day 34 - Bonito
Yesterday we all agreed to go to a local hotel/national park thing for the day which has a river and a football pitch etc and have a bbq. The minibus picked us up at 9 and we went to the supermarket to buy stuff for the bbq. The non-students of the group went all out buying chicken wings, steaks, sausages, salad etc. the poorer of us bought just burgers, suasages, bread and of course some beers.
We then continued on to the park and it was awesome. There was a sand football pitch and volleyball pitch, loads of barbeques and sitting areas, table tennis tables, pool tables, table football tables and then the beautiful river/lake. It had even had a zipline and a diving board for the river.
We went for a quick swim before renting a ball and going to play football. It was really fun and half way through some local brazillians challenged us to a match. Playing brazillians at beach football is usually suicide but after our fantastic win back in peru we were pretty confident. Our earlier fears were soon gone when we proceeded to score 8 in a row with no reply. Obviously the sterotype doesn´t apply to all brazillians and they were soon begging us to intergrate teams. We played for a little longer before stopping to go swimming again. We had a dive contest off the diving board and im pretty sure i won with my running somersualt over-rotation into bellyflop dive. Afterwards we started the BBQ we put all our sausages on but after 30 mins they weren´t done as the rack was far too far away from the heat. Using classic british ingenuity we decided to ram them 5cm away from the flame and they were done in 30 seconds. For desssert we had a pineapple and the left-over marshmellows from pantany and created awesome pineapple and marshmellow skewers.
After dinner we spent the rest of the day relaxing, having the worst all group game of volleyball and then more swimming. It was a reall relaxing day and by the end of it i was totally shattered despite doing very little. We stayed up a little while longer at the hotel playing cards, which then turned into drinking card games and eventually 4 of us seeing off a litre of spirits and far too many beers. It was a fantastic day.
Day 35 - Bonito
Today some of the group went to the snorkelling place i talked about in my last post. With money issues (not being able to take any money out of atm´s in brazil) i decided not to do it. The people who deicded not to do it did very little with the day, we chatted, played cards and wandered round the town buying bacon buritos. It was a basically a day spent killing time until the night bus at 7, nether the less it was a cool day. The night bus was pretty much uneventful and we were pretty used to them by this point.
Day 36 - Iguassu
We got off the night bus, dumped our stuff in the hotel (but weren´t allowed to check in) and went off to iguassu. On the way to the falls we stopped off at a place where you could have a helicopter tour over the falls. It was pretty expensive (70pounds for a 10 min flight) bujt seeing as i´d never been in a helicopter before and a friend in the group said iguassu was the best thing he´s ever seen, i decided to do it, you can always earn more money later...
The helicopter ride was incredible, it reall different from an airplane and the view from the air was incredbile. I rushed to the helicopter and managed to snag the front seat next to the pilot and with a huge glass window and floor so i was pretty chuffed. Seeing the pilot operate the helicopter was really cool and the panaramic views offered by the front window of the helicopter were much better than seeing it through the small plane like windows in the back. It was really cool, if a little short, but i´m really glad i did it. I´m just trying to avoid thinking about how much beer i could have got for that 10min flight...
We then headed on to Iguassu falls themselves from the brazillian side.
They were hidden in amoungst loads of jungle but were absolutely collosal. They looked incredible and were quite different from niagra. They were split up into lots of smaller waterfalls as well as some huge ones. There was a really cool walk way that took you on a scenic tour of the falls which was pretty cool. Near the end we got to go on a walkway right out into the falls. I got absolutely soaked by all the spray from the falls but it was pretty incredible being that close to them and offered some amazing views.
Afterwards we got a lift up to a viewing point that looked over the falls which again offered some awesome views before heading back.
The hotel was really nice and had a rooftop pool and bar which we spent the rest of the sunlight hours in.
In the evening we went to a old gap leaders house for a BBQ and unlimited booze. We were joined by another couple of gap groups, one of which contained my room mates old uni room mate who didn´t know the other was travelling and just happened to be in the same place at the same time, small world.
The bbq was really nice with a good selection of salady stuff and lots of meat. Afterwards the party started and the Dj started playing. We were also supprised by two brazillian girls in full salsa outfits with some of the best bums i´ve ever seen. They got everyone up to dance and we had a really good night, if a little boozy.
Day 37 - Iguassu town
Today was a free day with a couple of optional activites to visit paraguay for tax free shopping or visit the huge hydroelectric dam. Still with no money and not wanting to get further into debt when i didn´t have to i decided not to go and spent the day hanging out with the rest of the poor students. We spent most of it up on the roof witht he pool or wandering the town. At 3 we all went to a bar to watch the cup america final between paraguay and uraguay (really wish brazil hadn´t been so poor and got knocked out, would have been amazing). It was quite a relaxed atmosphere but a nice time anyway and we saw one of the gap groups from the party again. I was feeling pretty ill so decided to get an early night so missed the late night festivities which turned out to be a waste of time seeing as everywhere closed at 10:30 as it was a sunday.
Day 38 - Iguassu falls (argentinian side)
Today we went to see the falls from the argentinian side, apparently Brazillian side had only 20% of the falls and that was epic so i couldn´t wait. We had to go through argentinian border control on the way and even got another set of stamps in my passport. I wasn´t disappointed it was even more incredible than before. There was a huge trail round the falls visiting loads of different waterfalls. We did the first section before stoppoing for a quick break when we were attacked by a swam of raccoons. There was 10-15 racoons that decended on us from out of nowhere and started climbing the tables and ripping into any plastic bags that were out. It was quite a weird moment.
After that little interuption we continued along the trail which took us right up to the waterfall for another soaking, through the jungle, and over and past others tributaries and waterfalls.
The last part of the trail was up to the ´devils throat´ so named due to the sound it made. It was huge, akin to niagra. The sound was deffening and there were huge plumes of spray kicked up. There was such a volume of water that half the falls were obscured by the spray so you didn´t get to see how big they really were but it was still epic.
After spending 30mins or so just marvelling at the size of it we headed back to the bus, through border control and back to the hotel. After 10 mins we had to get back on the bus in order to go to the bus station and catch another night bus... For 24 hours.
Day 39 - travelling (paraty)
Spent the whole night and day on the bus so very little to report. We arrived at 6 so it was too late to go to the beach instead we wandered the town until dinner time and then went to a couple of bars in the evening and discovered just how disgusting caprinias (the brazillian national cocktail) really is.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Brazil! (Pantanal)
Day 31 - Pantanal
After getting off the night train we had a short taxi to the border before queing through the broders. It took roughly 2 hours to be free in Brazil and for some reason it looked pretty different to Bolivia despite being only meters apart. We then got a mini-bus for 2 hours before transfering to an open-topped truck for the last 90mins. We saw some incredible wildlife on the way including lots of different types of birds (parrots and toucans) and even some camens ( `small` alligators). When we got to the ranch it was like a paradise. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful views and glorious sunshine, hello Brazil! It made a great change to the relative cold of the higher alltitudes in Bolivia. We immediately started a game of 3 a side football followed by rugby and american football.It was great fun but by the end of it, due to playing in barefoot, me and morti had humungus blisters. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in hammocks and reading or listening to music.After dinner we we supposed to go on a night time walk but due to the blisters em and morti decided to stay in. We had a pretty good time chatting and playing cards with another group who were also at the ranch. At night we were to stay in hammocks which sounded like an awesome idea but in reality i got very little sleep. It was also made worse by the state of the toilets, they were absolutely covered in insects and mosquitoes. The floor was a sea of bugs and many jumped up at you or dropped from the ceiling, there were also some live ones in the toilet bowl, not the most pleasant place when you still have a dodgy tummy.
Day 32 - Pantanal
We got up early in order to go Piranah fishing and set off in the trucks around 8:30. After an hour of travellign which was more like a saffari (we saw monkeys, snakes and lots of birds) we arrive. We were given long bamboo poles with string and a hook on the end and a bag of meat. After attaching the meat to the hook you cast it out into the water and waited for a tug, which was almost imediately. I caught one on my second go but then spent the rest of the time wasting loadsof bait without catching a single one. After we were all done fishing we went for a swim in the piranah and camen invested river. Unfortunately we had to get out early as the guide had spotted some nearby otters. Apparently piranahs and alligators were safe enough to swim with but you dont want to mess with an angry otter!
After the fishing we went back for lunch before going horse riding in the afternoon. The first hour was pretty mudane just walking around spotting the occasional animal but the last 30mins was amazing. The guide allowed us to pretty much go nuts and we raced each other, sometimes at a gallop all over the ranch. It was terrifying and exilirating at the same time. We returned back covered ins sweat and exhuasted but it was worth it. After a bug invested shower we had another game of football and an evening of lazng around in hammocks.
Day 33 - Bonito
We got up at 5:28 for our 5:30 sun rise walk after yet another disapointing sleep in the hammock (amazing for napping in pretty poor for sleeping in). It was completely dark when we started but the sun soon began to rise and the views were incredible. The walk lasted 2 hours and we trailed through woodland and swamp. Along the way we saw several monkeys, an ant-eater, a wild baor amoung others. When we returned we got the open top truck thing for another 90mins before a further 3 hour bus journey to bonito. When we arrived in Bonito we wen tout to the super market before coming here to update my blog. We bought dinner at the super market so are probaly going to have quite a chilled eveningplaying cards or whatever.Brazil is really expensive so going out every night is going to have to stop. Tomorrow we´re going to a local national park with a river chilling out all day and having a bbq. The day after i´ve got to decided whether i want to spend the day snorkelling in a beautiful river. Apparently its like a fsh tank and is crystal clear, and the pictures i´ve seen look incredible but it is $100 for 2 hours snorkelling (including transport there and back), see what i was talking about brazil ebing expensive! I suppoose you only live once and can always earn more moeny so ill probably do it...
After getting off the night train we had a short taxi to the border before queing through the broders. It took roughly 2 hours to be free in Brazil and for some reason it looked pretty different to Bolivia despite being only meters apart. We then got a mini-bus for 2 hours before transfering to an open-topped truck for the last 90mins. We saw some incredible wildlife on the way including lots of different types of birds (parrots and toucans) and even some camens ( `small` alligators). When we got to the ranch it was like a paradise. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful views and glorious sunshine, hello Brazil! It made a great change to the relative cold of the higher alltitudes in Bolivia. We immediately started a game of 3 a side football followed by rugby and american football.It was great fun but by the end of it, due to playing in barefoot, me and morti had humungus blisters. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in hammocks and reading or listening to music.After dinner we we supposed to go on a night time walk but due to the blisters em and morti decided to stay in. We had a pretty good time chatting and playing cards with another group who were also at the ranch. At night we were to stay in hammocks which sounded like an awesome idea but in reality i got very little sleep. It was also made worse by the state of the toilets, they were absolutely covered in insects and mosquitoes. The floor was a sea of bugs and many jumped up at you or dropped from the ceiling, there were also some live ones in the toilet bowl, not the most pleasant place when you still have a dodgy tummy.
Day 32 - Pantanal
We got up early in order to go Piranah fishing and set off in the trucks around 8:30. After an hour of travellign which was more like a saffari (we saw monkeys, snakes and lots of birds) we arrive. We were given long bamboo poles with string and a hook on the end and a bag of meat. After attaching the meat to the hook you cast it out into the water and waited for a tug, which was almost imediately. I caught one on my second go but then spent the rest of the time wasting loadsof bait without catching a single one. After we were all done fishing we went for a swim in the piranah and camen invested river. Unfortunately we had to get out early as the guide had spotted some nearby otters. Apparently piranahs and alligators were safe enough to swim with but you dont want to mess with an angry otter!
After the fishing we went back for lunch before going horse riding in the afternoon. The first hour was pretty mudane just walking around spotting the occasional animal but the last 30mins was amazing. The guide allowed us to pretty much go nuts and we raced each other, sometimes at a gallop all over the ranch. It was terrifying and exilirating at the same time. We returned back covered ins sweat and exhuasted but it was worth it. After a bug invested shower we had another game of football and an evening of lazng around in hammocks.
Day 33 - Bonito
We got up at 5:28 for our 5:30 sun rise walk after yet another disapointing sleep in the hammock (amazing for napping in pretty poor for sleeping in). It was completely dark when we started but the sun soon began to rise and the views were incredible. The walk lasted 2 hours and we trailed through woodland and swamp. Along the way we saw several monkeys, an ant-eater, a wild baor amoung others. When we returned we got the open top truck thing for another 90mins before a further 3 hour bus journey to bonito. When we arrived in Bonito we wen tout to the super market before coming here to update my blog. We bought dinner at the super market so are probaly going to have quite a chilled eveningplaying cards or whatever.Brazil is really expensive so going out every night is going to have to stop. Tomorrow we´re going to a local national park with a river chilling out all day and having a bbq. The day after i´ve got to decided whether i want to spend the day snorkelling in a beautiful river. Apparently its like a fsh tank and is crystal clear, and the pictures i´ve seen look incredible but it is $100 for 2 hours snorkelling (including transport there and back), see what i was talking about brazil ebing expensive! I suppoose you only live once and can always earn more moeny so ill probably do it...
Sucre - Santa cruz
day 29 - The ill day - Sucre
Although having booked to go mountain biking today with the rest of the group i was feeling awful. I got up on time and dragged myself to breakfast but afterwards was feeling too sick to go. I spent the whole day in bed sleeping and was still tired. I wasn´t hungary but forced myself to drnk loads of water in order to try and flush it out. In the evening it was the groups last meal with the current tour leader. I really didn´t want to go but as it was the last night i forced myself. It was in a really nice french resturant and i had a really tasty apple and something chicken curry. After dinner i went straight back to bed. What a productive day.
Day 30 - Santa Cruz
Despite still feeling ill i forced myself up in order to say goodbye to the 3 of our group that were leaving. I wasn´t too concerned about Ivon, who although nice, was 33 and german so we didn´t talk much, i had no time for aaisha who didn´t intergrate with the group at all and was very rude, but i would really miss mike who was hilarious and really good fun. After we had said goodbye to them we headed for breakfast before a couple of people went off to a local orphanage. I stayed behing toget a little more rest and pack before heading off to the local markets with danielle in order to try and buy presents and spend the last of my Bolivianos. After a pretty unsucessful morning we returned to the hotel in order to catch our flight to Santa Cruz. We left at 1 for our flight at 3 butit actually left at 4:30 so there was quite a bit of waiting aorund. The flight was only 30 mins long and seemed a bit pointless when we were getting 4-8 hour buses all the time. When we arrived we met our new tour leader ziada (pronounced cider) and went back to our hotel. After checking in we went to the main square to watch the football (the south american cup) on a big screen with all the locals. It was pretty cool and the atmosphere was intense, especially when it went to penalties. It was Argentina vs Uraguay so the crowd was split pretty 50:50 but there was no hostility. It was quite an experience. After the game we went out for dinner and i was sat next to the new person to join our group, Morti from Norway. He was really cool andi found out he was a investment banker who had now started his own private equity firm with a partner which i´ll have to speak to him more about sometime in the trip.
Day 31 - Santa Cruz
Our room had no windows and we forgot to set an alarm so we woke up pretty late. Having realised i had lost my card (probablly back in sucre) i spent most of the day sorting that out inbetween wandering round the town. For lunch we had the most collosal chicken and chips for next to nothing before returning to the hotel ready for the ngiht train. The rumours were that the night train would be pretty horrible and lasted for 16 hours so on the way back we stopped for snacks and sleeping pills. At the train station our tour guide realised that gap had made a mistake and that we were in fact booked into first class. It was pretty good with big reclining seats and a free dinner and breakfast. The dinner and breakfast were pretty poor bnut the journey itself wasn´t bad at all and before we knew it we were on the Bolivia-Brazil border.
Although having booked to go mountain biking today with the rest of the group i was feeling awful. I got up on time and dragged myself to breakfast but afterwards was feeling too sick to go. I spent the whole day in bed sleeping and was still tired. I wasn´t hungary but forced myself to drnk loads of water in order to try and flush it out. In the evening it was the groups last meal with the current tour leader. I really didn´t want to go but as it was the last night i forced myself. It was in a really nice french resturant and i had a really tasty apple and something chicken curry. After dinner i went straight back to bed. What a productive day.
Day 30 - Santa Cruz
Despite still feeling ill i forced myself up in order to say goodbye to the 3 of our group that were leaving. I wasn´t too concerned about Ivon, who although nice, was 33 and german so we didn´t talk much, i had no time for aaisha who didn´t intergrate with the group at all and was very rude, but i would really miss mike who was hilarious and really good fun. After we had said goodbye to them we headed for breakfast before a couple of people went off to a local orphanage. I stayed behing toget a little more rest and pack before heading off to the local markets with danielle in order to try and buy presents and spend the last of my Bolivianos. After a pretty unsucessful morning we returned to the hotel in order to catch our flight to Santa Cruz. We left at 1 for our flight at 3 butit actually left at 4:30 so there was quite a bit of waiting aorund. The flight was only 30 mins long and seemed a bit pointless when we were getting 4-8 hour buses all the time. When we arrived we met our new tour leader ziada (pronounced cider) and went back to our hotel. After checking in we went to the main square to watch the football (the south american cup) on a big screen with all the locals. It was pretty cool and the atmosphere was intense, especially when it went to penalties. It was Argentina vs Uraguay so the crowd was split pretty 50:50 but there was no hostility. It was quite an experience. After the game we went out for dinner and i was sat next to the new person to join our group, Morti from Norway. He was really cool andi found out he was a investment banker who had now started his own private equity firm with a partner which i´ll have to speak to him more about sometime in the trip.
Day 31 - Santa Cruz
Our room had no windows and we forgot to set an alarm so we woke up pretty late. Having realised i had lost my card (probablly back in sucre) i spent most of the day sorting that out inbetween wandering round the town. For lunch we had the most collosal chicken and chips for next to nothing before returning to the hotel ready for the ngiht train. The rumours were that the night train would be pretty horrible and lasted for 16 hours so on the way back we stopped for snacks and sleeping pills. At the train station our tour guide realised that gap had made a mistake and that we were in fact booked into first class. It was pretty good with big reclining seats and a free dinner and breakfast. The dinner and breakfast were pretty poor bnut the journey itself wasn´t bad at all and before we knew it we were on the Bolivia-Brazil border.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Return to Uyuni - Potosi - Sucre
Day 25 - Uyuni
After a terrible nights sleep we all piled back into the 4x4´s and headed back to Uyuni stopping off at a really cool volcanic rock formation and a lagoon on the way. Once back in Uyuni everyone rushed to have a warm shower to try and warm up and spent the rest of the day trying to get some decent sleep. After dinner in a really tasty pizza resturant most of us went back to the extremely fun pub for a couple of drinks. It was extremely fun with a lot of silly drinks and glasses to drink from.
Day 26 - Potosi
Most of the day was spent travelling to Potosi trough some awesome country side and at times travelling on something that was very reminisant of the death road with a huge drop to one side. In the evening we went to one of the worst resturants ever. The food took over two hours to arrive and when it did dave´s burger was stone cold. The waiter also gave us the most evil look ever when we dared to ask for ketchup... After the meal we were all pretty tired so decided to stay in and watch a movie in our hotel before heading off to bed.
Day 27 - Sucre
There was an option to take a tour of the local mines during the day but not really wanting to pay to go into a dark hole with a very questionable safety record i decided to give it a miss. Instead me and rob spent the day exploring the city. We saw soem cool churches and relaxed in a local park. In the evening we got a bus to Sucre and checked into our new hotel, a 4 star old colonial hotel which was awesome. In the evening we went out for dinner in a place that was also half bar/club. They had 2 4 1 on pints while the South American Cup was on so it worked out around 40p a pint... After dinner we headed upstairs to the club area which was pretty cool having everyone there. We then went to kareokee and a different club with various people dropping out along the way (in age order).
Day 28 - Sucre
Despite everyone feeling pretty worse for wear a few of us went out for a tour of the town at 10. It was realy cool having palces significance explained ot you and the stories behing it rather than just thinking thats a nice statue. After see all the cultural stuff we went to the markets and got some awesome fruit smoothies and chorizo sandwhiches. After returning to the hotel to check out how everyone elses hangovers were doing me and matt went back into town to get a haircut. Due to a bet i had lost i had to get a mohawk done. Going to a place that didn´t speak spanish probably wasn´t a great idea and it came out kind of retarded (even more so than a mohawk usually is) It is made worse by the fact you can now see then tan lines on my head where my hair used to be. I´ve also got a beard based tan line so will have to make sure i keep on top of cutting it in future. Hopefully it will be gone by the end of the holiday...
In the evening i headed out to an mma club id found during the day (sorry mum). They started off by making me run up and down 8 flights of stairs 25 times followed by ridiculous amounts of burpees and press-ups. I was absolutely dead, it would have been awful if done at sea level let alone 3000m. After that it turned into a sort of karate class with stupid stances and flicky kicks but atleast it gave me a chance to recover a little. Then we got on to sparring, tappy head shots but hard as you like body shots. I was pitted against their best black belt in order to prove a point i suppose. I thought we just go pretty light but he was really going hard. He didn´t really know how to block leg kicks and after a couple of minutes of turning his leaad leg to jelly i eventually dropped him with a body shot. I was pretty proud that there attempt at hazing had kinda backfired and the instructor didn´t look best pleased that his best guy had been beaten by the new guy. He paired himself with me and we started sparring again. I thought that seeing as it was the instructor and he had atleast 25kg on me we would be going light. Apparently not. I spent the most of the round running away and holding on not wanting to piss him off too much. Next came the grappling section, thank god.
I was pitted against their best guy again, they never learn. We were given the small mma gloves and said it was Vale Tudo "anything goes" for 1x5min round. He came out swinging but i ducked under and picked him up for a huge slam. He tapped out to the slam and had to take a couple of minutes to regain his breath. score 1 me. When we restarted it turned into a pretty one sided beat down with me submitting him 6 times in 5 minutes including 3 guillotines in a row and a mclovin-oplata. They had practically no idea what they were doing. It was then turned into winner stays on. I submitted the entire club (12 people and both instructors) in a row with the same submission. I was absolutely exausted but felt pretty awesome that their attempt to amke a fool of me had backfired so horribly. I spent the rest of the session teaching them the most basic submissions and at the end got a speach dedicated to my awesomeness by the instructor (or atleast thats what i think it was, it was all in spanish). I now realise that despite seeing some absolutely incredible places over the last couple of days the thing i´ve written the most about is my one session of mma, i need to sort my priorities out.
After the MMA i headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before we all went out to a club where our tour leader was guest DJ´íng. It was a really good night.
After a terrible nights sleep we all piled back into the 4x4´s and headed back to Uyuni stopping off at a really cool volcanic rock formation and a lagoon on the way. Once back in Uyuni everyone rushed to have a warm shower to try and warm up and spent the rest of the day trying to get some decent sleep. After dinner in a really tasty pizza resturant most of us went back to the extremely fun pub for a couple of drinks. It was extremely fun with a lot of silly drinks and glasses to drink from.
Day 26 - Potosi
Most of the day was spent travelling to Potosi trough some awesome country side and at times travelling on something that was very reminisant of the death road with a huge drop to one side. In the evening we went to one of the worst resturants ever. The food took over two hours to arrive and when it did dave´s burger was stone cold. The waiter also gave us the most evil look ever when we dared to ask for ketchup... After the meal we were all pretty tired so decided to stay in and watch a movie in our hotel before heading off to bed.
Day 27 - Sucre
There was an option to take a tour of the local mines during the day but not really wanting to pay to go into a dark hole with a very questionable safety record i decided to give it a miss. Instead me and rob spent the day exploring the city. We saw soem cool churches and relaxed in a local park. In the evening we got a bus to Sucre and checked into our new hotel, a 4 star old colonial hotel which was awesome. In the evening we went out for dinner in a place that was also half bar/club. They had 2 4 1 on pints while the South American Cup was on so it worked out around 40p a pint... After dinner we headed upstairs to the club area which was pretty cool having everyone there. We then went to kareokee and a different club with various people dropping out along the way (in age order).
Day 28 - Sucre
Despite everyone feeling pretty worse for wear a few of us went out for a tour of the town at 10. It was realy cool having palces significance explained ot you and the stories behing it rather than just thinking thats a nice statue. After see all the cultural stuff we went to the markets and got some awesome fruit smoothies and chorizo sandwhiches. After returning to the hotel to check out how everyone elses hangovers were doing me and matt went back into town to get a haircut. Due to a bet i had lost i had to get a mohawk done. Going to a place that didn´t speak spanish probably wasn´t a great idea and it came out kind of retarded (even more so than a mohawk usually is) It is made worse by the fact you can now see then tan lines on my head where my hair used to be. I´ve also got a beard based tan line so will have to make sure i keep on top of cutting it in future. Hopefully it will be gone by the end of the holiday...
In the evening i headed out to an mma club id found during the day (sorry mum). They started off by making me run up and down 8 flights of stairs 25 times followed by ridiculous amounts of burpees and press-ups. I was absolutely dead, it would have been awful if done at sea level let alone 3000m. After that it turned into a sort of karate class with stupid stances and flicky kicks but atleast it gave me a chance to recover a little. Then we got on to sparring, tappy head shots but hard as you like body shots. I was pitted against their best black belt in order to prove a point i suppose. I thought we just go pretty light but he was really going hard. He didn´t really know how to block leg kicks and after a couple of minutes of turning his leaad leg to jelly i eventually dropped him with a body shot. I was pretty proud that there attempt at hazing had kinda backfired and the instructor didn´t look best pleased that his best guy had been beaten by the new guy. He paired himself with me and we started sparring again. I thought that seeing as it was the instructor and he had atleast 25kg on me we would be going light. Apparently not. I spent the most of the round running away and holding on not wanting to piss him off too much. Next came the grappling section, thank god.
I was pitted against their best guy again, they never learn. We were given the small mma gloves and said it was Vale Tudo "anything goes" for 1x5min round. He came out swinging but i ducked under and picked him up for a huge slam. He tapped out to the slam and had to take a couple of minutes to regain his breath. score 1 me. When we restarted it turned into a pretty one sided beat down with me submitting him 6 times in 5 minutes including 3 guillotines in a row and a mclovin-oplata. They had practically no idea what they were doing. It was then turned into winner stays on. I submitted the entire club (12 people and both instructors) in a row with the same submission. I was absolutely exausted but felt pretty awesome that their attempt to amke a fool of me had backfired so horribly. I spent the rest of the session teaching them the most basic submissions and at the end got a speach dedicated to my awesomeness by the instructor (or atleast thats what i think it was, it was all in spanish). I now realise that despite seeing some absolutely incredible places over the last couple of days the thing i´ve written the most about is my one session of mma, i need to sort my priorities out.
After the MMA i headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before we all went out to a club where our tour leader was guest DJ´íng. It was a really good night.
Going to the missle of nowhere - slat flats - frostbite
Day 22 - travel to Uyuni
This may be somewhat of a null day as it was mostly travelling
We got up at 7 in order to catch a public bus at 8. The bus eventually turned up at 8;25 and it was disgusting.
The seats were tiny and stained and we were informed that there would be no toilet stops in the 5 hour journey...
Our new tour guide JJ informed us that for just $2 more a person we could have got our own nice, privtae bus, thanks gap.
When the bus stopped for fuel one of our group asked if she could leave to use the toilet, she was told it was ok. 2 minutes later we were driving off without her and had to shout at the us driver to stop.
we eventually got to the town where we would get our train from around 2 and after checking in our luggage and picking up a couple of snacks we boarded. This time we were in first class! Unfortunately it was bolivian first class and was still prettyn shit. Although it did have a tv in the corner which was blasting out some really crappy bolivian pop song on loop. After about 20 mins one of the other passengers got up and disconected the TV, thank god.
I spent most of the journey sleeping and we arrived in Uyuni around 11. We then had to collect our bags which was a classsic bolivian affair. They just dumped all the bags in a room and then let you loose trying to find yours. It took about 30mins before everyone had eentually fought their way to their own bag.
We got some 4x4´s to our hotel where Tom informed us that there was a place in the guidebook called the extremely fun pub, how could we say no?
Most of the people were pretty exhuasted but a couple of us went out anyway. In the pub we found anothwer gap group who showed us some awesome pictures from the salt flats and we even met one of the people that will join our group for the brazil tour. We were kicked out at 3am which was great seeign as we had a 7 start the next day
Day 23 - salt flats
We got up at 7 and after breakfast all piled in to our 4x4´s and headed out into the slat flats. In our jeep we had me, mike, tom, matt and sam which was a pretty awesome combination. Unfortunately Rob decided to stay in the hotel at Uyuni as he was feeling really ill and thought that -20 at night would do him no good.
First we went to the train graveyard which is where they dump all the out of service trains which was a bit weird. It was just a large collection of rusting trains by the track side.
After that we headed out into the salt flats occasionally stopping to look at a lagoon or similar. It was pretty epic, just a completely white flat surface surrounded by huge mountains.
We eventually got to the spot where everyone gets their funny perspective photos done. It´s completely white and flat so people take funny photos by putting things in the foreground to make them apear bigger. We came prepared and brought a toy car and a barbie in order to try and get some good photos but it didn´t really work. The best thing we got was a group video of us all running into a pringles can.
We then continued on towards our hotel for the night. Along the wasy we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets i´ve ever seen. At one point it the light reflected perfectly off the water on the slat flats and created a mirror type effect.
The hotel for the night was made completely out of salt, a bit like the ice hotel but permenant. It had salt tables, chairs and even beds. It had power for 2 hours at night then nothing. It was really basic and freezing cold but an experience.
day 24 - Desert
We got up reasonably early the next day (not that many of ys got much sleep due to the cold) and piled back into our 4x4´s in order to head out into the desert in the middle of the salt flats and see a volcano. We had been told by the gap group that we met in the extremely fun pub that the drivers may well tell you its too snowy to go on and will want to turn back but you have to insist that you go on, even if it means digging your car out a couple of times. This in mind we headed into the desert and soo found it was, as the group had said, covered in snow. No problem for our 4x4´s though we though. Unfortunately we were mistaken, although they claimed to be 4x4´s this was bolivia and our one was in fact only 2 wheel drive. We assumed it once was 4x4 and had broken but when it came up against a relatively tame slope covered in snow all that happened was the bqack wheels spun and dug its self a hole. They didn´t think to pack snow chains or a shovel so we had to dig it out by hand and give it another shot. The driver put it into first and revved as hard as he could, digging him self straight back into a hole. Despite some of our groups tips about going into a higher gear and not just trying to power up in first he continuedn to do the same thing. We´d dig him out then he power back into the same hole. After digging a path up the hill, lining it with rocks and dirt to try and give him some grip and lots and ltos of pushing and digging out we eventually made it up. The other 4x4´s which were actually 4x4 made it up easily which was pretty annoying. We continued on to the volcano look out point which was pretty cool seeing an active volcano. Unfortuantely if you leave a bunch of youngs boys in snow for any length of time you are bound to get a snowballl fight. Eventually everyone joined in and we started a huge snowball which was eventually joined by some other people in the same place and everyone had a great time. Unfortuantely i didn´t have waterproof hiking boots like everyone else so my feet we soaked and really cold.
After finishing with the snowball fight we headed on for another 30 mins, by this point my feet felt absolutely freezing so i decided to take off my shoes and socks and try and warm them up. They were blue and bruised all over and Tom informed me that that was the early signs of frostbite and i should get themn warm pretty quick. We taped the hand warmer things to them, towelled them dry and wrapped them up in thermals.
After another hour or so we got stuck in the snow again and after 30 mins of trying to dig them out the drivers refused to go on and we had to turn back. (Probablly the best decision as a different group plowed on eventually got stuck in the middle of nowhere and had to be air lifted out).
We eventually got to a small town which was absolutely barren and stayed in a what was kinda like someones spare room but third world. There were 8 matresses cramed into each room and it was quite an experience..
This may be somewhat of a null day as it was mostly travelling
We got up at 7 in order to catch a public bus at 8. The bus eventually turned up at 8;25 and it was disgusting.
The seats were tiny and stained and we were informed that there would be no toilet stops in the 5 hour journey...
Our new tour guide JJ informed us that for just $2 more a person we could have got our own nice, privtae bus, thanks gap.
When the bus stopped for fuel one of our group asked if she could leave to use the toilet, she was told it was ok. 2 minutes later we were driving off without her and had to shout at the us driver to stop.
we eventually got to the town where we would get our train from around 2 and after checking in our luggage and picking up a couple of snacks we boarded. This time we were in first class! Unfortunately it was bolivian first class and was still prettyn shit. Although it did have a tv in the corner which was blasting out some really crappy bolivian pop song on loop. After about 20 mins one of the other passengers got up and disconected the TV, thank god.
I spent most of the journey sleeping and we arrived in Uyuni around 11. We then had to collect our bags which was a classsic bolivian affair. They just dumped all the bags in a room and then let you loose trying to find yours. It took about 30mins before everyone had eentually fought their way to their own bag.
We got some 4x4´s to our hotel where Tom informed us that there was a place in the guidebook called the extremely fun pub, how could we say no?
Most of the people were pretty exhuasted but a couple of us went out anyway. In the pub we found anothwer gap group who showed us some awesome pictures from the salt flats and we even met one of the people that will join our group for the brazil tour. We were kicked out at 3am which was great seeign as we had a 7 start the next day
Day 23 - salt flats
We got up at 7 and after breakfast all piled in to our 4x4´s and headed out into the slat flats. In our jeep we had me, mike, tom, matt and sam which was a pretty awesome combination. Unfortunately Rob decided to stay in the hotel at Uyuni as he was feeling really ill and thought that -20 at night would do him no good.
First we went to the train graveyard which is where they dump all the out of service trains which was a bit weird. It was just a large collection of rusting trains by the track side.
After that we headed out into the salt flats occasionally stopping to look at a lagoon or similar. It was pretty epic, just a completely white flat surface surrounded by huge mountains.
We eventually got to the spot where everyone gets their funny perspective photos done. It´s completely white and flat so people take funny photos by putting things in the foreground to make them apear bigger. We came prepared and brought a toy car and a barbie in order to try and get some good photos but it didn´t really work. The best thing we got was a group video of us all running into a pringles can.
We then continued on towards our hotel for the night. Along the wasy we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets i´ve ever seen. At one point it the light reflected perfectly off the water on the slat flats and created a mirror type effect.
The hotel for the night was made completely out of salt, a bit like the ice hotel but permenant. It had salt tables, chairs and even beds. It had power for 2 hours at night then nothing. It was really basic and freezing cold but an experience.
day 24 - Desert
We got up reasonably early the next day (not that many of ys got much sleep due to the cold) and piled back into our 4x4´s in order to head out into the desert in the middle of the salt flats and see a volcano. We had been told by the gap group that we met in the extremely fun pub that the drivers may well tell you its too snowy to go on and will want to turn back but you have to insist that you go on, even if it means digging your car out a couple of times. This in mind we headed into the desert and soo found it was, as the group had said, covered in snow. No problem for our 4x4´s though we though. Unfortunately we were mistaken, although they claimed to be 4x4´s this was bolivia and our one was in fact only 2 wheel drive. We assumed it once was 4x4 and had broken but when it came up against a relatively tame slope covered in snow all that happened was the bqack wheels spun and dug its self a hole. They didn´t think to pack snow chains or a shovel so we had to dig it out by hand and give it another shot. The driver put it into first and revved as hard as he could, digging him self straight back into a hole. Despite some of our groups tips about going into a higher gear and not just trying to power up in first he continuedn to do the same thing. We´d dig him out then he power back into the same hole. After digging a path up the hill, lining it with rocks and dirt to try and give him some grip and lots and ltos of pushing and digging out we eventually made it up. The other 4x4´s which were actually 4x4 made it up easily which was pretty annoying. We continued on to the volcano look out point which was pretty cool seeing an active volcano. Unfortuantely if you leave a bunch of youngs boys in snow for any length of time you are bound to get a snowballl fight. Eventually everyone joined in and we started a huge snowball which was eventually joined by some other people in the same place and everyone had a great time. Unfortuantely i didn´t have waterproof hiking boots like everyone else so my feet we soaked and really cold.
After finishing with the snowball fight we headed on for another 30 mins, by this point my feet felt absolutely freezing so i decided to take off my shoes and socks and try and warm them up. They were blue and bruised all over and Tom informed me that that was the early signs of frostbite and i should get themn warm pretty quick. We taped the hand warmer things to them, towelled them dry and wrapped them up in thermals.
After another hour or so we got stuck in the snow again and after 30 mins of trying to dig them out the drivers refused to go on and we had to turn back. (Probablly the best decision as a different group plowed on eventually got stuck in the middle of nowhere and had to be air lifted out).
We eventually got to a small town which was absolutely barren and stayed in a what was kinda like someones spare room but third world. There were 8 matresses cramed into each room and it was quite an experience..
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Homestay - birthday - le Paz - death road
Day 18 - homestay
We got up pretty early for our boat trip round lake titikaka. We all piled in the boat and a man came appeared from the cabin and started playing the guitar and singing. What a nice welcome we thought. How wrong we were, as soon as he´d finished he came round asking for tips, not wanting to apear rude to our driver as soon as we met we all put a little in. He then exited the boat and went and lay in waitn on the next boat along for another group. What a scam!
After that agrivating start we headed off round the lake. It was beautiful, it was surrounded by mountains and dotted with tiny islands. A couple of us decided to sit up on the top of the boat which was a good idea at first (nice bit of sunbathing) but the lake soon became really rough and we were thrown all over the place. Very nearly being thrown off multiple times.
We evenhtually made it to one of the islands where we were set to have lunch. After a gruelling 600 step uphill climb we finally made it. It was a taste of what was to come as the resturant was just someones kitchen, apparently the comunity took turns to open their resturant so there was never any competition. We had some delicous freshly caught fish with amazing views of the lake.
After lunch we headed all the way back down and got on the boat again. It then transported us to the island where we would be staying that night. It was a relatively large island with almost 2000 inhabitants. When we got off it was a little like being stuck in a time warp. Some houses had generators for electricity and some even had indoor toilets but for the most part it was pretty backwards. We were taken to the school where we had a game of football against the locals (destroying them despite the alltitude making us exhausted after 2 mins). We then played a different gap group who were just leaving the island. We were exhuasted but the far more skill full team, unfortuantely we were cheated out of a win. They had a shot which rolled along the goal line but never fully crossed it which a friend of theirs on the sidelines declared a goal and subsenquently the last goal of the match, what an outrage!
After the football we were shown a traditional dance and given all the local dress and performed it on the playground. How very Gap Yah. It was really fun and probably hilarious for the locals. It got dark around 6 and with no lighting everyone returned to their respective homestay.
Ours was apparently one of the better ones with an indoor toilet (no flushing water) and electricity. It reminded me a lot of the house in cyprus. For dinner we had rice and vegatables and after saying goodnight went to bed around 7:30.
Day 19 - Birthday!
After an extremely poor nights sleep curtousy of the freezing temperatures i awoke around 5:30 just as it was getting light. I got dressed and went back to bed still shivering and waited until the wake up call at 7.
We had breakfast of egg and rice before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the boat.
It seemed everyone had an equally poor nights sleep and were pretty tired. The lake was a lot calmer today and so we could actually sunbathe on the deck without being throw off. Despite it being really sunny it was still freezing cold so the sun bathing didin{t last too long. After 30 mins we stopped and the tour guide challenged us to go swimming. He said he´d give us a beer if we could stay in longer than 1min. How hard could it be? Me,matt,sam, rob and tom accepted the challenge but after changing into our swimming costume we were absolutely freezing let alone going swimming in the lake which was apparently 4degrees. It being my birthday i had to man up and go first. I dived off the top deck into the water and soon realised why the tour guide had bet us we couldn´t stay in longer than a minute. It was so cold that as you hit the water it knocked all the breath out of you, you couldn´t breathe and were panting for breath. After the initial shock it wasn´t too bad and i stayed in for over the minute to get my free beer and encourgaed the others to come in. Eventually everyone jumped in but got out pretty sharpish. Being a man i had to show everyone how tough i was by jumping in again and telling everyone it was like a jacuzzi. Man points gained i quickly exited the water and spent the next half hour trying to regain feeling in my legs.
We then visited a floating island (made out of reeds) in which some people lived. They gave us a demonstaration on how they built the island by lashing reeds together and then gave us lunch. After lunch i was given a suprise by the locals in which bthey sang me happy birthday in ketuwan and presented me with a necklace.
We then headed back to the main land and checked into the hotel. I spent the next couple of hours catching up on some sleep as i assumed i would get very little in the evening. At about 5 a few of the guys burst into my room with arms full of beers and the festivities started. They also gave me a hat that i had to wear for the entire evening but wasnt allowed to know what it was (turns out it was a massive top hat with a vagina on the front, which would explain all the funny looks i got throughout the evening). We then went out for my birthday meal as a whole groupe and our tour leader organised loads of baloons etc and a massive cake. He even arranged for us to be able to drink our own alcohol in the resturant which seemed like a good idea at the time but when your friends can buy a litre of rum for 2.50 and its your birthday it rarely ends well. We then went to kareokee before ending up in a club. Details of the night are a little hazy and there aren{t many photos, which is probably a good thing.
Day 20 - La Paz
Theres not much to write for this day as it was pretty much all travel. We got the bus at 8 and i was still drunk, never a good start. I soon sobered up and in set the hangover. Spending the next 10 hours switching between public buses, boats, security checks etc was some of the worst hours of my life. Probaly should have been slightly more sensible the night before...
We arrived in La Paz around 7 and after checking in went out for a last meal with our tour leader. He took us to a really nice thai place and we had a great meal. We headed up to the upstairs bar to say our alst goodbyes to him (he was an absolute legend) and have a couple of cocktails. After an emotional farewell he tried to convince us to come out for ones last wild night out but feeling the effects of the night before and aving to get up and do the death road at 7:30 the next day we unfortunately had to decline and went to bed.
Day 21 - Death Road
Today was supposed to be a free day but we decided instead to mountain bike the famous death road.
We were collected from our hotel at 7:30 and driven up to 4500m. We were then given our bikes and gear etc and set off. The first hour was on tarmac down to a level of 3000m. It was all downhill and we barely even had to pedal. It was pretty scary though, overtaking lorries on mountain roads with shear drops to the side. The road was lined with crosses marking where people had died, it was really instilling confidence in us.
After the tarmac section we got back on the bus which took us back up to 4000m and the start of the death road. Unfortunately (or luckily) it was very misty so we couldn{t really see the shear 900m drops to our left. Im not sure if that made it better or worse but it was pretty scary. The road was all gravel and it felt like one little slip and you´d be off. Our guide reassured us that 1 girl had already died this month so it was pretty unlikely any of us would die, thanks...
Over the course of the enxt hour we decended to arround 2500m with some absolutely spectacular views when the mist cleared. We rode through a waterfall, saw the section where jeremy clarkson almost went over the edge in Top Gear Bolivia and sped on a really steep down hill section.
We then stopped for lunch before continuing to the end off the death road. Although our guide told us we´d finished the death road not much changed. There was still a pretty shear drop to the left and the veiws were still spectacular. We finished the ride after a really fast and technical downhill section at around 1000m above sea level adn had a celabratory beer. We then headed for a buffet dinner and a swim in a pool before starting the long journey home. The bus took 45 mins to get from La Paz to the top of the mountain but took 3.5 hours getting back. When we returned to the hotel we were given our t-shirts saying we´d completed the death road and a cd full of photos.
We were pretty exhausted so we went straight to bed ready for the new tour guide tomorrow.
We got up pretty early for our boat trip round lake titikaka. We all piled in the boat and a man came appeared from the cabin and started playing the guitar and singing. What a nice welcome we thought. How wrong we were, as soon as he´d finished he came round asking for tips, not wanting to apear rude to our driver as soon as we met we all put a little in. He then exited the boat and went and lay in waitn on the next boat along for another group. What a scam!
After that agrivating start we headed off round the lake. It was beautiful, it was surrounded by mountains and dotted with tiny islands. A couple of us decided to sit up on the top of the boat which was a good idea at first (nice bit of sunbathing) but the lake soon became really rough and we were thrown all over the place. Very nearly being thrown off multiple times.
We evenhtually made it to one of the islands where we were set to have lunch. After a gruelling 600 step uphill climb we finally made it. It was a taste of what was to come as the resturant was just someones kitchen, apparently the comunity took turns to open their resturant so there was never any competition. We had some delicous freshly caught fish with amazing views of the lake.
After lunch we headed all the way back down and got on the boat again. It then transported us to the island where we would be staying that night. It was a relatively large island with almost 2000 inhabitants. When we got off it was a little like being stuck in a time warp. Some houses had generators for electricity and some even had indoor toilets but for the most part it was pretty backwards. We were taken to the school where we had a game of football against the locals (destroying them despite the alltitude making us exhausted after 2 mins). We then played a different gap group who were just leaving the island. We were exhuasted but the far more skill full team, unfortuantely we were cheated out of a win. They had a shot which rolled along the goal line but never fully crossed it which a friend of theirs on the sidelines declared a goal and subsenquently the last goal of the match, what an outrage!
After the football we were shown a traditional dance and given all the local dress and performed it on the playground. How very Gap Yah. It was really fun and probably hilarious for the locals. It got dark around 6 and with no lighting everyone returned to their respective homestay.
Ours was apparently one of the better ones with an indoor toilet (no flushing water) and electricity. It reminded me a lot of the house in cyprus. For dinner we had rice and vegatables and after saying goodnight went to bed around 7:30.
Day 19 - Birthday!
After an extremely poor nights sleep curtousy of the freezing temperatures i awoke around 5:30 just as it was getting light. I got dressed and went back to bed still shivering and waited until the wake up call at 7.
We had breakfast of egg and rice before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the boat.
It seemed everyone had an equally poor nights sleep and were pretty tired. The lake was a lot calmer today and so we could actually sunbathe on the deck without being throw off. Despite it being really sunny it was still freezing cold so the sun bathing didin{t last too long. After 30 mins we stopped and the tour guide challenged us to go swimming. He said he´d give us a beer if we could stay in longer than 1min. How hard could it be? Me,matt,sam, rob and tom accepted the challenge but after changing into our swimming costume we were absolutely freezing let alone going swimming in the lake which was apparently 4degrees. It being my birthday i had to man up and go first. I dived off the top deck into the water and soon realised why the tour guide had bet us we couldn´t stay in longer than a minute. It was so cold that as you hit the water it knocked all the breath out of you, you couldn´t breathe and were panting for breath. After the initial shock it wasn´t too bad and i stayed in for over the minute to get my free beer and encourgaed the others to come in. Eventually everyone jumped in but got out pretty sharpish. Being a man i had to show everyone how tough i was by jumping in again and telling everyone it was like a jacuzzi. Man points gained i quickly exited the water and spent the next half hour trying to regain feeling in my legs.
We then visited a floating island (made out of reeds) in which some people lived. They gave us a demonstaration on how they built the island by lashing reeds together and then gave us lunch. After lunch i was given a suprise by the locals in which bthey sang me happy birthday in ketuwan and presented me with a necklace.
We then headed back to the main land and checked into the hotel. I spent the next couple of hours catching up on some sleep as i assumed i would get very little in the evening. At about 5 a few of the guys burst into my room with arms full of beers and the festivities started. They also gave me a hat that i had to wear for the entire evening but wasnt allowed to know what it was (turns out it was a massive top hat with a vagina on the front, which would explain all the funny looks i got throughout the evening). We then went out for my birthday meal as a whole groupe and our tour leader organised loads of baloons etc and a massive cake. He even arranged for us to be able to drink our own alcohol in the resturant which seemed like a good idea at the time but when your friends can buy a litre of rum for 2.50 and its your birthday it rarely ends well. We then went to kareokee before ending up in a club. Details of the night are a little hazy and there aren{t many photos, which is probably a good thing.
Day 20 - La Paz
Theres not much to write for this day as it was pretty much all travel. We got the bus at 8 and i was still drunk, never a good start. I soon sobered up and in set the hangover. Spending the next 10 hours switching between public buses, boats, security checks etc was some of the worst hours of my life. Probaly should have been slightly more sensible the night before...
We arrived in La Paz around 7 and after checking in went out for a last meal with our tour leader. He took us to a really nice thai place and we had a great meal. We headed up to the upstairs bar to say our alst goodbyes to him (he was an absolute legend) and have a couple of cocktails. After an emotional farewell he tried to convince us to come out for ones last wild night out but feeling the effects of the night before and aving to get up and do the death road at 7:30 the next day we unfortunately had to decline and went to bed.
Day 21 - Death Road
Today was supposed to be a free day but we decided instead to mountain bike the famous death road.
We were collected from our hotel at 7:30 and driven up to 4500m. We were then given our bikes and gear etc and set off. The first hour was on tarmac down to a level of 3000m. It was all downhill and we barely even had to pedal. It was pretty scary though, overtaking lorries on mountain roads with shear drops to the side. The road was lined with crosses marking where people had died, it was really instilling confidence in us.
After the tarmac section we got back on the bus which took us back up to 4000m and the start of the death road. Unfortunately (or luckily) it was very misty so we couldn{t really see the shear 900m drops to our left. Im not sure if that made it better or worse but it was pretty scary. The road was all gravel and it felt like one little slip and you´d be off. Our guide reassured us that 1 girl had already died this month so it was pretty unlikely any of us would die, thanks...
Over the course of the enxt hour we decended to arround 2500m with some absolutely spectacular views when the mist cleared. We rode through a waterfall, saw the section where jeremy clarkson almost went over the edge in Top Gear Bolivia and sped on a really steep down hill section.
We then stopped for lunch before continuing to the end off the death road. Although our guide told us we´d finished the death road not much changed. There was still a pretty shear drop to the left and the veiws were still spectacular. We finished the ride after a really fast and technical downhill section at around 1000m above sea level adn had a celabratory beer. We then headed for a buffet dinner and a swim in a pool before starting the long journey home. The bus took 45 mins to get from La Paz to the top of the mountain but took 3.5 hours getting back. When we returned to the hotel we were given our t-shirts saying we´d completed the death road and a cd full of photos.
We were pretty exhausted so we went straight to bed ready for the new tour guide tomorrow.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Cusco = Puno = lake titikaka
First i must appologise for the speeling errors in thispost, this is probably the worst keyboard içve ever used¨. the letters and symbols dont match up with what i press...
Day ¨16
After getting out of prison we had a quick snooze before heading down to a local pub in order to watch the david haye fight. We had a huge breakfast ¿despite it being 3? and then asked the pub to put on the prelim fights. They spent ages faffing around saying the couldnçt get them etc. but seeing as we had already bought food and drinks we waited a prayed. They managed to eventually get it to work 30seconds before the main event actually started. The stream was rubbish and choppy and almost unwatchable. After the fight we stayed on a little longer before heading back to the hotel for a quick seiesta. After we woke up we definately did not go out, arriving home at 6;30 for a bus at 7...
Day 17
We got a bus in the morning to Puno on the edge of lake titikaka. The town was dead but the views were awesome. The bus took 7 hours so we arrived pretty late. We spent the rest of the day trying to find more clothes to wear as it was absolutely freezing.
Içm now going to have to abort writing this for now and will find an internet cafe tomorrow as it is so painful.
Day ¨16
After getting out of prison we had a quick snooze before heading down to a local pub in order to watch the david haye fight. We had a huge breakfast ¿despite it being 3? and then asked the pub to put on the prelim fights. They spent ages faffing around saying the couldnçt get them etc. but seeing as we had already bought food and drinks we waited a prayed. They managed to eventually get it to work 30seconds before the main event actually started. The stream was rubbish and choppy and almost unwatchable. After the fight we stayed on a little longer before heading back to the hotel for a quick seiesta. After we woke up we definately did not go out, arriving home at 6;30 for a bus at 7...
Day 17
We got a bus in the morning to Puno on the edge of lake titikaka. The town was dead but the views were awesome. The bus took 7 hours so we arrived pretty late. We spent the rest of the day trying to find more clothes to wear as it was absolutely freezing.
Içm now going to have to abort writing this for now and will find an internet cafe tomorrow as it is so painful.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Last of the inca trail - Cusco - Prison...
Second half of day 11 - Inca Trail
After being reunited with the group we headed back down the otherside of the mountain for our camp that night.
It was at about 3500m so a lot of down hill. When we arrived at camp everthing was once again set up for us and we were offered snacks and drinks as we arrived. We then spent the rest of the time once again playing cards or chatting. Dinner was amazing as usual and then we sat outside and star gazed for a couple of hours (how very gap year) as the sky was really clear. When it got too cold we retreated back to our tents before once again watching more of sons of anarchy with dave and katie.
Day 12 - Inca trail (3rd day)
Although yesterday had been the hardest today was by far the longest. We were woken at 5:30 and set off around 6:30. It was very up and down and went as high as 4000m and as low as 3000m. Once again the views were spectacular and we stopped half way through the day for lunch. It was a massive buffet affair and at the end they bought dave and tamsin a honey moon cake, which they had cooked on a camp stove! It was one of the most delicous cakes i have ever tasted, marbled with amazing icing. The chef really was god.
After lunch we had a game of football against some of the porters. It was 5v5 with rolling subs for us (we had 7 players) vs 4 porters and our guide. At 3700m a game of football gets really tiring really quickly. We were subbing on and off every 5 mins. We were definately the more skillful team but the porters could handle the alltitude much better. Despite some very dirty tackles and multiple handballs from the porters we managed to scrape a 2-1 victory after an hour of play. We were absolutely exhausted but got the all important win. The porters didn´t look too pleased and we wondered whether we´d return to camp to find no tents and only laughing porters.
After a quick rest we headed down to our camp at around 3200m. The section was nick named the gringo killer as it was 2500 uneven steps down to the camp. It was supposed to take 2 hours but about 40mins in the promise of sit down toilets and showers became too much for me. Desperately needing the toilet i sprinted the next section. It was all down hill and destroyed my knees but was worth it. The showers were pretty pathetic but after 3 days of being covered in sweat and grime they were a gods send.
Another amazing dinner in the eveneing followed by a fair well presentation for the porters and we were told we would have to be up at 3:30 tomorrow ;(
After another session of Sons of Anarchy we went to bed.
Day 13 - Machu Pichu!!!
We got up ridiculously early and hadd breakfast before heading down to the start gate in order to be one of the first people allowed on the trail. We arrived at the gate at 4:30 but it didn´t open until 5:30 - time for another sons of anarchy...
There were only 2 people infront of us when the gate opened and they imediately rushed off in order to get tickets to wynu pichu (the mountain next to machu pichu - sold on a first come first serve basis in the morning)
It was pitch black and stupidly i didn´t have a torch which meant the rocky mountain trail to machu pichu was pretty interesting... We arrived at the sun gate around 6:10 which should of been just in time to see the sun rise over machu pichu. Unfortunately it was completely cloudy and we couldn´t see anything which was really disapointing. We then walked for another hour in order to reach machu Pichu. It was still hidden in the clouds and so we couldn´t really see anything. We decided to head down to the bottom in order to pick up the two girls from our group that weren´t on the inca trail in the hope that by the time we returned the cloud would be gone.
After about 2 hours of faffing around the cloud eventually cleared and the views were spectacular. It was absolutely huge and awe inspiring. It is literally a massive city built on a mountain top. It is incredible to think how they got all the stone up there ect. especially without inventing the wheel...
We spent the next 4-5 hours getting a tour round the complex and then some free time. It became really sunny and was gorgeous. I wished we could have stayed all day but we had to head back to Cusco.
We had to get a train for 2 hours then a 3 hour bus so we didn´t arrive back until 9ish. We decided that despite having woken up at 3:30 it was a good idea to go for a big night out to celebrate completing the inca trail. We first went out for a really nice meal followed by free salsa lessons at a dance club. Nothing else happened...
Day 14
Today we had quite a lazy day as we were all pretty knacked from the Inca trail. We visited the markets and went and watched a huge parade in the main plaza. It was freeezing cold so we headed back and took a nap.
We went out for a pretty nice dinner before deciding we´d all go to the salsa place again. One by one people slowly dropped out until it was just me, matt and rob. We met some american girls and then nothing else happened.
Day 15
We got up relatively early and went for a walk around Cusco just visiting churches etc. At 3 we met our tour leader who siad he´d take us to and all you can eat eat buffet for lunch. It was incredible. There was an amazing salad bar but no one really touched it. There were constant waitresses circling the resturant with huge swords of meat. They would just come to the table with all these various types of meats on these huge swords and ask if you´d like some. Obviously being silly males who ever was the first to turn down an offer of meat lost. There was all kinds of meats from ribs to steak to sausages and even tounge and heart. I must have put on about 4-5kg in just meat. It was amazing.
The prison story...
On the way back from the resturant half of us got in one taxi and half of us got in another. Most of the group being pretty drunk they thought it would be a good idea to have some inter taxi banter... At each set of traffic lights we would pull up along side each other and joke around. At one set of traffic lights they put some rubbish through our window so at the next set one of the people in my taxi jumped out and opened their boot.
At the next lights Sam (who was in my taxi) decided/was egged on to go mooney in front of the other taxi.
Unfortunately this was seen by a nearby policewoman who took offence. She got our taxi to pull over and started taking the drivers documentaton etc. She then told us to get out which we did but being in the middle of the road our tour leader told us to move to the pavement. Despite telling her in spanish what we were doing and walking slowly away to the pavement she though we were trying to escape and called back up and ran after us. She grabbed Sam´s neck and tried to drag him back to which our tour leader told her to let go, we weren´t trying to escape or anything. Thinking we would just get a telling off we complied with everything she said and waited until her back up arrived. While we were waiting a huge crowd gathered and started shouting at us (they obviously hate gringos). One woman started swearing at us in english and being very aggressive saying she had seen sam run across the street naked and our tour leader assualt the police woman. She hadn´t even seen the offence she was just there to make our lives misserable (how do i know this? she told us that she was going to waste all our time and started laughing at us, obviously has a massive grudge against foreigners).
After about 10 mins there were 6 police cars and about 15 police just to arrest us for one of us mooneying a friends taxi, talk about a waste of police time. They took us to the tourist police and made us sit and wait for about 1hour. They didn´t let us go to the toilet or drink any water. we were taken in at about 5:30 but it was about 7 before anyojne told us anything. A man from gap arrived and tried to help us and explain what was going on. The police woman and the lady from the street were able to give their statements at the same time in the same room which is a little dodgy...
We were then taken into the toilets and strip searched and our shoe laces, belts and all other possesions taken. Not official at all or on camera like it would have been done in the uk. We then had our mug shots taken by a camera phone against a wall. Still no charges or explantion given. At around 9 we were taken to a different police station in order to have a breathaliser and blood test.We then had to wait out side while they called a doctor and then had to wait while they went to a local pharmacy to get needles. All very well set up and official. The breathaliser test was a joke, it was a test tube full of liquid that we had to blow into using a straw. I hadn´t drunk anything so mine didn´t change but the others (sam and rob) had drunk around lunch time. Theirs changed a little but they were made to constantly blow for about 2 mins until it change to a suitable degree, again very official and fair. We were then taken back to the original police station where we tried to call the embassy but the woman didn´t want to hear about it and hung up on us.
Eventually we were told that Sam and rob had to stay in over night as they had blown a positive on the alcohol test but i was free to go. Not wanting to leave them alone and being the only one who was totally sober at the time of the incident i decided to stay. We were all put in the same cell and Gap provided us with sleeping bags, water and some snacks as the police didn´t do anything. There were only two beds so Sam slept on the floor. In the morning me and Rob were let out, still no statements taken from either of us, they had just taken the other womans word as fact even though she exagerated massively. Sam was kept in and has to see the judge today to plead his case. The gap representative says he´ll most likely be made to pay a 200-300 dollar fine! What a joke. No chance to plead his case or anything just told thats whats happening.
still got a cool story out of it and can now say i´ve spent a night in a peruvian prison...
After being reunited with the group we headed back down the otherside of the mountain for our camp that night.
It was at about 3500m so a lot of down hill. When we arrived at camp everthing was once again set up for us and we were offered snacks and drinks as we arrived. We then spent the rest of the time once again playing cards or chatting. Dinner was amazing as usual and then we sat outside and star gazed for a couple of hours (how very gap year) as the sky was really clear. When it got too cold we retreated back to our tents before once again watching more of sons of anarchy with dave and katie.
Day 12 - Inca trail (3rd day)
Although yesterday had been the hardest today was by far the longest. We were woken at 5:30 and set off around 6:30. It was very up and down and went as high as 4000m and as low as 3000m. Once again the views were spectacular and we stopped half way through the day for lunch. It was a massive buffet affair and at the end they bought dave and tamsin a honey moon cake, which they had cooked on a camp stove! It was one of the most delicous cakes i have ever tasted, marbled with amazing icing. The chef really was god.
After lunch we had a game of football against some of the porters. It was 5v5 with rolling subs for us (we had 7 players) vs 4 porters and our guide. At 3700m a game of football gets really tiring really quickly. We were subbing on and off every 5 mins. We were definately the more skillful team but the porters could handle the alltitude much better. Despite some very dirty tackles and multiple handballs from the porters we managed to scrape a 2-1 victory after an hour of play. We were absolutely exhausted but got the all important win. The porters didn´t look too pleased and we wondered whether we´d return to camp to find no tents and only laughing porters.
After a quick rest we headed down to our camp at around 3200m. The section was nick named the gringo killer as it was 2500 uneven steps down to the camp. It was supposed to take 2 hours but about 40mins in the promise of sit down toilets and showers became too much for me. Desperately needing the toilet i sprinted the next section. It was all down hill and destroyed my knees but was worth it. The showers were pretty pathetic but after 3 days of being covered in sweat and grime they were a gods send.
Another amazing dinner in the eveneing followed by a fair well presentation for the porters and we were told we would have to be up at 3:30 tomorrow ;(
After another session of Sons of Anarchy we went to bed.
Day 13 - Machu Pichu!!!
We got up ridiculously early and hadd breakfast before heading down to the start gate in order to be one of the first people allowed on the trail. We arrived at the gate at 4:30 but it didn´t open until 5:30 - time for another sons of anarchy...
There were only 2 people infront of us when the gate opened and they imediately rushed off in order to get tickets to wynu pichu (the mountain next to machu pichu - sold on a first come first serve basis in the morning)
It was pitch black and stupidly i didn´t have a torch which meant the rocky mountain trail to machu pichu was pretty interesting... We arrived at the sun gate around 6:10 which should of been just in time to see the sun rise over machu pichu. Unfortunately it was completely cloudy and we couldn´t see anything which was really disapointing. We then walked for another hour in order to reach machu Pichu. It was still hidden in the clouds and so we couldn´t really see anything. We decided to head down to the bottom in order to pick up the two girls from our group that weren´t on the inca trail in the hope that by the time we returned the cloud would be gone.
After about 2 hours of faffing around the cloud eventually cleared and the views were spectacular. It was absolutely huge and awe inspiring. It is literally a massive city built on a mountain top. It is incredible to think how they got all the stone up there ect. especially without inventing the wheel...
We spent the next 4-5 hours getting a tour round the complex and then some free time. It became really sunny and was gorgeous. I wished we could have stayed all day but we had to head back to Cusco.
We had to get a train for 2 hours then a 3 hour bus so we didn´t arrive back until 9ish. We decided that despite having woken up at 3:30 it was a good idea to go for a big night out to celebrate completing the inca trail. We first went out for a really nice meal followed by free salsa lessons at a dance club. Nothing else happened...
Day 14
Today we had quite a lazy day as we were all pretty knacked from the Inca trail. We visited the markets and went and watched a huge parade in the main plaza. It was freeezing cold so we headed back and took a nap.
We went out for a pretty nice dinner before deciding we´d all go to the salsa place again. One by one people slowly dropped out until it was just me, matt and rob. We met some american girls and then nothing else happened.
Day 15
We got up relatively early and went for a walk around Cusco just visiting churches etc. At 3 we met our tour leader who siad he´d take us to and all you can eat eat buffet for lunch. It was incredible. There was an amazing salad bar but no one really touched it. There were constant waitresses circling the resturant with huge swords of meat. They would just come to the table with all these various types of meats on these huge swords and ask if you´d like some. Obviously being silly males who ever was the first to turn down an offer of meat lost. There was all kinds of meats from ribs to steak to sausages and even tounge and heart. I must have put on about 4-5kg in just meat. It was amazing.
The prison story...
On the way back from the resturant half of us got in one taxi and half of us got in another. Most of the group being pretty drunk they thought it would be a good idea to have some inter taxi banter... At each set of traffic lights we would pull up along side each other and joke around. At one set of traffic lights they put some rubbish through our window so at the next set one of the people in my taxi jumped out and opened their boot.
At the next lights Sam (who was in my taxi) decided/was egged on to go mooney in front of the other taxi.
Unfortunately this was seen by a nearby policewoman who took offence. She got our taxi to pull over and started taking the drivers documentaton etc. She then told us to get out which we did but being in the middle of the road our tour leader told us to move to the pavement. Despite telling her in spanish what we were doing and walking slowly away to the pavement she though we were trying to escape and called back up and ran after us. She grabbed Sam´s neck and tried to drag him back to which our tour leader told her to let go, we weren´t trying to escape or anything. Thinking we would just get a telling off we complied with everything she said and waited until her back up arrived. While we were waiting a huge crowd gathered and started shouting at us (they obviously hate gringos). One woman started swearing at us in english and being very aggressive saying she had seen sam run across the street naked and our tour leader assualt the police woman. She hadn´t even seen the offence she was just there to make our lives misserable (how do i know this? she told us that she was going to waste all our time and started laughing at us, obviously has a massive grudge against foreigners).
After about 10 mins there were 6 police cars and about 15 police just to arrest us for one of us mooneying a friends taxi, talk about a waste of police time. They took us to the tourist police and made us sit and wait for about 1hour. They didn´t let us go to the toilet or drink any water. we were taken in at about 5:30 but it was about 7 before anyojne told us anything. A man from gap arrived and tried to help us and explain what was going on. The police woman and the lady from the street were able to give their statements at the same time in the same room which is a little dodgy...
We were then taken into the toilets and strip searched and our shoe laces, belts and all other possesions taken. Not official at all or on camera like it would have been done in the uk. We then had our mug shots taken by a camera phone against a wall. Still no charges or explantion given. At around 9 we were taken to a different police station in order to have a breathaliser and blood test.We then had to wait out side while they called a doctor and then had to wait while they went to a local pharmacy to get needles. All very well set up and official. The breathaliser test was a joke, it was a test tube full of liquid that we had to blow into using a straw. I hadn´t drunk anything so mine didn´t change but the others (sam and rob) had drunk around lunch time. Theirs changed a little but they were made to constantly blow for about 2 mins until it change to a suitable degree, again very official and fair. We were then taken back to the original police station where we tried to call the embassy but the woman didn´t want to hear about it and hung up on us.
Eventually we were told that Sam and rob had to stay in over night as they had blown a positive on the alcohol test but i was free to go. Not wanting to leave them alone and being the only one who was totally sober at the time of the incident i decided to stay. We were all put in the same cell and Gap provided us with sleeping bags, water and some snacks as the police didn´t do anything. There were only two beds so Sam slept on the floor. In the morning me and Rob were let out, still no statements taken from either of us, they had just taken the other womans word as fact even though she exagerated massively. Sam was kept in and has to see the judge today to plead his case. The gap representative says he´ll most likely be made to pay a 200-300 dollar fine! What a joke. No chance to plead his case or anything just told thats whats happening.
still got a cool story out of it and can now say i´ve spent a night in a peruvian prison...
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