from peru to bolivia
so from puno in peru we took a bus to the border of bolivia where we got off the bus and walked through the archway into our next country. it was then only a short distance to the little town of copacabana in bolivia where we enjoyed a bit of lunch before continuing onto la paz. this part of the journey was incredible. lake titicaca sits like a jewel amongst the bolivian countryside. it is the highest lake in the world and easily the most beautiful especially from the bolivian side. the lake actually has an unmarked border through the center, half of it belongs to peru, the other half to bolivia.
as our bus brought us on our way to la paz we actually had to get of the bus and take a boat across the lake as they have not yet built a bridge to join the roads. the bus was then driven onto what looked like a giant raft with a tiny motor and sailed across to pick us up on the other side much to my dads amusement.
la paz
so upon our arrival in la paz we went straight to our previously booked hostel. the guy wouldn´t let us cross the door step, he was just saying there was a problem & shoved the deposit back into tom´s hand. so off we went in search of a new hostel which on a saturday night during peak season in la paz is not the easiest thing to find. we did find one in the end, double our basic backpacker price but it was worth it for the comfort ....
the death road
the following day we got ourselves booked on the ´death road cycle´ much to the delight of my dad & tom ! men eh !! basically just outside la paz there is a road built into the side of the mountain which was once considered the main road into la paz. due to the amount of people who lost their lives driving on this road, approx 100 per year, it beacame known as the death road. they have now built an alternative for vehicles but the road has become a huge tourist attraction where they tempt you to cycle the 64km stretch listed as the most dangerous road in the world. literally 64km of cliff edge scary cycling, any lapse of concentration could easily see you over the edge. thirteen tourists to date have gone over the edge & none have been taken up alive !! i was hoping cathy wouldn´t want to do it so i could have an easy excuse to get out of it but it wasn´t the case, the little dare devil was determined ! we all went off & honestly had an amazing day, despite the sheer vastness of the cliff drops the scenery was some of the most stunning scenery you would ever see on a day out cycling and thankfully despite cathy being knocked off her bike by some careless idiot we all survived.
that night we all returned to the loki hostel for a few beers. we were all yawning with tiredness after our long day. dad & cathy retired to bed & tom and myself planned to do the same but a chance encounter with a couple from london saw us downtown la paz on the dance floor in club2 until the wee hours of the morning !! the following day tom suffered like i have never seen him suffer before ... nothing to do with the litre bottles of la paz brew he was drinking all night !!! the poor fella was doing the chin run all day, you know that moment where you run to the toilet thinking your going to puke before you get there, endless hours of amusement for us all watching his torture !! while he didn´t puke in the end he did develop a serious case of the ´runaway bum´ which lasted for a staggering 7 days & caused tom to develop a serious hatred for this the 19th country of our travels .....
la paz to uyuni
that night to add to tom´s pain we had to take an overnight bus in order to add to our bolivian adventure ... the next on our ´to do list´ was the salt flats in uyuni. a 12 hour bus journey from the city across the mountains seemed liked nothing out of the ordinary with all the bus journeys we have endured to date. the bus was an hour late departing but once we all got on board and wrapped up everything was fine. that all change though 2 hours into our journey as the bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a serious accident that occured right in front of us. the bus much to our horror skidded out of control into the embankment & then ground to a sudden halt titlted to one side. everyone on the bus went pale faced, silent & completely still. no one would dare move for fear the bus was going to topple. one by one they got us off, the whole place was chaotic. there was tourists all sitting in the freezing cold on the side of the road wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm, our bus was looking seriously unbalanced in the ditch, a mini bus ahead was overturned, a truck was completely smashed into the embankment, there was lights & sirens everywhere and then before you know it the local bolivian news crew are on the scene. they run straight over to tom with the microphone to interview him and then they turned to me, we were so embarrassed but hey at least we made it onto bolivian tv !!!
eventually a replacement bus arrived & we were nervously back on the road, i say nervously because the bus driver decided to drive twice as fast to make up for lost time & more than once did it feel like the bus was going to leave the road again especially as we were off roading across the top of the mountain. but fair play to the driver as he broke all records and still got us to uyuni on time the next morning !!
uyuni & the salt flats
so our salt flats tour was to begin at 10:30, just 3 hours after we arrived. we had time for breakfast .... but not tom, he spent this time on the toilet and most other meal times over the next few days. when 10:30 ticked by on the clock we were left standing on the street waiting, time passed by, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 and still no tour. there was a power cut in the town & we were told because of this they could not get fuel. come on who are they kidding ... they are so far behind the times in bolivia especially uyuin they couldn´t even have electric pumps ! as well as this the other girls who were due to join us on our tour had not yet paid and with the power cut all two bank machines in town were out of service. they eventaully cancelled our 3 day tour until the next day. we were pretty damn p***** off with company who wouldn´t refund our money or be of any real assistance but i guess this is when you have to stand back and realise that things don´t run smoothly for these people on a daily basis & i guess the simple things in life to us like electricity cannot be taken for granted although i still don´t believe them that they couldn´t get fuel !! so we ended up booking ourselves a room for the night. indoors was the best place to be as a sandstorm passed over the town. in hindsight it was probably a good thing we stayed there as it gave tom some extra time to try to recover & cathy who by then had in her very own words got ´the shits´ !
salar de uyuni
so the next morning we set off the see this world famous salt flats. it´s the floor of an ancient lake over 4000m high which everyone said was truly amazing. we arrived there within an hour of leaved the town of uyuni in our 4x4. it was just incredible. all you could see for miles and miles was the white floor of this dried up lake. we all got out and started taking photos which are so fuuny. due to the mass of pure white everywhere and some clever camera work you can seemingly remove the perspective and develop some very funny pictures. one particular picture looks like dad is driving cathy & myself in tom´s shoe ! another looks like i am climbing on tom´s face ! then there is one where tom´s ipod looks bigger then him ! it was just brilliant ..... the scenery was brilliant, being there with tom, dad & cathy was brilliant, the 2 girls who joined us on our tour was brilliant but the guide was the biggest assh*** i have ever met in my life. he just kept being an assh*** from the moment we set out so much so that dad learned a phrase in spanish that said ´can you stop being a b****x for one day in your life´ !!! oh my word he was seriously annoying. the thing was we were stuck with him for 3 blinking days !!
anyway as we drove across the salt flats it was as i said just incredible. we then stopped at this island called fish island. it was just class. obviously it no longer is surrounded by water as the lake is dried up but it sat on the salt flats with loads of coral and cactus plants. that evening we also visited caves before retiring for the night into a salt hotel. a hotel made completely out of salt. we have since read that this building is completely illegal which makes sense i guess but it was still pretty cool to stay there. calling it a hotel is probably doing it a fierce amount of justice. it was just basic rooms that actually resembled a prison except the walls were a brighter shade due to the salt bricks. we were fortuntate enough to see an amazing sunset from our window too that night as temperature dropped to minus 7 dgrees.
the following day we continued our tour south . this day entailed an awful lot of driving which took from the day especially as we had now fully developed tension between all of us and our guide/driver, a full on hate hate relationship. he refused to speak to us in any way that we could understand. we were getting virtually no information about the surroundings. we did stop at many colourful laguna´s though which were self explanatory, one in particular which had so many flamigo´s. that was so unbelievable it made our day. that night was spent at the biggest hovel ever. in fact it just looked like an old run down building with on going roof repairs. with no heating, electricity or running water we thought we were in for a night of hell. luckily the banter between the tourists was enough to lift the spirits of everyone & a few bottles of wine that we someone managed to secure out in this very barren land !
the following morning we had to rise a 4am. this was to make it in time to see the geysers before sunrise. what a sight, the pressure of the steam coming out of the ground at full force. the only thing was it was so bitterly cold it was difficult to hang about outside. from there we went to hot springs but not one of us dared to get in. we have had the hot spring experience many times before on this trip & just felt this time it was not worth it. the water was warm but the temperature outside was so cold that the thought of getting out after the warm water was just too painful. add that to the fact that we had to bus it back to chile before having a shower or accessing clean clothes !! and if we didn´t do the hot srping our tour with captain assh*** would end quicker so we choose a quick end.
we parted ways at the border between bolivia and chile full of excitement as we were returning to san pedro de atacama and bringing my dad to this desert town, easily one of our favourite places in the world.
all the pictures as always are on the link above .......
so from puno in peru we took a bus to the border of bolivia where we got off the bus and walked through the archway into our next country. it was then only a short distance to the little town of copacabana in bolivia where we enjoyed a bit of lunch before continuing onto la paz. this part of the journey was incredible. lake titicaca sits like a jewel amongst the bolivian countryside. it is the highest lake in the world and easily the most beautiful especially from the bolivian side. the lake actually has an unmarked border through the center, half of it belongs to peru, the other half to bolivia.
as our bus brought us on our way to la paz we actually had to get of the bus and take a boat across the lake as they have not yet built a bridge to join the roads. the bus was then driven onto what looked like a giant raft with a tiny motor and sailed across to pick us up on the other side much to my dads amusement.
la paz
so upon our arrival in la paz we went straight to our previously booked hostel. the guy wouldn´t let us cross the door step, he was just saying there was a problem & shoved the deposit back into tom´s hand. so off we went in search of a new hostel which on a saturday night during peak season in la paz is not the easiest thing to find. we did find one in the end, double our basic backpacker price but it was worth it for the comfort ....
the death road
the following day we got ourselves booked on the ´death road cycle´ much to the delight of my dad & tom ! men eh !! basically just outside la paz there is a road built into the side of the mountain which was once considered the main road into la paz. due to the amount of people who lost their lives driving on this road, approx 100 per year, it beacame known as the death road. they have now built an alternative for vehicles but the road has become a huge tourist attraction where they tempt you to cycle the 64km stretch listed as the most dangerous road in the world. literally 64km of cliff edge scary cycling, any lapse of concentration could easily see you over the edge. thirteen tourists to date have gone over the edge & none have been taken up alive !! i was hoping cathy wouldn´t want to do it so i could have an easy excuse to get out of it but it wasn´t the case, the little dare devil was determined ! we all went off & honestly had an amazing day, despite the sheer vastness of the cliff drops the scenery was some of the most stunning scenery you would ever see on a day out cycling and thankfully despite cathy being knocked off her bike by some careless idiot we all survived.
that night we all returned to the loki hostel for a few beers. we were all yawning with tiredness after our long day. dad & cathy retired to bed & tom and myself planned to do the same but a chance encounter with a couple from london saw us downtown la paz on the dance floor in club2 until the wee hours of the morning !! the following day tom suffered like i have never seen him suffer before ... nothing to do with the litre bottles of la paz brew he was drinking all night !!! the poor fella was doing the chin run all day, you know that moment where you run to the toilet thinking your going to puke before you get there, endless hours of amusement for us all watching his torture !! while he didn´t puke in the end he did develop a serious case of the ´runaway bum´ which lasted for a staggering 7 days & caused tom to develop a serious hatred for this the 19th country of our travels .....
la paz to uyuni
that night to add to tom´s pain we had to take an overnight bus in order to add to our bolivian adventure ... the next on our ´to do list´ was the salt flats in uyuni. a 12 hour bus journey from the city across the mountains seemed liked nothing out of the ordinary with all the bus journeys we have endured to date. the bus was an hour late departing but once we all got on board and wrapped up everything was fine. that all change though 2 hours into our journey as the bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a serious accident that occured right in front of us. the bus much to our horror skidded out of control into the embankment & then ground to a sudden halt titlted to one side. everyone on the bus went pale faced, silent & completely still. no one would dare move for fear the bus was going to topple. one by one they got us off, the whole place was chaotic. there was tourists all sitting in the freezing cold on the side of the road wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm, our bus was looking seriously unbalanced in the ditch, a mini bus ahead was overturned, a truck was completely smashed into the embankment, there was lights & sirens everywhere and then before you know it the local bolivian news crew are on the scene. they run straight over to tom with the microphone to interview him and then they turned to me, we were so embarrassed but hey at least we made it onto bolivian tv !!!
eventually a replacement bus arrived & we were nervously back on the road, i say nervously because the bus driver decided to drive twice as fast to make up for lost time & more than once did it feel like the bus was going to leave the road again especially as we were off roading across the top of the mountain. but fair play to the driver as he broke all records and still got us to uyuni on time the next morning !!
uyuni & the salt flats
so our salt flats tour was to begin at 10:30, just 3 hours after we arrived. we had time for breakfast .... but not tom, he spent this time on the toilet and most other meal times over the next few days. when 10:30 ticked by on the clock we were left standing on the street waiting, time passed by, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 and still no tour. there was a power cut in the town & we were told because of this they could not get fuel. come on who are they kidding ... they are so far behind the times in bolivia especially uyuin they couldn´t even have electric pumps ! as well as this the other girls who were due to join us on our tour had not yet paid and with the power cut all two bank machines in town were out of service. they eventaully cancelled our 3 day tour until the next day. we were pretty damn p***** off with company who wouldn´t refund our money or be of any real assistance but i guess this is when you have to stand back and realise that things don´t run smoothly for these people on a daily basis & i guess the simple things in life to us like electricity cannot be taken for granted although i still don´t believe them that they couldn´t get fuel !! so we ended up booking ourselves a room for the night. indoors was the best place to be as a sandstorm passed over the town. in hindsight it was probably a good thing we stayed there as it gave tom some extra time to try to recover & cathy who by then had in her very own words got ´the shits´ !
salar de uyuni
so the next morning we set off the see this world famous salt flats. it´s the floor of an ancient lake over 4000m high which everyone said was truly amazing. we arrived there within an hour of leaved the town of uyuni in our 4x4. it was just incredible. all you could see for miles and miles was the white floor of this dried up lake. we all got out and started taking photos which are so fuuny. due to the mass of pure white everywhere and some clever camera work you can seemingly remove the perspective and develop some very funny pictures. one particular picture looks like dad is driving cathy & myself in tom´s shoe ! another looks like i am climbing on tom´s face ! then there is one where tom´s ipod looks bigger then him ! it was just brilliant ..... the scenery was brilliant, being there with tom, dad & cathy was brilliant, the 2 girls who joined us on our tour was brilliant but the guide was the biggest assh*** i have ever met in my life. he just kept being an assh*** from the moment we set out so much so that dad learned a phrase in spanish that said ´can you stop being a b****x for one day in your life´ !!! oh my word he was seriously annoying. the thing was we were stuck with him for 3 blinking days !!
anyway as we drove across the salt flats it was as i said just incredible. we then stopped at this island called fish island. it was just class. obviously it no longer is surrounded by water as the lake is dried up but it sat on the salt flats with loads of coral and cactus plants. that evening we also visited caves before retiring for the night into a salt hotel. a hotel made completely out of salt. we have since read that this building is completely illegal which makes sense i guess but it was still pretty cool to stay there. calling it a hotel is probably doing it a fierce amount of justice. it was just basic rooms that actually resembled a prison except the walls were a brighter shade due to the salt bricks. we were fortuntate enough to see an amazing sunset from our window too that night as temperature dropped to minus 7 dgrees.
the following day we continued our tour south . this day entailed an awful lot of driving which took from the day especially as we had now fully developed tension between all of us and our guide/driver, a full on hate hate relationship. he refused to speak to us in any way that we could understand. we were getting virtually no information about the surroundings. we did stop at many colourful laguna´s though which were self explanatory, one in particular which had so many flamigo´s. that was so unbelievable it made our day. that night was spent at the biggest hovel ever. in fact it just looked like an old run down building with on going roof repairs. with no heating, electricity or running water we thought we were in for a night of hell. luckily the banter between the tourists was enough to lift the spirits of everyone & a few bottles of wine that we someone managed to secure out in this very barren land !
the following morning we had to rise a 4am. this was to make it in time to see the geysers before sunrise. what a sight, the pressure of the steam coming out of the ground at full force. the only thing was it was so bitterly cold it was difficult to hang about outside. from there we went to hot springs but not one of us dared to get in. we have had the hot spring experience many times before on this trip & just felt this time it was not worth it. the water was warm but the temperature outside was so cold that the thought of getting out after the warm water was just too painful. add that to the fact that we had to bus it back to chile before having a shower or accessing clean clothes !! and if we didn´t do the hot srping our tour with captain assh*** would end quicker so we choose a quick end.
we parted ways at the border between bolivia and chile full of excitement as we were returning to san pedro de atacama and bringing my dad to this desert town, easily one of our favourite places in the world.
all the pictures as always are on the link above .......
2 comments:
Hi Tom & Lynn,
Talk about from one extreme to the other!! First of all my heart is in my mouth at your 'death road' pics then i'm laughing my head off at your salt flats antics! Priceless! Enjoy Rio, all my love mum xxxxx
Ha ha...hi mum, yeah bolivia was a great adventure despite the tummy trouble and waster of a driver! salt pics are priceless aren´t they!! On route to Iguazu tonight...should hit Rio by wknd ;) will be in touch lots of love x
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