The end of Brazil and the start of Bolivia

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well folks its been a long time since i wrote last but here goes on filling you in on the last few weeks of my journey.

march 17th - march 21 Foz Do Iguacu Brazil

arrived in foz on paddys days after another unadventourous bus ride from curitiba. and it was hot about 40 degrees and the humidity was quite high too. which all made for a hot and sweaty al and ruth. since it was paddys day we decided to see if the irish connection had spread as far as foz and looked for an irish bar. again those people in hostel were pretty useless and told there was an irish bar in foz but we couldnt find it and then we later laerned that there was no irish bar in foz. to be honest i would have liked to be home for paddys day. i rang a few friends who were doing the usual in a pub in dublin ( hi guys!!!) they sounded like they were having a good time of it. anywho we waited till the evening to go out. we found ourselves a nice air conditioned place called the captains bar near the hostel. i arrived in shorts cos it was still 35 degrees outside but nice and cool inside. so that was our paddys day no mad celebrations we didnt even find anyother irish person in the town to hangout with it. very lonely.

the day after we headed to see the the falls themselves. they are right in the border of argentina and brazil. both sides of the falls are contained in national parks. the brazillian side of the falls are contained in parana national park. its big but it used to be bigger, thanks to use humans its now only a fraction of the size it used to be. anywho the falls themselves are the widest in south america. legend has it that they were formed by a snake. legend goes that a certain indian tribe who lived near the river parana used to sacrifice a virgin to the snake that lived in the rover so that the snake would be appeased and let them fish in the river. anywho they picked this virgin and went to sacrifice her. but ther boyfriend saved her at the last moment and they started to paddle down the river to freedom. but the snake was very angry and caught up with them. on finding them he smashed his head into the little canoe catapulting the virgin onto a roack where she died instantly and then the boyfriend was thrown into a forest where he turned into a tree. she turned into a rock and from the resulting head bash by the snake into the river the falls were formed. i thin this version si much better than the geological reason which i'm not going to tell you. anywho the falls are amazing you dont get really up close like you do on the argentianian side but you still get to see the amount fo water that falls over the side every second. on te brazillian side we decided to do white water river rafting. it was crap just a paddle and that was it. but funny thing happened after it. we lost our camera. we reckon some tourist stole it when we got off the rafting boat to the pier and when we had the bag open just reached and grabbed it. there were danes on the rafting trip so i reckon it was one of them, they are used to stealing from their viking days. anywho we were lucky cos we had downloaded the photos from the camera to a computer the night before. if we had lost the photos aswell i would have lost it and done a columbine on the hostel i was staying in. so on we went to the argentianian side fo the falls. these were much better than the brazillian side. you can get up closer and even walk to the edge of one of the falls. we only had a disposable camera with us that day so the pics will probably turn out crap. the next day we went camera shopping in foz. it is the worst place on earth to buy a camera i think. they were all film cameras and the digital cameras were only 2 or 3 mp compared to the 5 mp we had. anywho there is a duty free shop on the argentinina side of the falls and low and behold we found exactly the same camera we had lost. we handed out a whopping 550 dollars for it but we think it was worth it cos its such a good camera. anywho next stop on our gringo trail was campo grande and a 3 day pantanal tour.

march 22 - march 25

we had organised to do a pantanl tour with a company called green track tours. it cost us 250 reals (about 100 euro) for the three days and two nights we were going to tbe there. now the panatnal is a swamp land in south eastern brazil about half the size of france. it is mostly used for farmland cos its quite fertile. some of it is solid land but most of it is swamp. when we got to the farm we were staying at there was only cold running water, we were sleeping in hammcks and there was no electricity to speak of. the hut we were staying in had vampire bats in the ceiling that would shit down on us at night. the first ngiht we had dinner by candle light with the rest of the people that were staying at the farm. they filled us in on what we might see. alligators, howler monkeys, snakes, ants, toucans, and lots of other birds. anywho after a first restless nights sñeep (damn bats) we heade out after brekkie on our first walk. throught the swamps we waded and walked through the forest. didnt see much wildlife a few toucans, one poisonous snake about a foot long, crane birds and some cows. this was at 8 in the morning and the walk lasted about 2 hours- our guide marcelo was quick though and it was hard to keep up with him and everytime you did catch up with him he would jusy pick up the pace and roar on. there two Isrealis in our group too. so just the 4 of us. also we seen lots of ants trails. now these were black ants and about the same size as you see at home. but step on the trail and your foot will be covered in ants in about 5 secs. and they bite, they bite. they are vicious little bastards that dont get off your foot until you either brush them off or you stick you foot in the water and drown them. ruth had th pleaseure of getting some up her trousers and then proceeded to hit herself very hard around the legs. i stood there and laughed. nice. the afternoon was a bit of a washout, literrally. there was a big storm, thunder and lightening brazillian stlyeee. which means it was big, very big, lots of rain and lightening. we were supposed to go on another walk but it was canceled. instead we played volley ball, beside and electric pylon and a quite tall tree. (fork lightening was happening all around us but we didnt care we just played on all afternoon). it was class got soaked but i was on the winning team. it carried on for most of the evening and night. the next day we went piranha fishing. now you might think that these little fishes are vicious and your right but you actually swim with them and they dont touch you. dont go in the water with an open wound though or they will eat you alive. just liks sharks they smell blood. now they are also crafty buggers. we meat as bait but they dont take the whole bait off the hook they just nibble at it till its all gone and your left with nothin on the end of your line. only the guide caught some fish, 3 in total. ruth bless her tried so hard and cursed till her breath ran out but to no avail. that afternoon we went horse riding through the swamps. i called my horse boy george. we didnt see anything of interest. on the last day we went canoing. it was also a disaster thanks o our guide insisting on leaving the rest of us behind. ruths boat ahd a hole in the bow and she was sharing with an isreali. they sank 5 times. me and my isreali partner, called anat, didnt sink at all though we did get lost and had to canoe back quite a bit. the pantanal would have been better if our guide hadited for us. but he just pissed off and left us behind. we also didnt see half as much wildlife as the other groups. they would come back and say then seen alligators, lots of monkeys and snakes etc. but hey at least i can say that i have been. to be honest three days without electricity is long enough. i nissed hot water (so did my arm pits and feet!!!) and the mosquitos were getting to me. biting when ever they can. poor ruth had over 100 bites on her at one stage. i fared better less than 50. i have nice smooth skin and i think that they recognised that!!!

march 25

we arrived in a place called corumba. the pantanl tour people had a hostel there and one free night was included in the price of the tour. its right on the border with bolivia so we were going to head to bolivia the day after our stay. we were going with the two isrealis that were in our panatanal tour. they were called nimrod (man) and anat (girl). both had been to bolivia before and they were heading there cos its apparantly dirt cheap. anywho the plan was to get across the border to a town called puerto querrijo and from there get a train to a palce called santa cruz. we were told by the hostal not to book the train since we were going to travel first class (the ticket would have cost us about 10 euro for a 625km journey). low and behold when we crossed the border, without any problems, and got to the train station the train was sold out. typical bloody useless info from the hostel again. i some times think that they dont bother to check info before they hand it out. but there was a bus leaving at 2pm. so we went and bought tickets for that and then hung arounf till 2pm. now the bus that was going to be used on this journey was like one fo the buses you see in films about africa. you know stuffed to the gills inside with people, lugagge all on top of the bus and of course the chickens also on top in cages. well we ahd everything but the chickens. it was a bus i'd say from the 50's. it was cramped and smelly. the bus didnt leave till 5pm cos in bolivia they buses dont leave till they are full. by 2pm they had 9 seats left, by 5 pm they still had 9 seats left on a bus that held i think about 40 people. crazy. now this thing had a big oil leak under it, on board with the passgengers were two driver and a mechanic. the journey was supposed to take about 18 hours. it took 23 hours. it was horrible i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. the road was just dirt and gravel the whole way till we just with 100km left we hit a paved road. the roads in eastern bolivia are supposedly all like this and to get anywhere takes quite some time. also the driver of the bud liked to beep his rather laoud horn whenever he felt like it, even if there was nothing else on the road. anywho we arrived in santa cruz tired and cranky, all four of us. we were not staying long though. we were headed for a place called cochambamba in central bolivia. so after a cheap dinner. yes let me tell you how cheap bolivia is. we went to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the guy we bought the bus tickets off. it was a steak house. now they had argentinian beef (supposedly the best in SA). so we all had steaks, nice big pieces around 400 grams each, buffet salad, chips, and coffes all round. the cost for 4 people. 20 euro, read it and weep people. 20 euro for all that. it is a trend that will continue throughout bolivia i feel. anywho after another night bus we arrived in cochambamba.

march 28 - march 30

arrived in cochabmba where are trusty isreali guide took us to a very nice hostel. a room only cost us 80 bolivianos, which is equal to 8 euro and we had our own bath and cable tele. anywho cochabamba sits about 2500mts above sea level. this would be a great start to get us ued to the lack of air that is in higher cities in bolivia. the first day we didnt do anything stressful just looked aroun the town a bit. we did howevr stumble across a museum which described how the different tribes lived in bolivia. now the most interesting thing about how they lived was what they would do with the chosen ones who were rom the lineage of special people. when these special people were born they have tohad their skull shapes deformed to form a nice oval shape at the bck ofthe head. now to do this they could do two things. one was to put the baby on a wooden plank lying face up. another plank would thn be tied around the top of the babys head so that the two planks would touch together at the end. after living like this for two years the baay ould then be released from the wooden torture to have a nicely deformed skull. the skull would then grow outwards at the back for the rest of its life. the other way was o do it with bandages. again the back of the head would be tied and the skull formed to row into an oval shape. nice!!!! anywho hen these special people died they would then be buried into the ground in a casket made out of straw. they were stuffed into the bags into the foetal position and then buried. usually before bing stufed into the bag they were mummified. they were put into the foetal position cos they thought that they were returing to the mother earth or pachamama as they called it back then in the days. so now the mueseum has got aload of mummified dead people in straw bags that you can look at. some of them even have skin and hair let on them.
Nimrod said he would take us to a company that does paragliding and that we could do a tandem jump for 35 dollars. he had done a course ith the same company and had become friends with them so thats the reason he had come back to cochabamba. as with nimrods style we ate well again that night. one if the best restaurants in cochabamba, a tourist restaurant but sure hey we could afford it!!!! again four of us all had steaks and salad buffets and desserts and it only cost u 20 euro for the 4 of us!!! people if i´m not getting through to you on how cheap bolivia is then you´d better come here yourselves and see. we were supposed to be going to do our death defying jump but the morning was a wash out so we stayed in bed. you cant do it in the afternoon cos apparantly the wind gets too windy,does that make sense!!!

anywho the city has it own version of the christ the redeemer statue like the one in rio. we went to see that and from there you get a good view of the whole valley. it stretches for miles and miles. that nigh one of our isreali friends Anat left us to head to a city called Oruro tell you about that a little bit later.

run run run run and away. i was up in the clouds, well almost, paragliding. the take off you have to run down the side of a hill till the hill drops from you and your left running in air. my take off was a bit dubious. the instructor, marcelo, told me to keep running in the air once we had taken off to make ure we cleared the hill. how ever alan had sort of tripped and was bout to sit into his nice little cradle when along came a bush of thorns and decided to stick themselves into my um. which hurt. anywho the flight itself was brilliant, spins, sudden stops and falls all made for an exciting flight. marcelo said that it is possible to stay up ther for about 4-5 hours if you get the right wind and you dont have a 16stone person attached to your front. anywho the landing was as adventurous as the take off. we were coming in nicely to land on a nice bit of a field. but then a sudden gust of wind lifted us up and we were carried into a field full of thorns. alan landed on his ass as instructed, you have protection for your bum in the form of thick heavy pads. but the padding came awaya bit and i ended up ith more thorns in my bum. it was not funny. ruth landed perfectly, bitch!!!!! the ret of the afternnon was again spent eating nice food in a buft place marcelo showed us to. then for the rest of the dat we just relaxed. next stop Oruro.

March 31 - April 2

Oruro is a shithole. the only reason we had to come here was to get a train to a palce called Uyuni. unfortunately the trains go only every second day. had we been clever we oulc have checked the times on the net so that when we got off the bus in Oruro we would ahve goten straight onto a train o Uyuni. but we didnt do that and that left us having to stay till the sunday evening in this shit hole of a town. basically all there is to do is walk around to see the plazas and some nice churches. also if your feeling up to it there is a miners mueseum at the edge of the town and if you stop off at one of the markets you might even b lucky enough to find llambas foetueses. they are sold as good luck charms. crazy. there is also a zoo, but it was the most depressing zoo i have ever been in. the leopards were crazy, the lion looked depressed, i would be too if i had to live in a place like Oruro. anywho thats it about Oruro. my advice is ry to plan it so that i the bus comes in early enough then you are able to get on a train to Uyuni the same day.

April 3 - April 6

We arrived in uynui at 2 in the morning. a very unorthadox hour for a train to arive but sure hey this is bolivia and things dont always go to plan. we had travelled first class since it only cost us 16 euro for the two of us. the purpose if visiting this town was to do a tour of the salt lakes which suround most of the town. it sits about 3665mts above sea level and the town is the jumping off point for most of the tours. you can see the salt lakes, volcanoes which are active, multi colured lakes and gorgeous mountainous views. i dont know if the salt lakes re the bigest in the world bu they are the highest in the world. after getting some slep in a hotel we decided to try and get on a tour that morning. there are over 40 tourist agencies offering the tour and all of them practically go the same route. there are 3 or 4 day tours but since you spend most of th ime in a jeep the 3 day tour was looking like the best option. we were approached by a guy called david in the street about doing a tour with him . he practically begged us to do the tour wih him. he had already got 3 people onboard and needed another 2 to fill the jeep so they could head oof that morning. now we were a little bit suss on his operation. he said his jeep was semi-new and described the whole thing to us. so after talking to him we said we would go away and think about it for about 20 mins. again he begged us to sign up right there and then, he even suggested that we pay half no and then half later when we got back. to that we said no. the tour would have cost us 75 dollars each to do. we went around some other agencies to see what theyhad to offer and they were pretty much all the same. so we went back to david and told him we were on. we met up with the rest o the group which included an english couple, an american with dutch roots and a polish woman, who was basically a new age traveller and very strange. the tour off to a crap start when the jeep turned up late and then everything had to be packed on top of it. food and water for three days, gaz, peoples luggage and diesel for the jeep. then we had to go to the drivers and cooks house so that they could get their clothes for the 3 days trip and then to a mechanics house to get a spare whhel and tyre. already it was about midday and by now we shol have been on the edge fo the salt lakes. we stopped of at a town called colchani near the lake. now when we were driving there all the oher jeeps from other companieshad passed us out and vanished into the distance. our jeep was goin slowly, oh so slowly. when it was time to ge back into the jeep and drive off to the lakes the jeep wouldnt start. the driver/mechanic tried his hardest to get it started and in h end got it going again. it was about 2pm at this stage and we should have been well on our way, but we had only travelled about 40km. david in the mean tim had gone back to Uyuni to get anoher jeep cos the one we had was shit. he said he would be half an hour, it took him 2 hours. anyway me, ruth an the rest of the gang had am impromptu meeting and decided to cut our loses and tel the driver to head back to uynui so that we could get our money back and go with a different company. but in fairness we did give him money for the food and petrol he had bought. but again he tried with the puppy dog eyes trick but we were not having it. so we left him with his tail between his legs and then headed off to find another company. we decided to all stay together except for the polish woman who left us (probably got gassed or something like that!!!). the companies name was tonito and we had heard of them before. the cost was a whopping 80 dollars each. but let me tell you it was well worth it. the first day was spent driving to rocky formations that we think were left by the ice age and now they are just being formed by wind. stayed in a little place where every tour group stops i think. they had no runnign water (which made for some very smelly toilets) and electricity was provided by a generator which only ran from 7-9pm. but the food we got was lovely and to be honest even when sitting in the back of a jeep all day its quite tiring so we all fell asleep about 10pm anyway. next day was the lngest day ni the jeep a whole 16 hrs of driving. we got to see some nice sights but it was mostly through the window of the jeep. the evening closed in pretty quick too. the drive was getting worried that we would no make it to our destnatin cos we had to cross a lake which according to some people was passable or un passable depending on who you asked. so we tried anyway and it was a bit hairy at times cos the jeep was sliding all over the place in the mud and water. at one point we think we got stuck but the driver just floored the pedal and we got out ok. that day we had seen geysers at 4700mts above sea level. the water spewing out of them is 120 degrees so its quite hot. then after anothers hour drive we got to some hot springs. i say hot springs but really it was more of a paddle bath. it was nice and warm though compared to the air temp f about 5 degrees the water was 32 degrees and lovely. also on the way to the hotel that night we had to stop and fix the right rear brake at the edge of a mountain. the brake ahd completely melted away and came apart in the drivers hands. that night though in the hostal it was nice. they had running hot water and electricity. so hot shwers for all!!!!! third and final day was th highlight of the trip. the salt lakes themselves. the were gorgeous. it had rained a few days before and it amde the lake look like a mirror. everything was reflected in it. to be hnest i cant really describe it. try to google for images of the salkt lakes in bolivia and you´ll see what i mean. then the second highlight of the trip a train grave yard!!!! yippee. i mean you see on of the most fascinating natural wonders of the world where your breath is taken away with the views and then then they take you to a train grave yard!!!! although one ´dead´train did have an equation from einstein written on the engine. couldnt tell you what it was about though, not the famous e=mc2 though. oh well headed back to uyuni and then the next stop was potosi. again after another night bus!!!!


April 7-April 8

arrived in potosi after another night bus journey which wasnt too bad. we arrived at the hostel (the koala den) to find a rather incompetant night attendant who couldnt find our reservation. but we got in no problems. arrived at two in the morning so only had a few hours to get some sleep before we were going to head down a mine. the reason everyone comes to potosi is to see the ´mines´. these mines are run by co-operatives or families and they mine for lead, silver and something else i cant remember. now the spanish used to mine this mine called cerro rico and thew turnover was pretty good. for every ton they would mine about 70-80% of it was filled with ores of the stuff they were mining for. but now adays its only about 20% per ton. the hostel also has a guided tour of the mines that you can do. now before you can go in to the mine you have to get all garbed up. they give you protective trousers and coat, a helmet, and a head torch. then you proceed to the miners market. here you have to buy presents for the miners. the presents are so that they can have a bit of an easier life ddown there and because you are disturbing them when they work. now the presents can range from a packet of cigarettes to a couple sticks of dynamite. yes thats right folks dynamite. you can buy it anywherei in this particular street in potosi. and not only can you buy it but anyone can but iy even kids as young as three!!!! it costs about 1 euro for a stick of dynamite, a fuse and a detenator. i mean if you were a terriost then this street would be heaven for you. so we bought for the miners dynamite, fuses, detenators and soda to keep them cool when blowing up the stuff. we also bought an extra stick for ourselves to blow up. now the mines themselves are an experience. they are small cramped and dusty. you enter through a small entrance and then after a short walk you start to crawl to most places. there are four levels in the mine and we visited all four levels. the fourth level is 400 mts down into the mine and we seen this one fella just down there on his own banging a hole into a rock so that he could put a stick of dynamite in it. an average hole would take him about 8 hours with just him and his trusty steel pole and hammer. there are other co-ops that have drills but they are very expensive for a them. a typical worker earns about 100 euros a month out fo which has to come tools and money for supplies, so it doesnt leave alot for living. also they only live till they are about 45 years of age. but it is horrible down there. we were there for three hours and they work down there for on average 12 hours a day, one group we met was planning to stay down there for almost 24 hours so they could have sunday off!!! they work extra to have a day off over the weekend. they dont eat down the mines cos if they do then they get sick cos of the dust (the shits is what they get, i sympathise with them!!!!), all they have is some water, about a liter per shift, and some coca leaves. the leaves help keep their throats from drying up when they chew them. they eat about 30 grams of coco leaves a day. the leaves by the way are horrible to taste and eat, but they are the primary ingredient in cocaine. lovely for some i think!!!!!
our guide EFRA had worked down the mines and now as working as a tour guide for koala tours. he was ok but he rushed on too much and left some of us behind to find our own way on. i came out with a bit of a sore back but ruth came out with a massive migraine which kept her in bed for the day. also the explosion from the dynamite wasnt exactly spectacular. just threw dust into the air. the guy who was going to plant it ahd the fuse lit and was letting anyone who wanted to hold it and have their picture taken with it. the fuse only lasts about 30secs!!!!


so there we have it people. i know the title says the start of bolivia but in fact its almost the end after this update. we are aonly going to be spending about 3 weeks in bolivia. and i know its a long entry but for those who are reading in work i hope it has passed a few boring minutes or so and inspired you to get out of that chair go to you boss and hand in your notice so that you too can go travelling!!!!

anywho next time i´ll be writing about la paz the capital of bolivia and the death road that you can go down on a mountain bike and about 40mph.

and please keep me sane by e-mailing me [e-mail]

till next time same bat time, same bat channel, toodles.

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Comments

[Jill]

Morning
Al, Are you trying to write a theses while your away??