Rafting (now with pics!)

Gav wanted to go whitewater rafting when we were in New Zealand, but for some reason we couldn't do it, I can't remember why. He finally got to do it yesterday near Salta.

We've never done it before but it was a great laugh and harder than I thought. The rapids were grade 2 and 3. We capsized twice.

We camped at the rafting place for 2 nights, on the second night they put on a traditional Argentinian parilla (BBQ) for us. It was amazing, beef, beef and more beef. It was lovely camping next to the river but we all got eaten alive by the bugs, I'm in agony today.

Blogger seems to be playing up and wont let me upload the rafting pics, I'll keep trying, but here are a couple from the BBQ which it would let me up load.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Legend has it that close to Tupiza (where we are now) is where Butch and Sundance were finally gunned down. Yesterday after watching some insignificant football match we were taken by jeep up into the mountains and then biked back down to the town. I say biked but as it was all down hill we free-wheeled really.

Once again the scenery was incredible.

We are leaving in an hour for Argentina, the land of steaks, red wine and football. I wonder whether I will enjoy it....?

The Train Graveyard

When they can't afford to maintain their trains any longer in Bolivia, they send them to the Train Graveyard in Uyuni and they just sit there and rust. All the engines were made in England.

The graffiti was there already, I didn´t do it!

Bec, the white stuff and Bolivia

Bruno once urged Bec to just try "it" first and Tracy was very offended the first time she saw Bec do it, after preparing a lovely meal, but anyone who has ever been at the dinner table with my beloved will know she is addicted to the "white stuff". You also won´t be surprised that Bec loved our visit to the largest salt plain on the planet. The Uyuni salt flats are over 12,000 square kms and because there is no background as far as the eye can see you can take amusing photos and play with the perspective. As we were there during the rainy season there were a few inches of water on the salt layer (12m deep) and this added to the mystic so that when we first arrived you couldn´t see the horizon.

In the middle of the salt flats is a hotel made from salt, Bec thought this was such a good idea she wants us to build a home from salt when we come back...

We watched the sun go down for an amazing sunset as our batteries finally ran out on the camera.

Cartoon scenery

I must admit that then when we were planning the trip Bolivia wasn´t one of our "must do" countries but we have had a fantastic time here and been really surprised at the scenery. The 2 journeys from Potosi to Uyuni and then from Uyuni to Tupiza have been breathtaking.
Around every corner are changes from flat prairie plains (even though we are still above 3000m) to deserts and snow capped mountains. At times I did expect to see Speedy Gonzales or Wile E Coyote with his acme dynamite but instead there were herds of allpacas (types of llamas) looking bemused at our intrusion into their countryside. On Saturday the narrow roads snaked along mountain passes and coaches coming the opposite way passed us as if they had metres to spare rather than the millimetres they actually had. I was still up top for this and thankfully was on the mountain side rather than the cliff face.

Enough - I´ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Potholing in Potosi

We are no longer going solo. We´ve joined up with a tour for the next 5 weeks. We´re on a big orange truck with a driver and 6 other people, 4 brits, one Aussie and a Canadian. We booked it before we left home as we thought it would be a change and it means we´ll definitely be in Rio for Carnival.

Our first stop is Potosi. It used to be the worlds biggest Silver mine back in the days when England and Spain both thought they ruled the world. It´s still a working mine, and they still use 16th century methods. All the rocks are blown up by sticks of dinamite, then winched up in bags by hand before they´re shovelled into wheel barrows and wheeled out. The mine is at around 5000m, and the primitive working conditions are barbaric at that height with so little air. The miners all chew coca leaves and drink 95% alcohol to get them through the day. Most don´t survive more than 10 years in the mines.

It´s a real Bolivian style tour, they give you a safety helmet, light and overalls, but then they just take you round the mine as it´s being worked, not some risk assesed visitors´ centre. I fell down a hole (not a shaft thankfully). There are wheels barrows weaving past you all the time, dynamite blasts going off, you have to crawl through tunnels, they winch you down shafts, I´m exhausted after a 3 hour tour. It was an amazing experience, but I don´t envy the men working down there.

Gav didn´t come because of his old problem with heights and he´s claustrophobic too I´ve just found out. He´s at the hot springs having a soak.

Gav here, I had to check the spelling before we published, the hot springs were in fact a hot lake about 100m across. I swam across it a couple of times and then got out to sunbathe. As I was talking to a local guide I asked her how deep it was in the middle, she told me they didn´t know as it´s too dangerous to swim in the centre and some people have died trying it. That´s why I´m not allowed out on my own!

Copacabana

We've made it to Bolivia. It's our 13th country, only 3 more to go (well 4 if we sneak a few days in Uruguay). Bolivia is land locked (it used to have a coast but they lost it in a war to Peru), but they still have a navy, it's based in Copacabana, Lake Titikaka is their "sea". Here's one of their fleet.

From Puno we traveled round to the Bolivian side of Lake Titikaka, to Copacabana. We stayed in a brilliant hotel overlooking the bay. We treated our selves to the honeymoon suite as we're going to be camping for the next 4 weeks. Here's a pic of the room and me outside looking over the bay. The windows were 12 foot high, it was amazing watching the sunset over the lake.

We took a boat out to the Isla Del Sol. It's where the Incas think the sun was born. We met up with Tony, the guy we did the Inka trail with. The boat dropped us off at the north of the island and the three of us walked to the south. The scenery was amazing, a bit like New Zealand. Gav and I stayed the night, but Tony went back that afternoon, so we walked down to the jetty to wave him off. It was 1000 steep steps down, and a million back up to our B&B. From the B&B we could see the Bolivian mountains, they're over 6000m, they look majestic towering over the lake.

The island is pretty basic, no cars, just donkeys and a few llamas, but it was really peaceful as most visitors are day trippers. The restaurant we went to for dinner didn´t even have electricity, just a wood fire and candles.

Last Minute Cup Winner!

After a month in our luxury apartment in Cusco we had to bite the bullet and move on. We loved Cusco and it was great meeting up with other Gringos during our time there to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

We travelled south to Puno an ugly town that borders Lake Titicaca. Puno though is positively Cuscoesque compared to a place called Juliaca on the way, apart from about 5 buildings everywhere seemed to be on the way up or down.

Lake Titicaca is 5 times the size of Lake Geneva, so Bec tells me, and acts as a natural border between Peru and Bolivia (I knew that myself). We had a 2 day trip exploring the lake. First stop were the Uros floating islands where the islanders make their homes and the islands themselves from reeds. The reeds are 6 metres deep and ably supported my weight when we boarded from the boat (I was a bit tentative at first though). We saw more solid looking houses with mud bricks and tin roofs on the way back today so I reckon they commute to the islands where their "traditional" homes are in time for the tourists every day.

Our overnight stay was on Amantini the 2nd largest island on the lake. Having forgotten to take the camera out for our trek to the 4100m peak you´ll have to take my word for it that the views were stunning. The lake itself is at an altitude of 3800m.

The rest of our group didn´t seem to want to join me on the top deck of the boat on Day 1, Bec remarked that if may have had something to do with the freezing cold weather and gale force wind but it was so peaceful up there taking in the lake the Incas thought was the meeting of the Gods and Mother Earth. On the way back today the borders of the lake were topped of by fluffy clouds even though overhead was completely clear (pics 5&6).

I arrived back at the hotel to see on CNN that Solskjaer had scored a last minute winner, City could only draw with Sheff Weds and Liverpool were out.

Tomorrow we are off to the Bolivian side of the lake and then on to La Paz.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Happy New Year everyone. We celebrated the French new year for Lisa and Bruno then the English one for everyone else. Gav got a bit homesick when he saw the fireworks at the Millenium wheel on BBC World.

We thought we'd do the new year in the Traditional Peruvian way so we went to an Irish Bar. We met up with two of the people we were with on Christmas day, Elly and Dave. The peruvians have everything in yellow for New Year we never found out why, but we joined in. I managed to keep my hat all night, but I lost my coat and glasses, my real glasses not the 2007 ones.

So far we've spent 2007 recovering.