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Published: August 7th 2006
border crossing into bolivia
this is the border between brazil and bolivia which was made up of sticks and stoneswe crossed over the border into a little border town which we cant remember the name!!! here we got into taxis and our guide told them not to take us over the railway tracks as he thought it was too dangerous, the driver agreed (after we walked away) they when we were in he took us that way anyway which Bryan really wasn´t happy about! in the town they were having a dispute over what their taxes are spent on so the route over the railway tracks avoided the picket line. the driver took us that way instead of just to the picket line which is what he was supposed to do, think he wanted more money but Bryan just hid in the hotel away from them!!!!
Bryan had got us a room for a few hours so we could organise our stuff ready for the night train we would be going on. we left our stuff there while we went in search of snacks for the train. we wanted to go to the duty free shop but it was shut so we ended up going to a little kinda corner shop, think the owner was a bit annoyed with
us as we all only had really large bills and he had to give us all lots of change! we wanted some alcohol to have on the train, the shop only had one type of red and one white wine so it cut out all the time choosing at least. the bottle worked out to be one pound which is a bargin!
when it was time to get the train we all walked down to the station and checked in our bags before bording. once we were moving they came round and attached tables to the seats ready for our meal!!! we still are not sure what meat it was exactly our meal was but we just ate some of the rice that it came with!!! some of the others got chicken as an option which turned out to be much better than what we were offered!!!! they then removed the tables and turned the lights off so people could sleep. they had a film playing but it was dubbed into spanish so we couldn´t understand any of it!!!! we decided to try and drink our wine which turned out to be really difficult as we had poured it
into glasses. everytime we tried to drink, the train seemed to jurk and we were scared of pouring it down our fronts!!! we managed though, in the end it was easier to both just drink from the bottle!!! we settled down to sleep and actually got quite a good nights sleep!!! the whole journey was supposed to take 10hours and after about 12 we were a little concerned but they came round with the trays again and served us with breakfast which was a cheese and ham sandwich and a very pink yoghurt, which we can only describe as tasting pink!!!! we eventually arrived in Santa Cruz 18hours after we had started our journey!!!! bolivians are really laid back about timings and there wasn´t even any announcements saying we were running late!!!
it was about lunch time when we arrived and we took taxis to our hotel. we then went on a walk around the city which was really nice as it seems to not be all just set up for tourists. its a bit horrible with all the little kids coming up and begging for money. their really persistant and keep walking alongside you, then start pushing you
us all by the dino bus
from the left including the new girls who had just joined
Caz, Kim, Tim, Nic, Jo, Gill, Rhian and Katie when you ignore them!!! one little girl tried to push me and kim into the road to get our full attention!!! we went to an art museum which turned out to be more an exibition of peoples art but it was still good. we went back to a coffee shop and had an amazing slice of cake each!!! that evening we finished off the wine we had all bought and not managed to drink on the train, before going for a walk to find somewhere nice to eat. we ended up going to an amazing steak house which looked really expensive but was actually only 3 or 4 pounds each for our full meal of steak, chips, rice and salad including wine!! we then got taxis back to the hotel as we had an early start.
the next morning, the guy in the hotel organised breakfast early for us, and we then got a minibus to the airport where we were taking a flight to sucre. we got excited at the airport when we could buy toblerone!! its a bit wierd as bryan managed to check us all in without our passports, or us being there!!!! when we went through
me and heath in our lovely hats
they make you wear these as the dino tracks are in a working cement quarry the security checks they made me take off my boots so they could scan them, but not heather which is odd as they are exactly the same. bit weird though as it was the opposite on the international flight when heath had to take hers off and i didn´t!!!!
the flight was only very short, and the snack they gave us was another ham and cheese sandwich which is always what it seems to be!!!! we collected all our bags then had to get out the airport. they wanted to check the tags on our bags before we could leave but some had fallen off and they didn´t want to let us leave without seeing them!!! we eventually all got out and again took taxis to our hotel which was really lovely!!!! we all felt the altitude a bit as this was the first step up we had done but no-one was too bad, we only really noticed it when we tried to walk anywhere fast with our rucksacks on!!!! the first thing we all did when we arrived was go and put washing in which was good, everyone was running really short, kim had had to resort to her
dino tracks
we have quite a few photos but cant remember which dinos made which tracks anymore!!! bikini bottoms after getting in the shower wearing her last clean pair of pants and not realising something wasn´t right till they were soaked through!!
we went out for lunch, then went back to the hotel to meet the two new girls who were joining the tour. they are katie and caz. their both lovely and knew each other from back home. they also fit into the group well as they are english and both in the same age bracket as the rest of us (20-26)!!
we then went to get the dino bus to go and see the dino tracks which is what sucre is famous for. these are on a vertical wall in a cement works. the wall is vertical due to shifting in tectonic plates. the tracks are exciting but do look a bit the same!! to make it a bit more interesting for us the guide we had let some of the group carry the little plastic models of the dinosaurs with us so we could see the animal which made the tracks. he looked so distressed when he came to describe one, and rhian had lost it!!!! we all had to hunt for
mouthwash
on a night out we met up with a friend of kims who she had met in Rio. we had a local drink in a bolivian bar which actually just tasted of mouthwash! it on our way back to the hut and luckly someone spotted it!!!! there was a little boy there who was shining peoples shoes. you see loads of kids shining shoes all round the cities here which is a bit sad! we got back on the dino bus back to the city. at the hotel we had a rest as we were tired because of the walk at the altitude, as the dino tracks are on a big hill above the city. we went to a cafe place for tea which also does various tours so we booked a horseriding tour to do two days later.
after breakfast the next morning we went to a weaving museum which was really good. it had loads of examples and told us what the things in the weaves represented, and how you could tell which tribe people were in!
sucre has a siesta so lots of places close, we met up with those who hadn´t come to the museum and went to a cafe for lunch. heath, tim and nicola had booked a spanish lesson so after lunch we had time to visit the chocolate shops which are leathal!!! we were
poor kim
we have the most random photos of kim - promise we dont always pick on her!!! told by a previous group that sucre was the chocolate capital of bolivia and they were right- the chocolates are really good!!! we ended up making quite a few visits to them!!!
the rest of us lazed round then went for a walk while they were at their lesson. we all went out that evening to buy alpacha clothes to keep us warm while we were on the salt flats where we were told we would be freezing!!!! me and heath both bought a poncho and a jumper, hat and gloves.
the next day tim and nicola had another spanish lesson so they were on a shorter different horseriding tour. rhian had decided she had had enough of horses so stayed to have a wander round the city. the rest of us were on a tour which was horseriding for 2 hours to a hotel place where we were to have a bbq lunch and walk to see some waterfalls. the horses we were on were all a little intersteing. mine liked doing exaclty what it wanted to do and not listening to what i wanted him to do. i was also told to keep the reins short
horseriding
on the way to the ranch to stop him from deciding to run off!!! caz had the worst horse, she had to keep him walking the whole time as if he started to go any faster then he wouldn´t stop!!! he also kicked out at the horse heath was riding when it got a bit too close, so then one of the guides walked with her at the back of the group!!! we were all really hot and a bit sunburnt when we got to the ranch place. we were also starving but were told we couldn´t have lunch till we had been on our walk!!!
We set off on a walk to the waterfalls with our guide - charlie. As it is the dry season at the moment there wasnt much water in them, so much so that the guide even forgot to show us where the first one should have been! the second one wasn´t even flowing!!! the path to get to them then seemed to get an awful lot narrower and at one place it seemed really not like a path!!! the path then involved a jump down a face of rock, and a walk along a narrow ledge along side a
big pool of water to get to the third. the forth we thought he was having a laugh as we kind of had to climp up the third one to see it. at the bottom of this one there was a pool of water which was where we were told we could swim but there was no chance of getting us in there!!! the water was freezing and we would have to of walked back all wet!!! the group that had done the cycle up the hill arrived while we were there and a few of them were stupid enough to get in!!!!
we headed back along the path we had come, it was funny trying to jump down the third waterfall without ending up in the big pool at the bottom, it was even worse trying to get back up the rock we had jumped down! dont know how charlie just ran up it but he then helped the others up. heather was stubbon though and wouldn´t accept help so climped up herself! when it got wider path and a jeep picked us up and took us back to the ranch which was cool as it meant less
walking and closer to food!!!
the women brought us some lemonade when we got back which was really nice as it wasn´t as sweet as most of the other juices here. this was accompainied by bread and a chilli sauce or a green sauce which we thought would be guocamole but it was actually seemingly raw garlic!
we had to wait for the other group to get back before the bbq was served but it was definately worth the wait. there was salad, chips steak and sausages and the bowls were filled up when they were emptied which was cool. we chatted a while to the other group, we could already tell one of them was a scouser (she reckoned she wasn´t as she was from the wirral but she so was) and it turned out that one of them was from ainsdale which is weird! we had neopolitan ice cream for desert but it was different as there was no chocolate but coconut instead!
after eating we were driven back to the bar/tour office by the lady who served the food and seemed to own the ranch. on the way she almost ran over several dogs (they
waterfall number 2
as you can see it really wasn´t very big or impressive!!! just run out in front of cars) and she thought it was really funny to hear us cry out each time!!!!
we then went back and had showers at the hotel, and a few of us went out to a bar for tea, where we had mexican food which was lovely. we got more cash and went back to the hotel to pack and sleep as we had an early start in the morning, heading off to potosi.
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Geog Simon
non-member comment
Keep it up! :D
Wow, I've never seen so many exclamation marks! But some funny stories, keep 'em coming. Now that I'm back home, all this travel stuff seems a world away again...*sigh*. Safe travels Geog Simon x