Bogga
Dean Hislop Joined: December 10th 2008
Logged in: March 24th 2011
Logged in: March 24th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
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After the massive day that was Australia pumping Serbia in Nelspruit and the preceding and following shenanigans at the Jock and Java and the Casino, we decided a hungover drive to Mozambique was in order. We had to drop by the airport to get papers to take the rental cars over the border, then the 6 of us in the trusty Nissan Tiida and Volkswagon Polo made our way to Mozambique. After the 2 hour border stop for visas and back and forward with papers to get the cars over the border, we finally arrived in Maputo, the capital just after nightfall. Being pretty hungover and tired, we weren't on our guard and the local police could smell it. Thankfully, we hadn't taken any money out yet, so the bribes they exhorted from us amounted to ... read more
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After a long drive from Durban, well done Ben and Dan, we arrived in Nelspruit at nightfall at the Hippo Water Front Lodge, 10km outside Nelspruit. Dehaan just happened to have tickets to NZ v Italy, so he and I went to that and watched the Kiwis hold on to an impressive 1-1 draw. Game day on the 25th began with beers over breakfast. We then moved on to the Jock and Java, which was full of about 2,000 Australian fans, crammed in singing songs and smashing beers. Watched the England and US games. There were a couple of Serbian fans cheering when the Yanks won, because they were sure they would beat Australia, then get to play the yanks. How wrong they were! We arrived at the stadium and made our way through the throng ... read more
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Game Day being my birthday, I was a happy chappy, leading up to the game. Spent a couple days in Durban around Morningside where I was staying, going to bars and checking out the town. Had to go to the Bluff, which is way over on the other side of the harbour to meet up with the boys at our accomodation. I dumped my bags and tried to get back to the Fan Fest to watch the opening South African game, but by the time I got back, it was full and they were turning thousands away. Headed back to Morningside and watched the game with a German TV presenter and her local camera man. The local went berserk when they scored, but quietened down as the Mexicans drew level. Was a great atmosphere all over ... read more
Room with a view
The border crossing into Bolivia was fairly uneventful except for the less than delightful treatment of US citizens at the crossing. The nice border security asked to see my passport, saw the Australia emblem, then said emphatically, ah, Kangaroo, Kangaroo. Cí, Kangaroo, mucho. Smiles all round. The US girl behind me approached with the same cheerful attitude. "Alto" Go stand over there. While the rest of us had our passports stamped with 90 day visas at no cost and no luggage search. She had her stuff searched and was charged 135 USD for a 15 day visa. They really don´t like US citizens in Bolivia these days. I guess since they´ve been pillaging South America for the last 100 years, 135 per rich tourist isn´t really too much to ask. I soon found out the reason ... read more
Bit of a Drop
Ahh, the cry of the vendors trying to get you to buy a ticket to La Paz, as if there was any other destination from Copacabana, or you were a local and mayber were thinking of a holiday. La Paz is set in a large valley aligned along a river, which has long since been covered almost completely by bridges, arcades and other cityscapes. One of the main attractions in the La Paz area is the World´s Most Dangerous Road. We arrived at the hostel and saw many people wearing the standard "I survived the World´s Most Dangerous Road" T-shirt, too many!! Being an expert in road safety, I couldn´t resist the urge to have a look at the "Death Road". Being a moron, I couldn´t resist the urge to get completely wasted the night before ... read more
Our First Stop
We arrived at 5am in Uyuni, hoping to find some nice 24 hour establishment to rest and hopefully get some info about a day on the salt flats. No such 24 hour establishment exists though, and the only stirring in the town was of multiple backpackers in the same boat wandering around looking for somewhere warm or open. Finally a tour operator saw us from her bedroom window, came across the street, opened her shop, sold us a day tour of the salt flats and let us sleep in the office, while she went back to bed. She could´ve sold us anything as long as we had somwhere nice to sleep. After all, the last section of bus ride from Oruro to Uyuni was on a dirt road, on an old bus which allowed all the ... read more
Tio the Mine God
Potosí is the highest city in the world and the centre of the Silver mining world for much of the last 400 years. These days, the mines have largely been emptied of all the really minable stuff. However small plot holders still mine the mountains around Potosi for zinc and silver, all of this by hand in small, cramped, terrible conditions, which make Sovereign Hill in Ballarat seem like an example of world mining standards. Seriously, this is the most unsafe i´ve felt in Bolivia. Forget nights out with drug dealers, or the worlds most dangerous road, or riding on the roof with drunk tour guides. The safety standards in these mines is atrocious. The safety inspector wouldn´t even set foot in these in Australia, but here, hundreds of people work and make a living. Any ... read more
Puno is a port town on Lake Titicaca, which pretty much only serves as a tourist point on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca and allows tourists to do day trips out to the floating reed islands and the island of Taquile within the Lake. THe reed islands host inhabitants who have lived on the floating islands for many generations. Unfortunately, the only ones you can visit are all geared towards toursit dollars, with men and women spending their time making crafts and perfecting their spanish and working on their english. There are some other floating islands where tourists are not allowed, and I hope it remains that way if the alternative is to become tourist towns like those we visited. Not that theyre bad, as they do support the locals, it just seems a bit ... read more
Stopped off by Huacachina as all good gringos do between Lima and Cuzco for the obligatory day of sandboarding and dune-buggying. Since we arrived on a Saturday evening we decided a few brews were in order along with the BBQ the hostel was putting on. Before I know it, im in a cab with an American and a Canadian volunteer to a nightclub in nearby Ica. We got out of the cab, myself, an 18 yr old texan guy who had red eyes from sandboarding and a very straightlaced canadian girl who would not confirm her age but was around 21. The only gringos in sight, we decide to lash out the extra 5 Soles for VIP area access which was a good idea because it was quite crowded. As I walked in, Madison Avenues Dont ... read more
Miraflores is an upper class Lima suburb which stretches across the beach and includes the excellent Larcomar shopping complex. Whingeing St Kilda residents take note, Larcomar is a great shopping centre which doesnt obscure any view of the Radisson Hotel which is across the road from it, but provides a great shopping centre complete with night clubs and cinema and has no parking problems despite Lima being completely free of any rail public transport. First day I had to organise my Brazilian Visa which I didnt do in Melbourne, so went to the Brazilian EMbassy with some trepidation, I was asking for it in 3 days, and the standard is 5 days. Anyway, the embassy were great, took about half an hour and the guy said come back tomorrow and ill have it all ready for ... read more
