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Published: March 25th 2009
Already in Peru, 2 weeks later I Am really behind. With Tova gone i´ll try to put things right...
So we're talking +/- 1-3 to 5-3 2009.
From here on it´s going to be a couple of weeks with Tova, which is now already back to Tel Aviv. For me it will be mostly places i´ve been to 4 years ago, when first visited Peru and Bolivia. But this did not make it less beautiful.
So after San Pedro it was time for Bolivia, the lakes and the big salt lake, Salar de Uyuni. Altitude: 4900 meter to 3600. The big news, which was not allowed to be published, was Tova fainting, very much because of the height. This happened right after visiting some lakes, and getting to the bubbling geizers. Tova already felt week for soem time, and now it happens, as we arrived looking at the bubbles, she told me ¨lets go from here i feel bad¨. B4 i knew, she fell on her face on the rocks, and luckily önly¨ bled and had some beautiful marks on her face. This was scary for me, seeing her falling, and i guess for her too. I took beautiful
photos of her bleeding face, but non of them will get here, as later on, dear little Tova lost her phone, with all photos in it....Tova reallly!!!!
Oh yes, I still have to tell u i discovered the ¨great¨ sony camera i bought ¨can crash if used above 3000 meter altitude¨. This means half the places could not be taken with it... BOYCOT SONY!!!!
So be aware that the photos u c (except for the bus story), are courtesy of www.google.com :-). The quality is not really what u would expect...but well...you get the idea.
After the shock it took some two days Tova was in full service...
So what we saw were wonderful lakes in blue, green, red and white, The geizers, and the famous salt desert, where the rain made a beautiful spectacle, making earth and sky meet. The fact that my last visit there was with clear skies and no rain made the scene quite different, which was really good. Another difference was the fact that the number of Flamingos was definitely lower now, significantly. It apears the lakes are getting smaller, so less flamingos arrive...global worming etc. Lastly we saw the Isla de Pescados, an
amazing (again) island of cacti in the middle of all that salt...
At that point Tova was 100% recovered and that was great.
We slept in a couple of very simple hostles in the middle of nowhere, and in one we had a great table tennis session, where grandpa Uri beat 6 youngsters in a row. Made my day.
At the end of the trip we arrived to the city of Uyuni and made preperations to take the noght bus to La Paz, which was supposed to be from 20:00 to 7:30. This turned out different.....Uyuni was nice. We sat in cafes, arranged the passports which were confiscated from the Israeli travellers, including Tova, and ate at a great Pizza place in a somewhat European hotel....
The next step was to take the bus from Uyuni to La Paz. Leaving 8 pm, arriving 7 1/2 pm. Well.....we thought...So we are in the rainy seazon, all travel books will tell you that transport in this seazon could be a bit more difficult. Will it appeared it is true. Our 12 hour rijde became like 18 or 19 hours. The bus was driving in a road which u would
think onlñy fits a 4x4. We counted 6 times of stopping to discover we are presented with a newly born river we should cross. Well, it´s easier without the passangers, so in the cold of night (+/- 2 degrees...) at 2:00 4:00 6:00 we had to step of the bus. Many locals helped look voor whatever fits (like bushes, stones etc.) to put under the weels, in order to get the bus off the mud and/or the water. (fotos of this are my own).
Later we calculated we did the first 250 km in about 10 hours. Maybe we should have taken the bike :-), though this experience was quite amuzing...(albeit tiring)
But, at the end we arrived around 16:00 at La Paz and hurried to the hotel, in the very centre of town.
To be continued.
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Lenny
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It just doesn't end!
The beauty, the experiences, the nature, the adventures! Wat een wereldreis! Letterlijk en figuurlijk. Love following your trail. Be well sweety!