Que Paso? So we survived the 18 hour busride from La Paz to Samaipata.. Wait, did I say Samaipata?? What I meant was the busride from La Paz to SANTA CRUZ!! Although the guy we bought the bus ticket from claimed that the bus went to Samaipata, it did not, and in fact never does it even pass Samaipata. WOW.. (Can you imagine out-and-out lying to someone like that??) So we took a taxi from Santa Cruz to Samaipata. 3 hours, semi-paved roads, and lots of slippery mud. It was a little scary, but we made it and it was well [View Full Entry]

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Im here, made it ok, long fuckin flight though. the next day i passed out til like 3 in the afternoon. I saw some guy puttin a jacket on (it was raining off and on) and i was hungry as shit, so I asked him if he was going to town and if I could tag along. He said sure. His name is Simon, a polish guy, my age, 28. We walked in to town, got some food ( a bombass steak, fries, salad, beer, and espresso, for like 8 bucks!). Then we walked around the town and checked out [View Full Entry]

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Again we must apologise for not updating the blog, it is actually about three weeks behind our actual travels so we will try to run through what has happened through part one of Bolivia (we are returning for part two in November), and our first leg in Peru. Backtracking to the last entry in Brazil we crossed the border and headed to Santa Cruz via the "Death Train" - a 24 hour nightmare journey that we would not wish on anyone, as it was absolutely horrific and painfully uncomfortable. When we finally arrived in Santa Cruz we headed straight for the [View Full Entry]

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A pity really that I rushed through La Paz from bus stop (arriving from Titicaca) to bus terminal (leaving for Santa Cruz) - La Paz is really a beauty when you get the first glance at it from above in the afternoon sun. Undescribable, so I won't even try. And I didn't stay anyway... I took a sleeper bus to Santa Cruz, which was sort of a waste, since the roads are so bad that you can't sleep anyway. So I mainly dozed for 18h - when I was awake for while at around 3am, my first three sensations were: (1) [View Full Entry]

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It is now about six months since I left England and it is time to bring things up to date. In February, Jane left me in Cuzco to return to the UK and welcome the daffodils and the snow. I made a short trip to La Paz with friends and to the small town of Coroico that I enjoyed visiting so much during my last stay in Bolivia. Then I returned by plane to the city of Santa Cruz and from there to Samaipata where I had already found a little house to rent. The house is basically two large [View Full Entry]

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Early March: Got an overnight bus from Sucre to our next port of call Samaipata, a small village in eastern Bolivia. Unfortunately there was no toilet on this bus and I spent most of the night avoiding sleep for fear of wetting myself. Thankfully the driver stopped at about 3am when it appeared that half the bus had the same problem as myself. Bodies scattered in all directions to use the natural toilets. Then at 5am we got dropped on the side of a road a couple of km´s from the centre of Samaipata with 3 other backpackers. Unfortunately as we [View Full Entry]

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Here we are in high up Samiapta, 1400 meters above sea level. The oxygen is thin, the air is cool, the mountains breathtaking. But unfortunately, the oxygen wasnt thick enough for my poor Ohio body and I eventually became aware of the wonderful gift of altitude sickness. At first I felt as if I were high, everything went by so slow, and everything was wonderfully, wonderful. Then fever hit, dizziness came, and somewhere, somehow I caught the much awaited and infamous Traveller´s Diarrhea :) So, afterall, we havent seen much of Samiapata because I have shared my few days here with [View Full Entry]

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Hi again everybody, Well, even though Christmas and New Years seems so long ago I thought I should give you an update on all the action! I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Years and you are now settling into holidays/work/whatever else you may be doing. Quick note - I am on a dodgy computer and can´t get any photos to upload, so this is a very boring text only entry I am afraid! I spent Christmas in Costa Rica in a town called Puerto Viejo on the carribean coast - a very nice place apart from the fact [View Full Entry]

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We saw in the New Year in Samaipata. In Quechua it means “Rest in the Hills” so that’s exactly what we did! Not much has changed in the 2 years since we were last here and so it still retains the tranquil charm that first attracted us. We stayed in the wonderful Andoriña Hostal where we met lots of great people. Hostal owner Andres has decorated the place with his own travel photos from around the world. It made for a relaxing few days making friends and exploring places both new and familiar. The weather wasn’t too kind [View Full Entry]

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Our second to last stop on our way back to La Paz was Samaipata... a little town set in the foothills of the Andes - situated beside a few national parks. Apparently its where the people from Santa Cruz go for holidays and its definitely a winner. We arrived and were told we could camp in the backyard of a Belgian guy's house... he seemed fine with the idea and we had a great night sleep. The next day we headed to Bella Vista (about an hour away) for a 2 day hike. The views of the mountains at both the [View Full Entry]

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