Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 569

The journal left off at Sucre which is a beautiful colonial town in the centre of Bolivia. I caught up with the salt plains team and we spent three enjoyable nights there, relaxing and enjoying the sights and restaurants. We also visited our travel companion who had been laid up in hospital after suffering a broken leg playing a game of soccer on the Salar de Uyni. She seemed quite chirpy and is being well looked after in the hospital. It was great to connect with my travel friends again after having such a wonderful time together at the salt plains, in spite of the injury caused to one of our team. We enjoyed a travel experience that will stay in our minds forever. However, time doesn't stand still and we all moved on, dear reader. ... read more

I left Salta a bit despondant - the people there had made such a difference, I didnt really like leaving, but these things have to be done, and i got on the bus. Everyone else was noticeably more indigenous than i'd seen so far. The bus was shitty - no foot rest and narrow chairs - all signs pointed to a bad nights sleep. Turns out i didnt have any sleep at all - just as i was managing to nod off properly this woman came and sat next to me and talked to me for ages. She told me she hated Germans and would never speak to them because they had 'bad blood running in their veins' after the second world war. Like Martin, the Quilmes guide, she had heard of England but didnt know ... read more

As most of you will still be digesting our mammoth Peru blog, you will be happy to see that this one is relatively short. This is not due to the fact that we are getting lazy but because we had to return to South Africa in the middle of our trip for Kara’s (Carl’s sister) wedding limiting our time in Bolivia to only 6 days. So this Bolivian part of our trip is a “to be continued…“ episode interspersed by Brazil (Rio), South Africa, Brazil (again), Paraguay* and Argentina*. * Please note that these are intended destinations and may or may not be realised. Copacabana and the Journey to La Paz We crossed into Bolivia following a short (by South American standards) bus journey from Puno and 7km past the border our bus dropped us in ... read more

(with apologies to Señor Garcia Marquez for the cannibalisation of his book title) It had to happen at some point and now it has - we´ve been hit by illness! Tom has been laid low by a devilish combination of an intestinal amoeba, gastroenteritis and another infection. What started as a painful stomach rapidly deteriorated into a serious condition and bang goes a week in Bolivia. We called in a doctor straight away and were pleasantly surprised when the ridiculously friendly Dr Ebert Orellena Jordán pitched up. He speaks excellent English, though he claims that he talks like a drunk parrot. At first it was thought that the condition was mild. 18 excrutiating bouts of diarrhoea later (sorry - too much information...) and antibiotics were clearly in order (and Tom was down to his fighting weight...). ... read more

I bought a first class ticket out of La Paz as I was in such a hurry to leave. It was a lovely bus ride to Copacabana, with a large assortment of retired people on tour (who are generally the only people who travel first class), through some lovely country side. Copacabana is pretty tranquil, but very touristy. It really has only one attraction; the Isla de Sol, the birthplace of the Incas. Well, it has another attraction, the Virgin of Copacabana, and the temple which dominates the town square. The temple is completly out of proportion with everything else in the town it´s pretty hard to miss but has one of the finest alters in Bolivia. But sadly the chruch was closed for repairs so I didn´t really see it, except for a hazy glimpse ... read more