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I'm a tad behind in writing my blogs because as it turns out, there is way to much to do and just not enough time!! I keep trying to think of a job that will pay me to do this travel thing full time!! I can't think of one, so I've decided to charge you all $10 every time you read my blog, is that ok? I hope so, because as you are reading this I've already taken the money out of your account for the Free Belinda campaign. You may as well keep reading now, get your $10 bucks worth!!
This action packed blog includes;
Crossing the border in a 4x4 from Chile to Bolivia reaching heights of
4,900 metres above sea level!!!
Playing shithead with super cool people while sitting in a salt made hotel on salt stalls around a salt table with a floor covered in salt ( like the beach ).
Avoiding road blockages by taking dodgy back roads in a "private'" taxi.
Attending Spanish school.
Checking out dinosaur tracks and sea fossils high in the mountains.
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Salt flats tour
This rock tree has inspired a famous artist, his name has slipped my mind-webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Checking out some caves, which turned into extreme caving.
Climbing deep into a canon and out again ( swear I almost died twice). I'd say my first experience at rock climbing minus ANY safety gear.
Bolivia, oh sweet Bolivia!
I've been looking forward to coming to Bolivia for a few weeks now. Everyone I've met only has good stories to tell and importantly how cheap it is!!!
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Salt flats tour
Plenty of flamingos rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />I entered Bolivia from Chile on my 3 day Salt flats tour. 6 people in a 4x4 checking out some amazing sites. I had a really good tour group, a wonderful Belgian couple who also doubled as translators as they spoke very good Spanish. An Aussie couple, guess where from?? Traralgon!! Small world ey!! So we knew a lot of the same people and I now have another place to call in for a cuppa in Traralgon and the final person was from Texas. The tour was honestly one spectacular view after another, it's hard to put in words the scenery and hopefully you get a feel from it from the photos. Defiantly a highlight of my trip.
With the little research I'd done on South America I had no idea that the altitude was so high!! Crossing the salt flats we reached heights of almost 5,000 metres above sea level. Based on my past
bad experience in Nepal with altitude I was a little nervous. The local advice for dealing with altitude is to drinks lots of water and chew/drink on coca leaves. If I had these in Australia I'd be in all sorts of trouble, but here, go for it!!
I managed really well with the altitude apart from a few headaches here and there. Some people really struggled with it, but the few days I'd spent in San Pedro ( 2,750 metres) had given my body time to adjust. The photos show the highlights of this tour!
Following the tour the next destination was to head to Sucre and study some Spanish because the little I can speak is almost embarrassing! Turns out there is road blockages around Sucre as there are protests regarding taxes. The protests have been going on for days and
Sucre
Where I studied spanish no one knew when it would stop. So no buses or taxis getting in. But of course there are always options..... Back roads, if you are prepared to pay money, you can get anywhere! At this point I was still travelling with the Belgian couple so we negotiated a ride in a private taxi that would take us in. A 3 hour ride that took 5 hours. We drove ( bush bashed ) small country roads. At one point we even had to exit the car so it couple make it up a steep road as after the first attempt we rolled backwards and almost slide of the dirt road down a hill in the dark!!
We finally made it into town after many detours!
Sucre was a beautiful town, lots of white buildings and many many Spanish schools. This is where
Canyon in Torotoro
Go on, climb those walls a lot of people stay for a weeks to study. I spent a week here, the longest I've stayed still for over 2 months. I spent 3 hours a day having private lessons. It's hard work and I think it will take a long time and lots of practise before I can actually hold a conversation. I've defiantly learnt more though and hopefully ill get a chance to do some more lessons. For the rest of my time in Sucre I relaxed and went out to some really good restaurants with some people from the hostel. It's so cheap to eat out, cheaper than cooking. Oh, and Sucre was the first time since I left home that I booked a private room!!! Ahhhhhh I missed having my own space!
While in Sucre I'd been in contact with Simon who I did some trekking with down in Patagonia. We made plans to fly in to Cochabamba and head out on a trip to Torotoro. Simon flew in from La Paz and I
Canyon
The waterfall where we had lunch from Sucre. It was a Sunday, but we managed to find a tour to pick us up the next day to take us away for 4 days of exploring Torotoro.
Our tour to Torotoro was really good. It was a 4 hour rough and bumpy drive from Cochabamba. We were taken to a big homestead just out of town where we each got our own massive room with private bathroom. The house had about 8 rooms, but we were the only ones there except for one night when another couple stayed. All our meals were prepared for us each day and we had our own driver and tour guide. It was like stepping back into the land before time. We seen so many dinosaur prints in the ground around town. Some big ones, some small. There were sea fossils also which date back well before the dinosaurs. Considering we were close to 4.000 metres above sea level it was hard to believe that there was ever a sea there.
Canyon
Seriously, climb the walls We did plenty of walking, we seen secluded waterfalls, mountain high views and places that felt like no one had been there in a long time. There were very few tourists, if any, which made the experience so much better. One of the trips was to visit some caves. We thought it was walking through the caves, but no........ This was a caving experience where we had to think skinny to slide through on our belly as we moved bit by bit to the next point. I was covered in water and dirt pretty quickly from the many tight squeezes. At one point we had to hold onto a rope to kind of abseil down a slippery wall, then next minute we are holding onto a rope to walk up a wall which to our right dropped off into the pitch black. All you can hear is running water and the whole time I was holding the road scrambling up praying I didn't slip. I kept thinking..... No way would they ever let this happen in Australia!!! I managed to survive! Wet and dirty, but alive!
The next day the near death experiences continued! This day was defiantly the highlight. They took us to a canyon which was 300 metres deep. The guide took us to the edge and it was so pretty! Next thing we are kind of bashing our way down heading towards the bottom. There was kind of a track, I think, that we followed, and it wasn't long before we made it to the bottom. Being at the bottom and looking around was awesome!
I assumed we were going to slowly work our way back up the way we come down, but our tour guide ( ill call him monkey man ) had other plans. We were climbing up the other side. I couldn't see no track, but monkey man just seem to bounce up rocks. I was following ok for a little bit, then all off a sudden there were no kind of tracks. No real ledges to put a whole foot on. No dam steps or things to grab on to. Monkey man scrambles up this massive rock face clinging onto branches. Next Simon scrambles up, not as graceful as 5 ft nothing monkey man, but after some effort and grunting he gets there. Then it's my turn, well, no bloody monkey here. And it turns out I like to be able to hold onto a rail or place my whole foot on the ground to be able to leverage myself up. I try, I fail, we are about 100 metres up, I start to panic a little, I'm to scared to move, I say to Simon " I can't do this...."
Simon was my savour! Positive reinforcement and helping as he much as he could. Somehow monkey man got below me and was pushing me up from below, while Simon was guiding me up from above. I finally make it up, onto the ledge where my foot has to run parallel to the wall so I have some gripe. I'm literally clinging onto the side of the rock for dear life, my hands were shaky and sweaty, my heart almost jumping out of my chest. If this was Australia I would have had safety equipment, ropes, helmets, a dam track to climb up!!!!
Oh, but wait, we have to scramble up another even worse cliff. FML, the worst thing was there was no turning back. The only way was up. This time it was even worse. Monkey boy disappears along the rock face to break a tree branch into like a rope for me to grip on to. He is above me, Simon is below, I really wanted to cry! Grabbing onto this dodgy branch held by monkey boy, Simon literally shoving my ass, me grabbing a root coming from the edge and pulling myself up best I can. I get up finally and there is a spot where I can sit!! I sit there. Back up hard against the edge, I don't want to really move much further, looking down the drop is terrifying. I actually just have to sit there a little to compose myself before we moved on. I really thought I was going to fall. And there was no way you would survive the fall onto the rocks!
That was the worst of near death experiences that day. It took us about 4 hours of climbing to get to our lunch destination, then another 2 to get out altogether. Absolutely magical, but seriously terrifying at the same time. I'm very lucky that Simon was so calm and supportive and very lucky that our tour guide was a monkey!
Torotoro was a really great experience! I highly recommend it, maybe just take out life insurance, write a will and BYO safety gear.
Now I know I've written to much in one go but I'm just making sure you get your $10 bucks worth.
For donations to the Free Belinda campaign call 1800 FREE BELINDA or visit www.freebelinda.com and make a tax free donation!!
The next time I write ill have ridden a bike down the worlds most dangerous road! Lets hope I survive to tell you how it was!!
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Amy Proka
non-member comment
Wow!
Belinda your blog entries are amazing! I would not have survived the climbing. How scary!! Keep safe xoxo PS: When you get back, you should apply to be a TV presenter on Getaway. There's your travel job. Or even a travel writer for Lonely Planet or even freelance. You write very well!