Well hello.
Bet you all thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere. That or run off with a sexy tango teacher.
Well no am alive and well and sin tango teacher, sorry it has been so damn long but have been busy and lazy. Never seems time to sit down in an internet cafe anymore. So will try and squeeze Bolivia into one email and then update on Peru mas tarde.
Well I think I was in Santa Cruz last time I emailed, cute town though pretty unlike the rest of Bolivia as it is at sea level, and not full of short fat women in bowler hats (more of that later).
Next we moved on to Sucre and up high (well 2500m which is peanuts now). We stayed around in that lovely relaxed city perched on a mountain soaking up the sun, atmosphere and architecture and making some new friends. Also we did a bit of Spanish to improve the rather poor skills. I had, verbs, verbs, verbs coming out of my ears, didn't even remember what one was and spent 4 days learning them. Still it was good practice. We went to various museums did lots of wondering and quite a lot of shopping too. Mostly buying warm clothes as we were off to Potosi next so woolly tights and all were purchased.
Potosi is the highest city in the world (bout 4000m), it's damn cold and only seems to have karaoke bars in terms of night life. We managed to have two drunken karaoke nights out and I even sang. We managed to meet up with Jen and Babs the lovely ladies we started our SA treks with, despite all odds we make it our duty to travel 1000s of miles across jungle, desert and sea to have hangovers together.
A great reunion celebrated by going down t' mines! We went on an excursion down the mines where hard as nails Bolivian men chew coca leaves all day and haul rocks around for a pittance, though they are at least co-operatives and not working for 'the man'. Still it was pretty hardcore and us gringos could only hack about 3 hours before we were begging for light, air and hot chocolate. An amazing if harrowing experience, I vowed never to complain about naff desk jobs again, at least for a couple of days anyway. A lot of the miners have to retire with chest problems form various nasty gases and asbestos. Apparently they used to mine silver there in colonial times and Potosi was as rich and big as NY or Paris but no more silver, no more dinero and now they work damn hard mining minerals for very little money.
Feeling lucky to be unemployed we left Potosi for Uyuni, taking with us a friendly Brit called Finn who had taken a liking to Mich. We 5 were off on a tour of the Salt flats in Bolivia ending back in lovely San Pedro Chile for some Pisco sours. The tour was amazing, the cold was just amazing, I have never been so cold in my life and been basically unprepared for it. We were at 4000m most of the time, in the most alien and striking landscape I have ever seen. Salt flats goings on as far as the eye can see reflecting brilliant white light and giving great photo opps. An island in the salt covered in giant cacti, they looked like a cacti party that had been disturbed as they all seemed to have arms thrown up in the air raving it up!
We saw many high lakes in different brilliant colours (red white and blue for the Brits) and they all had beautiful coral coloured flamingos wandering about on them with those weird knees that bend backwards. We wondered how these birds were in such a harsh cold place, you kinda think of them somewhere warmer and more glamorous. They must have got lost on the way back form Miami.
Altogether great fun if a little hard on the bones with the cold and we listened to our police cassette about 20 times as the guide liked it. I need a rest from Sting!
After a day to chill in San Pedro and some great food and pisco sours we were off on the road again and back into Bolivia to La Paz (we went through Chile as buses and roadblocks a little unreliable in Bolivia at the mo).
La Paz is pretty stunning, in a weird way. A city set in a crater with snow capped mountains surrounding it, you wound your way down into the city and at the end of every street there is a stunning view of the shanty towns up on the hill and mountains in the distance. It all sparkles so beautifully at night too. I was a bit ill here so stayed in bed watching fox network a lot, did make it to a few museums though and we went to some ancient pre Inca ruins which were pretty spectacular with amazing rock statues with intricate carvings on them.
We also went on a crazy mountain bike ride down what claims to be the most dangerous road in the world. You may gasp but it was pretty damn safe with guides and great bikes. The views were amazing as we descended from frozen rivers at 5000m to jungle at 1500m. When you looked up from concentrating on the road you were greeted with dizzying views off the side of the narrow road to jungle 100s of metres below. Pretty exhilarating and we even got a t-shirt to show for it. It was straight back up to La Paz though as we were setting off for Lake Titicaca the next day.
Copacabana next, no not the one from the song but a small town on the edge of the lake with a funny name where you can go pedaloing and every step is damn hard work cos of how high you are. We met up with the Aussies from Potosi minus one who was on his way after having caught typhoid in the jungle while looking after monkeys (that’s the most random sentence I think I’ve ever written). The first thing they did was drag us kicking and screaming up a bloody big hill to see the sunset over the lake. Was worth it though and you could really feel the majesty of this lake where the great Inca civilisation was born.
Well think that is about enough for now will finish Bolivia next time with a bit of island action and at long last my boy arriving in SA only to be the translator at the hospital for various friends and catch the lurgy from me.
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