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Published: April 23rd 2010
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Uyuni: ironic group snap
....strong contender for South America´s least fun town. Uyuni
The most interesting thing about Uyuni is that it has a pub called "Extreme Fun Pub" (debatable) that serves 5 different types of salt.
And it has a selection of rusting trains outside the train station.
And it has a "small local history museum" that never actually opens.
72 hrs never passed so slowly.
La Paz
So after an extremely bumpy overnight bus ride, the low light of which was being woken up by 2 slices of cold pizza falling on my (Kerry) head, that´d carelessly been put in the overhead storage by a tourist a few seats down (I could have thrown it in his face if I wasn´t more sleepy), we arrived in La Paz and checked into an actual hotel. It was listed as a hostel but was more of a hotel. Graham reckons it had the comfiest bed we´ve had so far but I think he was just tired. It was good but we´ve had better.
On our first day in La Paz we found an English curry house so headed there for the Almuerzo (lunch) special deal. On arrival we found out that they claim to have the South
America´s hottest vindaloo and as a reward for anyone hard/daft enough to finish it they give a free t-shirt. It wasn´t on as part of the lunch deal so we (all except Tori) vowed to come back the next night and do the challenge.
The next night we did indeed come back but I (Kerry) had cooled to the idea and was feeling a bit bloated/dodgy so opted out. I was not faking & didn´t even manage to finish my very mild rogan josh. So.. this is how it went...
* Out come the beers. We wait in anticipation for the vindaloos.
* Out come the vindaloos - bowl piled up with curry and topped with a giant chilli.
* Graham & Paul start eating & agree that it is a very tasty curry, if a very spicy one
* After about 2 mouthfuls they both agree that it is indeed very spicy, really too spicy and that it´s going to be tough
* The boys employ two different sets of tactics : Paul piles massive amounts into his mouth & swallows bravely, while Graham tries the mixing with lots of rice and eating slowly but
steadily option
* Both Tori & I can see that the boys have the appearance of being tortured and we start to feel very bad for them. I didn´t want to look. We all went quite quiet.
* It becomes obvious that Graham will give up but Paul is more than half way there and has a determined, if pained, look.
* We all attempt to encourage Paul, impressed by his mighty effort.
* The chef keeps discreetly peeping out of the kitchen to check progress.
* Graham admits defeat but stresses that the curry had a very nice taste. If only it wasn´t quite so spicy..
* Paul excuses himself & heads to the loo.
* Paul returns and looks in agony at his plate - about 3-4 spoons left. He hides the massive chilli in the rice bowl saying he´ll eat the curry but he´s damned if he´s going to eat the chilli.
* We agree that it is not cheating.
* Paul eats another mouthful then excuses himself & paces around a bit then heads into the garden for some air.
* Paul returns looking very ill but with the same determined look about him. We hear
cheers at a table just around the corner. Another bloke has just finished the challenge!
* With a last superhuman effort Paul finishes the last 2 remaining fork fulls of curry.
* Paul is presented with his t-shirt & we take celebratory photos.
Managed to squeeze in a visit to the Coca Museaum (the coca leaf is king in this part of South America) which was very interesting. Finished the visit with a selection of coca related beverages (including coca beer) which gave us superhuman powers for the rest of the morning - La Paz hills suddenly became much, much easier. Also found (on this day and many others) that chewing coca leaves/drinking coca tea means that you´ll have an amazing night's sleep. Unsuprisingly.
Also took a day trip to nearby Tiwanaku ruins (part of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization) where our guide made a point of pointing out "Condor Warriors" and "Sun Warriors" on multiple occasions without actually explaining what they were/represented. The site museum was probably more interesting than the actual ruins.
We also experienced the most straight forward visa extension ever in La Paz. After queuing for precisely zero minutes at the immigration desk, the
immigration officer took a photocopy of our passports, asked us how many extra days we wanted (we wanted 7) and promptly gave us an extra 90 days for free - Bolivian Immigration, we salute you! Thai Immigration, take note......
Coroico & almost to Rurrenabaque
Wanted to head to Rurrenabaque but the torrential rain in Coroico (on the way) put us off.
Took a minibus from La Paz down the "Death Road" (yep, in´t pretty hairy, see photos) in the torrential rain. The axle on the bus snapped halfway down the mountain but luckily another bus picked us up and took us the rest of the way for a small charge.
Stayed in town ina hotel overlooking the mountain on the first night and then moved uphill to a cushy place with a swimming pool for the next two nights (Tori and Paul managed to get a room with an amazing view over the mountain, complete with circling condors outside their window).
Went for a trek to see some local waterfalls that got interupted by a torrential downpour - ended up diverting and taking a taxi halfway though because we were all so wet and fed
up. Decided against going to Rurrenabaque at this point.
Copacabana & Lake Titicaca
Quant town on the side of the massive Lake T.
Visited the Isla del Sol (where the Inca Gods were born), walk up a ridiculously steep hill to get a good view of the lake, hired bikes for a day so that we could make "an easy" 6km ride around the bay to the next town (turned out to be an absolute killer but thankfully the suspension on the bikes as amazing, easily the best that we´ve hired during our travels) and bought wrm clothes for our impending travels through Peru (llama hats and gloves for about 2 quid).
After 3-4 days we hopped on a bus and crossed the border into Peru.
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