Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia catch up

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Helloo all, wow! I am exactly a month late with delivering this blog, apologies all round, I will try to remember as much as I possibly can with what I’ve been up to until now...

IGUAZU FALLS- ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL

Iguazú Falls were truly amazing, probably the most awesome sight of natural wonderment I have ever witnessed... yes, I said wonderment! The falls were so gorgeous; I couldn’t tear my eyes from them.

It reminded me why I was here and what it took to get here and how not so long ago, I was sitting on the balcony of my apartment in Sydney wondering if I would ever get to see the falls and what I would experience if and when I did. I was feeling incredibly lucky and overwhelmed standing so close to them.

The Iguazu Park itself was enormous and the scenery reminded me a lot of the film, King Kong, covered in trees and flowers and butterflies and you could catch a small boat across the river to get even closer, very cool indeed.

The sad or frustrating part is that the hostel that I was staying in on the Argentinean side, Hostel International gave me severe bed bugs... AGAIN! And this time, all over my face, neck and arms! I had to spend a day in Iguazu going from chemist to chemist, no one could really help me, so I ended up going to a hospital with the little Spanish I know... Luckily it’s all cleared now, it did take a good week though to disappear.. v annoying... So, anyway...

SAU PAULO- BRAZIL

After leaving Argentina, I went on an 18 hour bus ride to get to Sao Paulo (Brazil), where I met this German girl, Katarina and we started talking, I told her that I didn’t know where I was going in Sao Paulo or where I was staying and told her how I was planning to do volunteer work between Bolivia and Central America.

Katarina said that she’s currently working in a volunteer place in Sao Paulo, they look after 3-5 year olds and teach them how to make bread and sing and be happy and have respect for people and the earth & whatever, latidah u know the drill… and suggested I come along.

We arrived at 5am and took a train and a bus 2 hrs out of town to the volunteer place, which is a farm, surrounded by jungle... and monkeys that you can hear in the trees as you walk towards the farm...

On the walk there, the roads reminded me of some of the scenes from Motorcycle Diaries, long and windey dirt roads, surrounded by trees and jungle.

We walked passed some locals and some of the Brazilian volunteers on the way and waved to them, Kat decided to tell me just then- that this was the most dangerous area in Sao Paulo... and that just outside the jungle area where we were, were the dangerous and famous slums.

We arrived at the farm and the place was so gorgeous, I couldn’t believe my luck and the people there were soooo nice 😊 They are all really a cool bunch of people.

The first thing we did was eat home made bread and marmalade and then hold hands in a circle while the volunteers sang some songs in Portuguese which they do at the start of each morning.

The farm is run by a Swiss man and a Spanish woman. It had lakes, small houses, crops and vicious ducks that would run toward your knee caps at full speed and lots of trees and jungle surrounding it. The volunteers live in one small cute little two-storey house, where two girls sleep behind a curtain in the living room and the other two sleep in the attic upstairs. I slept on a mattress on the floor in the kitchen, which was surprisingly comfy… although one of the girls told me about the kitchen rats, so I slept with one eye open at all times, feeling v paranoid during the night.

So, the same day I got there... I got to hang out with kindergarten kids, they were so cute and noisy and they gave me a headache but it was worth it. We made cookies and I taught them how to draw bunny rabbits and they were either laughing like hyenas, throwing sharp objects like tiles at each other or crying.

The kids were so adorable and naughty, one reminded me of the boy from Kindergarten Cop, the one with the like, “Girls have a penis and boys have a vagina”. He was so gorgeous, he kept running into me and pretending he was a car and would make me tickle him while he laughed like an insane tiny person, he corrected me when I was using my knife and fork as we sat down to lunch and at the end of the day planted a kiss for me right on the check, yay! I scored 😊 ha-ha!!

They wanted me to stay there for two weeks, but I didn’t really want to. I said a week maybe, but they said that wasn't enough, so I had a whole day to spend with little kids and took amazing photos and can easily say that that day was one of the best experiences I have had so far. Yippee.

I left the next morning bright and early and proceeded to catch bus and train to the city centre where I was to catch my bus to Bonito to meet two quirky Israeli nutt bags.

Brazilians primarily speak Portuguese... My Spanish sucks, and the only word I know in Portuguese is "thank you". So, for about 4 hours I went from booth to booth, hungry and exhausted from my heavy backpack trying to find this bus to Bonito, only to discover that I was in the wrong terminal. So I caught another train to a different terminal and after a few more hours of hassles and lost in translation moments I was on the bus and on my way to Bonito.

BONITO- BRAZIL

I finally got to Bonito, and met up with my two Israeli friends, Eitan and Eyal and stayed there for five days, doing nothing, except catching my breath and laying about in a hammock all day.

Bonito, is a v small town, serves some excellent pizza, you pay peanuts and get two slices of every kind of pizza on the menu until you are full.

CICHAGO- BOLIVIA

Afterwards, we went from Bonito to the Bolivian border crossing at Cichago, my first impression of Bolivia was pesky mosquitoes, dust and flying sand that pierces your eyes, more indigenous people this way, a lot of them so friendly and a lot of them very pushy for you to buy something.

The women wear little bowler hats and colourful sacks around their necks which they carry their babies in, they wear thick socks with little sandals and they're either sitting in the sun with layers and layers of clothing on or running from place to place which looks really funny actually, because they're bodies look massive with all those layers, but they're feet are so tiny and petite and they look like mushrooms on two tiny toothpicks running back and forth, flailing their arms and giving toothy grins w very toothless teeth.

I really love Bolivia, not because it's so cheap, but I’m constantly amazed at the way the people here live. With no bathrooms usually, or hot water and very cold and windy conditions and they always seem to cheerful and welcoming.

So, after leaving Brazil and going though borders and visas and getting chocked by dust and all that rubbish. We caught a long train to Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ- BOLIVIA

Santa Cruz is Bolivia's second largest city, has around 2 million people and is a good place to explore Samipata which is 2 hours away by taxi, where you can explore El Fuerte, home to the pre-Inca ceremonial site on a hilltop, surrounded by mountains.

We stayed in Santa Cruz only for a day; it's a small and busy little town. We stayed in a gorgeous hostel, called Residential Bolivia and while eating breakfast the morning, a cute little toucan scurried around the breakfast table for scraps. Very cool experience, I've never seen one so close up and it was quite friendly too. So after a hearty breakfast of eggs, breads, jams and coffee we headed to Samaipata and stayed there for the next five days.

SAMAIPATA- BOLIVIA

Samaipata is small and apparently, most backpackers tend to skip this little town. I really enjoyed being there, there's not much to do and the main plaza is literally one block of kiosks, restaurants, hostels and one or two tourist agencies.

We went to El Fuerte one afternoon with two Danish girls and explored the pre-Inca ruins with a Spanish speaking guide. I don't know if it was the fact that we had a guide or that this guide spoke only in Spanish, but I was very bored. I found the whole El Fuerte experience slightly interesting, but mostly boring, plus I was suffering mildly from altitude sickness and found every breath taxing as we were walking.

We decided to walk back down to the main town which was about a two hour walk, after walking for about five minutes, we decided to sit down and have a short break. Soon after, we hear a truck drive towards us from the top of the hill, filled with maybe thirty or so screaming Bolivian kids.

We asked the driver for a ride back into town and we jumped on the back of this rickety truck towards the main plaza. The views were brilliant, mountains and farms all around. We eventually climbed into the truck with the kids as it was moving and were standing holding onto a single bar with all these kids, who were screaming and whoo-hooing at cows as we drove past.

It was extremely funny and we were laughing the whole drive down, Eitan took some awesome shots with my camera and showed them to the kids, I love how they rile up whenever they see themselves in a photo. They seriously go crazy and then stand together with big smiles hugging shoulder to shoulder begging you to take more photos, and all of a sudden it becomes this hectic situation where little screaming kids are jumping all over you and tugging at your clothes.

Samaipata is cool for many reasons, not just the gorgeous landscapes, but the people too. We stayed in a cosy hostel called Hostel Paulo, I hardly saw any adults working there. We were greeted and served breakfast by a 10 year old boy, who had the behaviour of a mature-aged-man. He didn't go to school, instead, his homework was organizing the hostel, arranging rooms, cleaning bathrooms and serving (and possibly) making the breakfast.

One night, we got back to the hostel late and we saw him sleeping on the floor of the dining room. Apparently, this happens a lot when all the rooms are filled the hostel supervisors’ sleep wherever they can, sometimes the floor and sometimes they pitch a tent outside.

The hostel was right outside the main school, so every morning at around 8am you would hear the school bell, followed by screaming kids running into the school. One morning, I woke up before the kids arrived and sat on a very comfortable hammock writing in my journal and looking over the school and the town and feeling very lucky to be in Bolivia. It's such an awesome place and if anyone ever tells you rubbish about it being dangerous, please ignore them, Bolivia is perfectly safe as long as you're not a dumdum and flash your riches, if it's riches you have.

One night, we went out for dinner, actually, every night we go out for dinner, because the food here is soooo good and soooo cheap, so you may as well make the most of it. One night, we went to this restaurant nearby and as we were eating, a truck pulled up right next to us and out jumped a family with great big boxes packed full of baby chickies! they were so cute, i wanted to pick them up and play with them, they were squeaking and were bright yellow and kept walking on top of each other, you NEVER see anything like that in Sydney, I love Bolivia! whooo!

SUCRE- BOLIVIA

Soon after we went to another Bolivian city, Sucre... after one of the most dreadful bus rides of my life.

First of all, as soon as you get to Bolivia forget about getting a good night's sleep on a bus, forget about getting a meal and forget about using a toilet.

The buses are crowded, small, smelly and freezing. A cute family sat in front of us with a box filled with baby chickies again, this, was possibly the only enjoying thing about this ride. It was an overnight bus, which is good because it means you get "free accommodation" for a night. Yeah right, try sleeping on these buses... I noticed the locals could sleep with no problems and I was soooo jealous of them for this! Some people would sleep in the isles and a careless mother put her baby in the isles wrapped in blankets so that you could only see its fat little face. The baby didn't cry all night and I was quite curious about this and then Eitan said that apparently the parents drug their babies to keep them quiet.

Several times during the course of the night the bus would make "bathroom stops". Yippee! I thought! My bladder was about to explode, I exited the bus with everyone else in the dead of night and asked the bus driver where the bathroom was, he pointed behind me and I saw dozens of people walking into the woods like zombies.

I have a problem with going in public places, especially in the dark! I followed the zombies and tried my hardest but had severe stage fright, I couldn't do it, and I don't even know how it would work. I'm such a Sydney gringo! I was very disappointed in myself and walked back to the bus uncomfortable and unhappy. What I didn't realize when I was in the woods was that I stepped in a great big pile of poo, and I hoped to god that it was horse poo, but the fact is, it had remnants of toilet paper 😞

I walked back onto the bus wondering what that god awful smell was and decided quickly it wasn't me. In the early hours of the morning, to my surprise I found my shoes were a complete mess and I had stunk up the bus! Two little old Bolivian ladies in bowler hats beside me were looking at me and I was so embarrassed and was now incredibly cranky from lack of sleep and lots of poo.

TARABUCO MARKETS, SUCRE- BOLIVIA

It was Sunday when we got off the bus into Sucre and this meant market day in Tarabuco, which was only a few hours by bus from Sucre. We checked into Putusi Hostel and I really tried to vigorously clean my boots in the sink (with a toothpick and a plastic bag), I don't think I have ever sworn so much in my life.

On top of that, I was being hurried because we had to catch the bus to these markets. I wanted a shower so much, I found poo on the end of my pants, I was so furious and hungry, I didn't even have breakfast yet, I really thought I was going to punch the next person who gave me gip in the face. But I got changed; left my poo filled shoes and pants to soak in the sun and grabbed a bread roll on the way.

When I got on this bus I fell in and out of sleep and saw some cool scenery on the way, which I think are even better than the markets. Tiny mud brick hutts with goats and chickens and valleys, farms and mountains, I've seen a lot of scenery since arriving in South America and I'm not sick of it yet.

We finally got off the bus and walked into the Tarabuco markets. Most of the markets were selling the same supply of mainly bags, wallets, belts, rugs, ponchos and jumpers all made from llama or alpaca wool with insanely colourful weaves and threads. I bought a small money pouch for $5 Bolivianos which is about 80 Aussie cents.

Eitan bought some colourful juggling balls and eventually we got so tired of walking in circles we left to go back to the hostel in Sucre for a shower and meal. I was so in the mood for a shower, I thought I had really deserved it, I got in and the bastard thing was cold after five minutes, I was half clean and growing impatient and decided to change hostels the following day to something a little more "kitsch" called Hostel Sucre.

It was fancy and cheap and came with breakfast and because I was so comfortable all of a sudden, I decided I liked Sucre 😊

In Sucre, there's a Danish-owned restaurant called "The Joy Ride Cafe", which has all sorts of excellent foods, from pancakes to hash browns to "real" salads! I haven't eaten a proper salad in so long because they usually wash the veggies in the local tap water, but the menus assured me it was washed in mineral water. It's funny how simple pleasures like this can make your day. Also, this cool cafe served and made its own beer and also had a cinema upstairs where they screened cool films like Clockwork Orange and Motorcycle Diaries...

TUPIZA- BOLIVIA

We left Sucre and headed South of Bolivia to Tupiza which is famous as it has the best terrain for horse riding.

We got to Tupiza at midnight, by now I am really tired of travelling on buses overnight, again I had no sleep and my back was killing me from the uncomfortable seating and the fact that my backpack was now double the size of me.

Tupiza is filled with dust and is very touristy, and has about three restaurants to eat in.

We stayed at Hostel International and on the third day of lying around and doing nothing in Tupiza we finally decided to do a 7 hour horse ride around the rugged Cordillera de Chichas, which is an amazing landscape of rainbow coloured rocks, hills, mountains and canyons with deep gorges and cactus forests. These landscapes represent the real Wild Wild West and served as a setting for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The only experience I have had on a horse would be Centennial Park in Sydney, the horses are trained to walk slow in Sydney and a slight bounce would get me nervous on most occassions.

The horses in Tupiza were wild and stubborn. They knew their terrain and would usually follow the horse in front of them, but when the horse in front of them (who was usually the guide or Eitan) would start running, my horse would start running like crazy, and, at first, I was holding on with my life, thinking I was going to die.

But then I got used to it very quickly, and decided to enjoy my horse when it was running wild. We stopped somewhere for lunch and ate some delicious schnitzel sandwiches that this lady called Irma prepared for us.

Irma speaks Spanish and more Hebrew than English, her income comes from Israelis eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in her home. She is very cool and sweet and every Israeli in Tupiza has heard of the famous Irma, who will do anything for you from laundry, to preparing meals to organizing tours and giving general advice.

While we were at lunch admiring the views, I needed to pee and without stage fright I finally did it easily! The lake nearby could have something to do with it though 😊 I was so happy and skipped my way back to the horses, feeling v proud of myself. We had three and a half hours more and I really wanted the horses to run faster this time round.

My horse ran, I was galloping through canyons and rivers, through dust and rocks and water. I was filthy, in excruciating pain, but I did it and I loved it! The guide gave us a stick at one stage and I whipped my horse to go faster and pulled the reigns while running to avoid falling though holes in the earth, I felt like a real cowgirl 😊

At one stage, Eitan was behind me on his horse, and I saw a river ahead and decided to pelt through this river and yelled YEEHAHAAA!! And everything was blurry from that point on and I heard Eitan´s horse behind me gaining speed and followed mine though the water and we were both laughing and screaming insanely and the guide was yelling after us to stop, but we kept going.

It was serious much fun and whoever goes to Tupiza must do the horses, but I have to tell you the downside sadly too. I got seriously chafed on my bum and legs and my back was so crook, so I got a massage when we got back and as soon as I was feeling normal again we headed to the North of Argentina again to do Salta because it is so close, it would be a sad waste to miss.


SALTA- ARGENTINA

We got to Salta, one of the Northern cities of Argentina at 4am. I didn’t sleep on the bus again and was thinking about my family and feeling quite homesick.

After walking around for a good hour looking for a hostel that suited us, yet alone that was even open at that hour. We got to Hostel Backpackers, the guy there, who was very into heavy metal and was playing it loudly at 5 in the morning, suggested The Cottage Hostel and ordered a cab, in which the Hostel actually paid for. We dropped our bags and I fell in and out of sleep and eventually I got up to send my sisters a very emotional email as I was still feeling v homesick.

It was great to be back in Argentina! I missed the steaks! And had one every day until we left. They were so good and so worth the wait! The best steaks in Salta are in the main plaza, I don’t know the name of the place but it’s opposite Havana’s, the cookie place.

We decided to chill out for a few days before heading to Cafayate and Cachi by car. So we went to Blockbuster and rented Death to Smoochie and Emperors New Groove, as well as going to the supermarket where I made quite an impressive meal of pasta with roasted veggies and grilled Chorizo sausages... Mum, are you reading this? I cooked! I don’t need you at all anymore, ha-ha, just kidding 😊 I still screw up toast!

My hair was growing and getting out of control so I got a haircut in Salta, pretty good I must say, but it’s what... three weeks later now and im pretty sure it’s grown back again... but it only cost me 10 pesos, which is $3 -$5 or something like that... So whatever.

We managed to find three other guys to do a road trip with. Paul, a Norwegian fellow, Cameron a Kiwi and a wine connoisseur and another Israeli, Vitalik - we found them at another hostel rented a car with us for 3 days to drive to Cafayate and Cachi. This is a common thing to do in Salta, because the views are amazing and there are many great wineries on the way.

It was a v cool crowd to be travelling with, even so briefly. Because Paul knew more about my camera than I did and taught me loads of neat experiments and tricks. While Cameron knew everything about wine and wineries and was able to show this off which was v cool indeed.

CAFAYATE, SALTA- ARGENTINA

Cafayate has incredible scenery and so far, the best I’ve seen yet. We went to a pretty lake, a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and then to the Devils Throat.

We finally arrived at the main centre where we found a Hostel International run by an American- Argentinean fellow names George and his great big rottwieller, who decided to sneak into my room while I was resting one night and proceed to jump on top of me. I got out of it, with a nervous laugh, trying not to seem too petrified, saying nice doggy over and over.

We spent the next two days ripping up the dirt in these hired ATV 4x4 motorized carts through some cool mountains in Cafayate. As well as visiting this AMAZING winery called Colone, which is run by this friendly Argentinean fellow with a contagious laugh, named Augustine. He served us possibly the best sandwiches, white wine and Dolce De Leche Ice cream I’ve ever tasted. It was a great end to our little road trip.

TUPIZA- BOLIVIA

We got back to Tupiza and accidentally met Augustine from the winery on the bus. For a few more days we rested, before heading on another four-day road trip to Salar De Uyuni, home to the Salt Flats.


SALAR DE UYUNI- BOLIVIA

This four-day road trip to get to the Salt Flats consisted mostly of driving (no kidding), but it was ok because we listened to my I pod and Eitan taught me how to make my very own bracelet out of these durable threads made from hemp apparently, called Macromay or something...

I can easily say it was the coldest I have ever been, we would wake up at around 5am most mornings to watch the sunrise and for the first two nights there were no showers, it was -3 degrees outside, but the views, the food and company made it worth it.

Our driver and guide, Marcelo was a very sweet Bolivian guy, who brought his mother Mercedes along who cooked for us and would wake up at 4am and cook our lunch for the day. We were also accompanied by Sharon an Aussie and a French couple, Marie and Felix.

We would make stops to see some amazing sights, like Geysers that smelled so strongly of sulphur, Laguna Colarada, which is this red lake filled with minerals and covered in flamingos, as well as some small towns where the children would run up to us to take photos of them, these kids were amazed when Eitan took out his hackey sack balls and started juggling for them and all crowded around him.

On the last day of the trip, we finally had a hot, much-needed shower and started the morning at the Salt Lakes watching the sunrise. It was beautiful and freezing and certain times I refused to leave the warm jeep, unless it was for a quick photo.

At one stage, we went to a shop in the middle of the Salt Flats where we met a small 8-year-old boy. The boy started to chase and hassle Marie, he wanted her to take him away in the jeep, she said no, and gave him a lollipop instead.

He said no very firmly, put the lollipop on the floor and grabbed her hand instead, trying to force his way into the jeep, Marie said no to him again and he then began to kick her in the shins and call her a bitch! So we left never to return, and our guide, Marcel took us to a small cactus forest, which was sort of an island in the middle of the Salt Flats, where he and Mercedes cooked us up a mean breakfast of Bomwellos, which is kind of a deep-fried pancake thing and very delicious.

We left Salar De Uyuni by bus. What was meant to be only a 6-hour bus ride turned into a grooling 13 hour bus ride. Due to a strike thanks to the Mayor who stole 3 million Bolivianos off the workers, what a nice guy, don’t you think?

So, all the roads were blocked to Potosi and we couldn’t even go back to Uyuni because those were blocked too. So we were stuck in the middle, with no where to go. Our clever driver made several attempts to cut through rivers to find a "new road". Eventually, or luckily we did and arrived in Potosi very late that night.

POTOSI- BOLIVIA

Right now, I am in Potosi which is the mining town of Bolivia. Many tourists that come here visit the mines and the workers; I refuse to do this for many reasons. I am staying in the best hostel I’ve stayed in so far, called the Koala Den. It’s colourful, has heating, hot and wonderful showers, big morning breakfast of eggs and bread and bananas and coffee and most importantly, a TV with an excellent DVD collection. So far, I’ve been here for about 4 or 5 days now and have done nothing but watch DVDs, like Closer, Motorcycle diaries and Requiem for a Dream, which isn’t as disturbing as everyone says, just really well made with excellent editing.

Oh yeah, I ran into Lauren Jacobs again! She´s doing the opposite route to me now and is on her way to the Salt Flats. I was in and out of a sleep and thought I heard her voice and when I came out of my dorm I saw her sitting there on the couch. How crazy is that?

Ok, well that’s all for now, you will hear from me again and I would have been to the North of Bolivia, La Paz, Cochabamba and finally volunteering at Intia Warri Yassi for a month with the pumas, yeeha.

Till then!
Ten 4 rubber ducky!

(applause)

Deb

Oh yes,please check out my photos when you get a chance,there´s heaps of new ones..
go to this site...

http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/debsi_photos/my_photos

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Photos

Deb in Iguazu Falls
Me infront of the falls on the Brazilian side

Katarina at the Volunteer House in Sau Paulo
This is Katarina walking me to the bustop the next morning

The Volunteer House in Sau Paulo
This is the house that I stayed in

more cute Brazilian kids
here´s anotehr volunteer playing with the kids

Comments

[Jen]

Too long
Hey Deb....love your blogs....try to write more often and smaller ones...my eyes hurt. I miss you BITCH!