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Published: December 24th 2006
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Feliz Navidad!
Well I´ve had that ringing around my ears for a few days, mostly due to a catchy little Christmas tune played over and over (and over) again in various places. "Feliz Navidad.. Feliz Navidad..." etc. etc.
Hello from Sucre, an unexpected find for us in Bolivia - for a country where poverty is quite rife parts of Sucre are surprisingly swanky. There are some lovely colonial buildings (new paint as well!) and a few Chelsea Tractors cruising the cobbled streets. A nice spot for us to rest our weary legs (hmm) for Christmas. We´ve splashed out a bit on a 4 star hotel, suite and swimming pool. I say splashed out, in London this may require donning balaclavas and an AK to get the money to pay for it but in Bolivia, for as much as breakfast in some UK hotels, it´s all yours. We´ve also paid a visit to one of the many chocolatiers here and purchased a bottle of the South American bubbly (jury´s out till tomorrow on that one). Although I´m sure we may miss friends and family this year, an afternoon by the pool may make some amends :-) I do hope all
Dreaming of a white Christmas?
The Salar.. Want salt with that? at home are sufficiently piling on the pounds and drinking yourselves silly over the break too.
Since the last update we completed the Uyuni salt flat tour over 4 days and spent a couple of days in Tupiza. The salt flat tour takes in a chunk of south-west Bolivia down to the borders with Chile and Argentina. The environment varied, at times desolate, at others impressive or beautiful. The downside of seeing such landscape is the need to spend four days in a jeep going over some fairly rugged terrain (certainly somewhere one´s precious Chelsea Tractor would not be taken!). The first day we visited the Uyuni Salt Flat. A huge 12,000sq km (if my Spanish understanding is anywhere near accurate) swathe of white covers as far as your eye can see. Sunglasses are an absolute must and my 18 bolivianos (1 pound 10) glasses performed admirably (despite the odd lens falling out). As you can see the white background also makes for an interesting photo backdrop and we spent a while fooling around. The first night (as the rest) was spent in a basic dorm, we had dinner and found beer (there appears nowhere on this planet you
Volcano
Spewing smoke over Chile and Bolivia can´t purchase beer... brilliant).
The next day we had a real change of scenery as we entered a part of the Atacama. Moon-like landscape (well if you believe the American photos) on all sides as we trundled (and bumped) through the volcano strewn landscape. The only animals that inhabit such a landscape seem to be vicunas (mini llamas). The debate raged in the jeep as to whether these animals found any greenery or survive solely on a dust diet. Eventually we found some lakes. These incredibly salty lakes are home to a few thousand flamingoes. Once again Sarah was happy (yes it´s a bird that´s pink) but even her interest was waning after the 5th / 6th lake full of them. The highlight of the second day was the Red Lake that looks... red. The water contains a certain algae that makes the colour go this colour and with the flamingoes it´s an impressive sight.
On the third day we were up early to get to the Geysers. These were really bubbling away when we got there and with the jets of steam shooting out of the ground all around you certainly have respect for the power of
Flamingoes
A Girls´ Bird the earth below your feet! We then hit the sixth hot springs of our trip. This time really au natural, a pleasant half hour was spent surrounded by one of the many salt lakes and volcanic mountains. Then it was on to the Green Lake. This time the green effect more subtle (a result of reflection), the lake being more impressive for its stillness and reflective abilities than the colour. That was pretty much it actually... oh yes bar a bum-numbing 7 odd hours back towards Uyuni in the jeep over rocks, dust and whatever else was in the way!
In hindsight 3 days would have sufficed as we stayed 2 hours short of our destination that night. Had we done that however, we would have missed out on an interesting evening. We settled in for a couple of drinks with our fellow tour people, a couple of Ozzies (who grow Papaya (fruit of the devil) back home) and a couple of Germans (slightly eccentric but fun). We´d found a certain contentment with the bizzare 80s music DVDs playing on the TV (the Germans knew all the songs worryingly - also a worry i recognized ¨The London Boyz¨) when
in came 20 odd locals. These guys worked in one of the local mines and were here for a Christmas party. As the booze flowed, so did the Spanglish on all sides and we ended up having an interesting night with the miners (their demand for Sarah to appear in their photos was entertaining; maybe due to her blonde hair, more likely due to being the only female there!). My night was cut a little short however due to an excess of Bolivian Sangani (read rocket fuel)!
The last day of the trip was fortunately short, with the only stop at a train graveyard. This was full of old and very rusty trains. We had a wander (well I didn´t due to the need to preserve energy and cope with an emerging hangover) and then it was back to Uyuni. A worthwhile tour, taking in some very interesting scenery and environment. However a bit more driving than we were expecting (we expected a fair amount) and a slightly lacklustre driver cum guide also stopped the tour quite living up to the excellent time we´d had in the jungle.
That night we got the overnight train to Tupiza. Only
6 hours or so away, with some sort of efficiency or organisation (both of which I guess don´t translate well into Bolivian) this could be done a tad bit quicker. Tupiza and the surrounding countryside are the setting for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the main attraction of the town is the canyonous and ¨wildwesty¨countryside. The following day we saddled up and went on a 3 hour horse ride. A great way to see the surroundings and the horses were actually well looked after and mostly behaved themselves. Sarah was enjoying herslf on Pancho as he pretty much did exactly what she wanted. I was having a little more trouble with Tupa who had some sort of ¨need for speed¨and seemed more inclined to break the speed barrier than to listen to me. Perhaps it was in response to me calling him fat near the start, who knows? Anyway it was great fun (bar Sarah´s digital camera deciding to break for no apparent reason).
Then on to Sucre (still the constitutional capital), where we arrived yesterday after a very cramped 10 hour overnight bus journey. I was all knotted up with my 1 and a half foot
legs: I would hate to have been 6ft 6! So far we like the place, just as well as we´re here for 4 days, and the weather´s looking good (it´s nice to be somewhere not so humid and not so damn high). The only slight sadness being the extent of the begging here - so stark against the comparatively rich surroundings. Hopefully the camera´s on its way to being fixed (it´s in the hands of some bolivian chap, hmm), the weather stays clear and Santa makes it out here tomorrow!!
Merry Christmas
Jonny and Sarah
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mum
non-member comment
Merry Chrsitmas
Love the pictures. Still don't understand how you do it!. Hope you had a good Christmas. It was great to speak to you. Enjoy the New Year. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Take care. Love mum