The Bolivia Special.

Welcome to Bolivia, land of many extremes. Highest capital in the world, highest city in the world, biggest salt lake in the world, world`s most dangerous road and world`s worst internet. There I said it, the only negative thing anyone has ever said about travelling in Bolivia.

So when travelling around, you have the travelling conversation. Its the same one over and over but you always listen because you never know when someone is going to give you a bit of gemlike information that can save you money, time and maybe even send you to somewhere exceptionally cool. For the last 8 months or so (yes, you have been living happily without us for 8 months now), Bolivia has been high on travellers `must do when in South America`. Did we have high expectations? Yes. I was a bit worried it was going to be like when everyone says `This is the greatest movie of all time you have to go see it` and when you do you think, `Eh`. Were we disappointed, no. Did we like it? Yes we did! Should you go there? Emmmm.... Yes!

Now that we only have 2 months to go, we`re speeding up and whizzing through so we can get to Patagonia. Which means, we`re pretty much sticking to a very well trodden gringo trail. Nevertheless, Bolivia is a roughly epic country.

We started off on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, which is apparently pronounced Titi-haha. Well we haggled our way onto a ferry and visited the beautiful Isla Del Sol. We hiked from one end of the island to the other, passing empty beaches and high hills. Its a quiet spot, not a lot of people living there, but they defiantely know how to charge. You get charged for leaving the north part of the island and then again entering the south part. Its very little and the money goes to the local community so its not all bad.

As beautiful and all as Titicaca was, having just spent a few days on the Peruvian side and being in search of some more adrenaline pumping thrills, we bussed it over to La Paz. Yes we survived the world`s most dangerous road, yes its scary but manageable.

So, in 1996 some international agency labelled the road as the world`s most dangerous because of all the people that died every year when a bus, lorry, truck would tip over and fall down the valley (on average 200-300 people every year). Ten years later they managed to finish the by pass and now that road isn`t normally used for traffic, just tourists looking for a thrill. So the fact that its no longer the main road definately makes it easier. That said, its still very easy to take a butterfly trip, (which I nearly did.) That`s when you get distracted by the beautiful scenery (or a butterfly in my case) and cycle off the edge. You`d think you`d have to be pretty stupid to do that, but trust me, its very difficult to ignore the rolling green mountains and giant blue butterflies.

From the stories we heard, we decided to go with the more expensive company, when travelling down death road, its probably better just to pay the extra for better bikes. It gave me some piece of mind anyway. You start off on the new road, biking to the beginning of the old road gives you a bit of practice on the bike before you hit dirt and gravel. I was badly in need of practice. But we biked the whole 64km to the bitter end. Surrounded by ice capped peaks of the Andes and green valleys of lush cloud forest, we raced down the thin dirt and gravel path where the edge was terrifyingly close and drop dizzingly high. We biked under waterfalls and passed the spot Top Gear made famous when Jeremy Clarkson came dangerously close to the edge. We ended in an animal sanctuary where monkeys were running around trying to pick pocket the bikers.

The trip back up in the bus is probably the worst part of the whole thing. There are times when you look out the window and all you can see is the drop and it is terrifying. There is no room for error as an inch in the wrong direction and the whole bus would be gone over the edge. Its at this point that the guide tells you about the worst accidents on the road and about how various bikers were injured or died during the ride. Their timing is impeccable as the bus stops underneath one waterfall at the narrowest point on the road and they open the doors for you to get a look.

As it turned out there were two Irish girls doing the trip with us, it was brilliant to hear a familiar voice! Particularly when it was all I could do to not look out the window of the bus. They regalled us with tales from home which kept me blissfully preoccupied and not looking out the window. Thank you Jill & Caitriona!

While in La Paz, Ian really wanted to break the 6000 metres above sea level mark declaring "I really just want to use some crampons and an ice axe!". Huayna Potosi was the mountain that obliged. We spent one day hiking up to 5,100metres to base camp, where we played cards with 2 Canadians and stuffed ourselves full of coca leaves, coca tea, coca hot chocolate and anything to relieve altitude sickness. We felt great! Well, that is I felt great until it was time to go to sleep. When you lie down your heart starts pounding trying to get oxygen around. It was a crazy feeling, liying down not moving, trying to go to sleep and yet your heart feels like you`ve just run a marathon.

At midnight we got up to start trekking. We donned our crampons, sharpened our ice picks and attacked the glacier with vigour. Unfortunately, I only had so much vigour in me, coca leaves and altitude sickness tablets weren`t enough to relieve my symptoms. I popped at 5,400 meters above sea level and couldn`t make it any farther. That said, it was a brilliant experience, we got amazing views over La Paz, we saw green and red lakes and ice blue glaciers. And, Ian got to use crampons and an ice pick and has a new resolve to make it past 6,000 meters above sea level. I`m ok with 5,400.

Leaving La Paz we went to what used to be the world`s biggest Silver Mine, Potosi. Potosi is a beautiful city (the highest in the world) and the silver mine which made it famous is horrible. When going to visit the mine, you first stop off at the miner`s market to buy presents for the miners. Here we got them such presents as orange, 96% alcohol, coca leaves and dynamite. No your eyes are not decieving you, we simply walked into  the shop and got a couple of sticks of dynamite. Some for the miners and some for us to set off. No fluttered eyelids, so baffled looks, just our change and a smile from the shopkeeper. We wrapped up our purchases and our faces and headed off to the mine.

Our guide had worked in the mine for 5 years on and off since he was 15. Walking into the mine, I was a bit nervous, I don`t really like small spaces. But Diego, our reliable guide took us to into the mine without any hesitation. We went to visit the miners god, Tio, who is basically the devil. As we were sitting there and Diego was explaining the miners` beliefs and practices, we all felt a thump and heard a bang. the walls shook slightly and there was some more dust floating around our heads. A miner one grotto over had just set off some dynamite. I think that might have been when I started to get scared.

Big Bag of Coca leaves

Going over to the next grotto, we met the miner who had just set off the explosion. He looked as old as the mine istelf. He told us that he had been working there since he was 14, he was a member of the mining co-op and as such had his own grotto to work. It was around 3pm when we got into the mine, this miner had been there since 7am and hadn`t eaten or drunk anything since then. All he had had was coca leaves and he was delighted when we were able to produce a new bag of leaves for him. He new how long he had been in the mine for because after 4 hours, coca leaves run out of juice and he was able to count how many sets he had gone through in a day. No need for a watch. Now I`ve heard of fad diets before, but that one really takes it to an extreme.

The way that the mine is organised, or disorganised rather, emans that its every man for himself. A Co-op member can employ regular miners to help him work but there`s no over all structure to the mining. One miner could literally be undermining someing. (I`m sorry I couldln`t resist the temptation.) The mine has no proper air circulation as there`s no air vents. The temperatures in the mine range from stifiling hot to below freezing in places. The shafts are held up with rotting wood that is cracked and caving in places. When asked why they don`t use horses to remove the tonnes of material, our guide told us it was because the mine shafts were too narrow, a horse wouldn`t fit. The shafts are barely a metre wide in places. Now, I would have though, why not make the shafts bigger, etc, but that wouldn`t work because its every miner for himself. The place has no safety standards whatsoever. Its a disaster waiting to happen. Specialists have apparently given the mine 10 more years before it will eventually collapse the entire mountain. I doubt very much that it will take ten years to reach that point. The miners start every day with a large shot of 96% alcohol and continue it all day topping up with coca leaves and lime.

When we reached the lower levels of the mine, I was scared stiff. Or shook rather, I couldn`t stop my hand shaking. I was suitably terrified. Chatting to another one of the miners while he tried to hit on a german girl on the tour with us, he told us he was 20 and had been working in the mine for 10 years. This place is like taking a trip back in time to the Industrial Revolution in Britian when children used to work in the mines becuase they could get into the smaller spaces. Nothing has changed in Potosi, except they now have electric headlamps.

Tight squeeze

Yes, that is a big bundle of dynamite.

When we left the mine, our guide set up our dynamite for us, we all took pictures with the lighted exploive in our hands, and then he ran down to the side of the road and left it there. A car driving by was quickly waved in the opposite direction before it actually exploded. I might point out that he simply left a lighted explosive lying at the side of the road with oncoming traffic, on top of the mine. Zero health and safety.

 Having had enough excitement for a while, we went to a place called Tupiza. (It had a very cleverly named restaurant called Tu Pizza). Tupiza is where the careers of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid came to an end after robbing one too many trains. We were literally in cowboy country. We did a horse trek around the area to see the amazing rock and cactus formations. There are places where its like there used to be an entire mountain but everything except for the front wall has been washed away. Its spectacular.

Carrying on from the `traveller conversation` one thing that most people say is the `Best thing we`ve done in South America` is the Salar de Uyuni. This is the world`s biggest salt falt, and its without a doubt an ocular delight! Also, because its rainy season, it was particulary amazing!

We decided to head to Chile through the Salar and took a three day tour in a 4X4 to San Pedro through the Salar. Day one is through the actual Salt flat where hundreds of people are taking funny looking perspective photos. We joined in and Ian jumped on his passport and even stood on my hand. Fun times!

Driving through the salt flat in the rainy season is like driving on a mirror. The sky is perfectly reflected in the water and when you see another 4X4 in the middle distance, it looks like its floating in mid air. Visually its like nothing else you`ve ever seen in your life. How the driver has any idea where he`s going is anyone`s guess. As it turns out, one car was actually lost in the salt flats for two days while that driver tried to figure out where he was. A compass would be a good idea for these drivers, but they seem to prefer to go off instinct.

The second and third day is like driving on a power plate, you know those exercise machines you stand on and they jiggle your whole body? By my reckoning I must have lost at least a stone and a half through all the jiggling. the trip is fantastic though, we went from snow covered mountains where it was hard to tell where the snow stopped and the clouds started to gysers flushing steam and finally to the world`s driest desert. It was surreal, the whole 3 day trip.

We started off by visiting the train cemetery where Bolivian trains go to die. We visited one of the salt factories and saw where they process the salt. We visited buildings made entirely of salt and our hostel was even made of salt. There are islands in the middle of the salt flat where there are giant cactus growing in the middle of nothing. We saw huge lakes of vivid blues and reds where hundreds of flamingoes were chilling out.

Bolivia is a special place of extremes for those seeking adventure. Remember though, you will have to put up with zero internet, bad or non existant roads and the craziest drivers since Mexico. Be warned!!!

From here on in is a jam packed schedule taking us to Patagonia, Buenas Aires and Brazil. The count down is on and we`re stuffing as much as is physically possible into the 2 months we have left. Remember, you now only have 2 more months of joy without us, make use of it wisely.

Peru: Nazca, Salkantay & Machu Picchu

Welcome back, welcome back loyal readers. Feast your eyes on me keeping up with my New Year`s Resolution to update the blog every two weeks.

When last I blogged I told you all about the wonders of the Galapacos and today, I`m going to skip Christmas and Ecuador (those stories and more to follow). Today, we`re here to hear about a near vomit commet over archeological signs; 90km hiking around glaciers and jungles; ending in stroll around the world`s most famous Inca ruin, Machu Picchu. If we`ve time, we might get to hear about the lovely Lake Titcaca (pronounced Titihaha) and the floating islands there.

So, when we left Ecuador we took a 30 hour bus to Lima, overnighted in a hostel and then took another 12 hour bus to the desert town of Nazca. Along the way we drove through miles and miles of uninhabited, otherworldly desert wasteland. When we finally arrived in Nazca, the heat of the desert was pretty much overwhelming. It is hot, and I mean really hot. Like what you`d imagine living in the Sahara is like hot.

Well we decided that we could only fully appreciate the famous Nazca lines from the sky so we charted a plane and off we went. Now, the Nazca lines are like giant hyroglyphs in the ground that you can`t actually see unless you`re very high above them. Flying is pretty much the best way to see them since you can only see one or two from the viewing stand that`s been constructed.

Now, the plane held 6 people including the pilot and co-pilot. The  first 10 or so minutes you spend getting over to the Nazca lines, so in spite of my initial nerves at the fact that the plane nearly tipped over when I got in, I was doing ok. A few mintues later, we`re soaring over huge marings in the ground, over 100m long. First the right side, then you`d swing back so people on the left side could see. This is where the problems started. You feel a bit the way you do in a wobbly lift when your stomach tries to jump into your brain and then gets sucked back down to the ground again. A bit like that, only in the extreme. At one point, I thought my whole insides would be sucked down to the ground. It was then that I handed Ian the camera and grabbed the sick bag with both hands just in case. I had to go for a good lie down for an hour after that flight!  While I was turning several shades of unchartered green, Ian was having the time of his life.

Flight and dodgey plane aside, the lines themselves are really interesting. Nobody really knows what most of them are or why they were made. Some people specualte that they are landing markings for aliens, which is all a bit X-files for me. But one of the figures does look like a cross between a man and alien and an owl. Its all a bit odd.

Anyway, from Nazca we headed to Cusco to make our way to Machu Picchu. Now we`d been told that the Inca trail can be pretty pricey and that there`s another trail that`s a bit more of a hikers hike to get to Machu Picchu. So we picked the Salkantay trail as the way for us to get to Machu Picchu. Now, the Salkantay takes you to just under 5,000M above sea level, through the mountains, under a glacier, through the jungle and around the mountain that Machu Pîcchu itself is on. It goes from very very cold, to very hot! Every day you see a completely different scenery, you go from high altitude with only bugs for company to jungle heat with monkeys trying to steal your dinner. Its a fantastic way to arrive at Machu Picchu.

Day one is a pretty easy going day. You walk for 8 hours, up a bit, flat a bit, up a bit, flat a bit. You stop for lunch and you watch as the Salkantay mountain slowly gets bigger like its coming out of a backdrop for a film at you. You spend one very cold night in a tent well wrapped up chugging down coca tea to combat the effects of altitude on you. It was the first time we had seen stars so clearly in a long time. We watched as the sun set over the Salkantay mountain, the snow turned from crisp white to firey red until eventually the mountain disappeared and we could only see the faint glow from the moonlight reflecting on the snow. It was cold, and probably not all that poetic, but it was beautiful.

The next morning your up at 5.30 or so and hiking by 6am and the tough part starts. Now, the climb isn`t that difficult in and of itself, its just the altitude gets to you a bit. So after 10 minutes of walking your starting to huff and puff your way up like a chain smoker. After 15minutes, your wheezing like an asthmatic wondering why you`re doing this to yourself. But you set yourself targets, like, I`ll walk to that next big boulder and then I`ll sit down. By the time you do sit down and take a few minutes your heart is pounding like you`ve just run a mile when really you`ve walked very slowly a few metres.

We were exceptionally lucky with the weather, we had crisp cold and clear skies our whole way up and pretty much all of the way back down. You could see the whole of the Salkantay mountian and the valley around it. The feeling when you get to the top on that second day is brilliant, not only becuase you`ve made it up without suffering the dizzing effects of altitude sickness, but also because you know its all downhill the rest of the way. What a feeling!

The third day you walk through jungles and end up in the `city` of Santa Tereasa. Now, I say city with a little bit of sarcasim here. When they sell you the tour they tell you that Santa Tereasa is a big town, its not. Across the road from our hostel (which was really just a camp site) was the local abattoir. This consisted of a concrete platform at the side of the road, covered by a corregated iron roof, completely open to the world and it had a hose and a drain at the side. It was the first time in my live I`ve seen a whole cow slaughtered in a mere 15mintues. From full animal to carted away in the back of a pick up truck in minutes. We all had a morbid curiosity about it and everyone stood around to watch at some point. Some of us were extra shocked as inedible enrails were tossed into the hedge along with a fetus. It was not pretty.

That night we all looked at our dinners long and hard before eating. Unfortunately, monkeys would try nd nip it off your plate which didn`t leave us with a lot of time for too much reflection, probably a good thing.

The next day was our last before reaching Machu Picchu and some of us had some sore heads becuase of some crazy american drinking game. Word to the wise, never get into a drinking game with american MBA students where you`re not allowed to make any facial expressions, it won`t end well for anyone involved, especially Ian.

That said, the walk was beautiful and by lunch we`d perked up enough to enjoy the landscape again. Most of it was clouded with heavy rain, but we were still awed by the huge green mountains leering over us.

Day 5, finally we reached our destination, the world famous, Machu Picchu. We got up at 4am, and started to walk up to Machu Picchu at 4.30am. Even at this early hour, there are groups of people walking very quickly towards the entrance. Everyone is trying to make it look like they`re not runing when all they want to do is break into a sprint down the road. The thing is, if you get to Machu Picchu early enough and you`re one of the first 400 to the gate, you get a special stamp so you can enter Huayna Picchu. Huayna Picchu is a mountain at the back of Machu Picchu that overlooks the whole site and where you can get some of the best vistas in the valley.

Now as we were walking up ot the gate, you suddenly feel really competitive. Like you`re thinking, Ive just walked 90km, I`ve had about 5 hours sleep and noone is going to take my spot in Huayna Picchu away from me. They just don`t deserve to be up there as much as I do, and I refuse to allow anyone to take my spot away from me. Subsequently, I was one of the first 30 people to the top. Taking it two steps at a time, I whizzed past anyone who got in my way and stopped for noone. I was really just trying to keep up with the Belgian man from our group. This guy goes ski mountaineering every year and is probably the fittest man I`ve ever met and if we hadn`t taken a wrong turn and missed the steps at one point, he would have been up there first with hours to spare.

At 6am having gotten our precious stamps, we met our guide who took us around the site. Machu Picchu is fantastic, there`s a reason its as famous as it is. Its every bit as amazing as everyone says and there`s nothing anyone can do to talk it down. It is pretty crowded later in the day when the trains start arriving, but when you get there that early, you more or less have it to youself. Even with the crowds, the site is so impressive on so many levels that the only way to do it justice is to go and visit it for yourself. Everything from where it was built (on the top of a mountain) to the plumbing (the aquaducts that run through it are still fully functional) and the farming technique that were used. On top of that, the whole city is basically a calendar where on the June soltice the first ray of sunlight hits an exact spot on a carving of a lama. The place is spectacular and not to be missed.

When we got back to Cusco we headed in for some well earned Alpaca burgers before making our way to Puno. Puno is a town on Lake Titicaca and from there we were able to visit the floating islands which are completely made out of reeds.  We were also able to stay with a host family on one of the natural islands and take in the scenery. The thing about these places is you have to see it to believe it. There are litarlly people on these floating islands that have never set foot on dry land. The traditional dress on the natural islands is so important that if you don`t know how to make the kind of hat that shows your married, you can`t get married. The people here hold their traditions very close, but at the same time, they`re really open to sharing it and letting outsiders learn about it. Which is brilliant!

So that`s Peru, next up should be hair raising bike journeys in Bolivia and mountain hiking with ice picks, but watch this space!