. There was some rice, a roll of cheese and a folded up piece of some sort of salami. The norovirus doesn't have a taste, but if it did, I imagine it would be similar to how this meat tasted, it was pretty horrendous at best. Along with the salad, there was a cake. The cake was so dry I think it absorbed 70% of the water in my body. Accompanying this was some sort of custard stuff, it didn't have much of a taste so was probably the best bit. The vegetarian meal was similar. Only the meat, cheese and rice was substituted with tomato and radish, it too was very carrot heavy. In place of the cake, there were two packs of crackers. They must be a fan of dry food here as no butter or spread was provided. After finishing food at around midnight it was time for sleep.

I woke up at around 6:30 to find the bus was stopped at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. After around 20 minutes, some strange noises and no explanation as to why we had stopped, we were back on the road. The 'breakfast' was as inspiring as the meal the night before. We were given a biscuit, which the appearance whilst opening, on first impression, wouldn't look out of place on an STD awareness presentation. The taste wasn't much better either, and the coffee that came with it tasted like feet.

Towards the end of the journey the bus pulled in to what we thought was a station. Although it soon became apparent that we were actually at the bus depot and we had stopped so that someone could carry out some minor repairs on the bus. This did not fill us with much confidence.

Soon after, we arrived in Cordoba two hours later than was anticipated. But at least we made it. Unfortunately neither of us decided to take any photos of this part of our adventure. A decision I doubt we will regret.

Buenos Aires

Our last two days in Buenos Aires were actually spent in the city. 

On Saturday, we had made plans to do a hop on hop off bus tour so we could fit in as many attractions as possible. However this did not go as well as we'd hoped. After stepping out of our hostel on to the normally very busy main street, we noticed that the road had been closed off. We wandered up to nearby Av 9 de Julio, the massive 20 lane road running through the centre of the city, to find hundreds of people waving flags of different colours and chanting. There was also loud music and women dancing on top of a lorry. We had no idea what was going on and it soon became clear that the main route of the tour we were hoping to do was in fact closed off to cars. We walked around still not knowing much about what was happening. A while after, we noticed some men in suits running alongside a car which had a woman sticking her hand out the tinted windows and waving. This may or may not have been the president of Argentina, and the parade had something to do with an election. Either way, we returned to the hostel after people started letting off very loud bangers. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the hostel and walking around looking for somewhere to eat, which turned out to be fairly successful. 

Our last day in the city was mostly spent at a market in the San Telmo region. We didn't really know what to expect, and it turns out it is market store after market store on what seemed like an endless cobbled street. We walked all the way down the road admiring everything which was for sale. Stuff ranging from handbags and wooden crafts, to clothes and second hand cutlery. This also gave us the opportunity to see some tango shows, which were performed on the street. On our way back we came across a live band playing some Spanish type ska music with trumpets, saxophone, guitar and some sort of drum which you sit on, something which I've noticed is widely played in South America.

After the market we returned to the hostel to relax before our 11 hour night bus to Cordoba that evening. 

Border Hopping

Our second day in Buenos Aires was actually spent in a completely different country as we arranged a day trip to Colonia Del Sacremento in Uruguay after hearing good things about it. 1. Being because its a very nice place and 2. It's an opportunity to withdraw more US$ to exchange back in Argentina. 

We got to the ferry terminal, had another stamp put in the passport and boarded the boat at midday. The journey was about an hour long, so coupled with the hours time difference in Uruguay, we didn't arrive in Colonia until about 3. 

We took part in a short walking tour to the old part of the city. Apparently it's the oldest in the country. The buildings were small and made of stone, and the streets were cobbled. It was very picturesque. After the tour we walked up the Main Street where we were able to top up with enough dollars to hopefully see us through the rest of our days in Argentina. We then found a place to eat back in the old part of town. After this, we had another walk through town before trying to find the beach. After walking for about half an hour we decided it was too far and turned back. Instead, we sat on the harbour and watched the sun set. We then made our way back to the ferry terminal. Our boat back was late and we seemed to have to wait forever until we managed to board and get back to Argentina.

Eventually we may even see what Buenos Aires has to offer, but who knows.