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Travel isn't for the faint hearted. It isn't easy. It isn't a life of luxury. It isn't always fun. Travel is tiring and at times a real challenge but for every crappy bus ride, every day spent on the toilet, every not so tasty meal, the language barrier and the lumpy pillows it is travelling at it's finest. It is travelling South America. Every now and then I'll think why am I doing this, in this country, with no friends and no money. But for every time I think this, which isn't all that often, I'll think about the amazing friends I've made, the incredible sights I've seen and the crazy adventures I've had on public transport and I'll smile. This is the life I've chosen for the four months and there is no way anyone could pay me to take it all back. I've loved (and at times hated) every single minute of my solo journey through South America and when I realise it's almost over, as much as I'm longing for the superficial things in life (vintage boots and a nice hot chocolate!) I worry that I may never come back to this country and travel how I really
love to travel; staying in one place for more than three days! getting to know the locals, and chilling out!
Hopefully one day I will come back, I will give back to the community in ways of volunteering and I will have another incredible experience on this wonderful continent and I will write another blog talking about another 'amazing' experience to make you all jealous!!
My final days came out of no where. One day I was enjoying my final tour in the Salt Flats, a day later I was having a glass of wine with an old friend on the waters edge and the next I was on my way to Bogota-London! My journey on this continent was almost over, was I ready for it?!
So here I was trying to figure out if a. I can make it in Bogota in time on a bus (from Bolivia!) and b. If I can be bothered trying to see if I can make it in time by bus. After 15 hours on buses in order to catch up with Bella and Pru in Copacabana, a long, very slow and eye opening border crossing in Puno and a very
birthday celebrations!!
happy 24th birthday to me; bogota, colombia'sicky' bus ride to Lima I decided I fell into the latter category. I wasn't prepared physically to go overland through two countries to get to Bogota, I mean its hard work and I definitely wasn't mentally prepared to go by bus... after 50 hours in transit from the salt flats in Uyuni to Lima I was rather out of sorts aka grumpy. I was grumpy and I was running out of time. I ended up booking myself into hostel for a night and booking myself a flight to Colombia for the following morning. I felt good about this. I felt relaxed and I felt happy. Concerned at the point when I realised I might not have enough money for this ridiculously expensive trip and I think I felt cheated when I realised that I hadn't succeeded in bussing my way around South America.... but overall happy (no more buses, insert jumping 'yay' motion here).
I'm going to mention the nightmarish border crossing in Puno because If you're reading this and you're planning on crossing into Bolivia or into Peru via Lake Titicaca you might just want to think again or make sure things are a little settled before
going that way.
There is unrest on the Peruvian side of the Lake and on the particular day/night I decided to cross there was a lot of unrest. My friends had already warned me that their trip was by no means 'fun' and that maybe I should consider turning around and returning to LaPaz to fly out however I took the typical backpacker laid back attitude (or is this just an Aussie thing?!) and said "she'll be right" haha actually I don't think I used those words, more like "It will be an adventure either way" but the first comment sounded better.
So here I am, all saddled up ready to go when in reality we (and when I say we I'm referring to the 100 odd backpackers standing in line with me) were going nowhere. We waited for hmmm probably an hour and a half in a potato field on the waters edge, that is after we were pushed away from the immmigration doors. We waited and we sang (yes there was the token guy with his guitar, quite good I might add!) and finally our passports were stamped and we were herded onto a 30 person boat, note
I used the word herded as this is exactly how I felt we were treated. This boat looked quite fancy (skip the fact that our suitcases were simply thrown onto the roof) it had comfortable enough seats and a seat for the driver, a back deck and a toilet, but it was extremely slow. We were overtaken by 3 other boats and pulled into the harbour on the Peruvian side at 7.30, yep 9 hours to cross the lake; what would usually be a 3 hour drive from both cities...not that I was complaining.
We arrived and we smiled; we'd made it. Little did we know the trouble was about to begin. Thankfully there was quite a large group of us, about ten in all. With our backpacks and optimism we started walking toward our destination; the immigration office. About 500m up the road we were startled by the protesters, in their thousands, marching and yelling (all in the name of better health care, which if I didn't have my pack on would have joined in with them) screaming out "GRINGO'S" as we made a run for it through a tiny break in the procession line. Laughing nervously we
continued walking, looking at each other somewhat questionably, wondering if this was a good idea. We walked passed more Gringo yelling locals, some making jokes and others giving off a vibe that seemed somewhat hostile and finally made it to the town square. Now I have never seen anything like this, it was incredible. There were literally thousands of locals packed into the town square; police surrounding them with their batons and shields. No cars were moving throughout the entire city, the taxi's had even stopped and here we were, a pack of gringo's (from all over the world and probably with more money than any of them) just wanting to find our way to immigration. What do you do when you're not sure where to go?! You ask, and considering the amount of police in the area I asked one of them, a reliable source one should think. Indeed he was, he pointed me in the direction of the offfice, however it just so happened to be through the thousands of passionate protesters. We sucked it up and started walking but as we moved the crowd moved and within a matter of seconds we were basically walking down a
sandboarding!!
huacachina, peru tunnel of puno locals (like a celebrity on a red carpet) shouting and screaming obscenities and yes 'gringo' at us! By now my nervous laugh was becoming more of a holy shit, what a we doing here we're going to get trampled laugh' and I was sticking very close to the extremely tall and buff looking male backpacker to my left...I was also hating on the joker Irishman at the back who was cheering along with them; its not the best time to make jokes buddy!
Anyway to cut a very long story short, we were rushed into the secure space of the immigration office and had our passports stamped within a couple of minutes. We made the decision to get out of the town and fast and made our way through the back streets, past the road blocks, broken glass and mini riots to the bus station that was (as people kept telling us) closed....this is when I wanted to tell the rather tall, buff guy "I told you so" but I didn't, we were a team!! Anyway, thankfully a nice man who was a part of a tour company (reputable?!) accepted to deliver us to the next
town and so an hour later we were indeed safely within the bus terminal with a bus ticket to Cusco in hand. I made it to Cusco safely (I think we all may have cheered!) and then I boarded another bus and took the epic journey to Lima. This is when I cracked and got myself a hostel room. And the following day is when I took the epic journey by plane to Bogota, yes it still took me about 14hours but I'm sure it was less painful than the bus journey would have been. You'll be glad to know that I did indeed make it back to Bogota to see my beautiful friend Elise and that we did indeed celebrate our reunion with (of course, why wouldn't you) some drinks at Andreas! and that we indulged in delicious salads, beer, gin (i love hendricks!!) and chocolate. We even did some shopping, gasp! oh and of course watched the final between Barcelona and Man U, I still owe you for losing that bet don't I Elise?!!
I sadly left the comfort of my 'home away from home' on Monday evening with my destination being London!! and I did leave
Bogota a lot heavier than when I'd arrived; I now had not only my 14kg pack (i was so proud of how light I was travelling!) but a suitcase and a guitar (courtesy of elise, muchas gracias amiga!) The flight staff were lovely (they gave me an extra bag for free!)and you'll be happy to know I arrived safely in London on Tuesday night to the smiling faces of mum and dad after a relatively painless journey. May I just add: kudos to the man sitting next to me for having the balls to mess with my fragile mood. He thought it was a fabulous idea to lift up the center arm rest; something you usually do when you know the person sitting next to you. Next time buddy you might want to think about it first; does a complete stranger want your arse up against their leg?! do they want your knees and legs in their personal space....yeah next time think about it because next time you might not be sitting next to someone so nice; you're lucky I was excited about where I was going!! bum up in my grill, seriously?!!!
South America; the backpackers destination. My
isla del sol
copacabana, bolivia destination for 4 months. Thank you Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for sharing with me your fascinating culture, weather, people, beaches, mountains, bus journeys, food, music and amazing scenery in general. From the beaches of Colombia to the markets of Ecuador, the mountains of Peru to the jungle in Bolivia, I have seen and experienced so much and I cannot wait to return. I have learnt so much already from my short stay and I cannot wait to come back and revisit. To the spanish language; I was just starting to feel comfortable with you and I honestly belive I will return and conquer! To the epic bus journeys (average 20 hours!) thank you for making me a better person.
Thank you for the constant stomach upsets, sweet bread, warm and cold electric showers, cheap hostels, amazing food (I wish I could have eaten more!) beautiful sunshine, sand flies, street dogs, buses without toilets, cheap clothing, bad roads, lack of bus schedules, HONKING HORNS!!!!!! taxi drivers making me upset through failure of understanding directions, over priced taxis, lack of seat belts, repeating the same spanish pop song over and over again (or was that just how it seemed?!) your
dirt bike kid
the death road, lapaz, bolivia awesome range of beer, the hissing and whistling men, awesome soup, amazing hikes, wonderful people, impressive history, awe inspring ruins and beautiful town squares....these are just some of the things that make South America such an amazing travel destination. These are some of the things that make you go 'uh' and then 'aw'. They make you smile and they make you cry. They make it what it is, an experience and it is like nothing I'd ever experenced before and nothing like I had expected. I had heard stories, read blogs, awed over photographs, but it is nothing like the real experience. I belive travel is what you make it and I believe I gave it a pretty good shot. I had my highs and I had my lows however I truly belive I have become a better person from this experience. For those of you out there who wonder if you can make it in 'the big bad world alone' you can, absolutely, no worries!! Because the fact is you are never really alone. You always have company and you meet amazing people. Which brings me to the many wonderful new friends I have made on this journey. You
king of the world!
salt flats, bolivia have made my trip unforgettable. I have laughed with you, drank with you, hiked with you, eaten with you, cried with you, shared amazing experiences with you and I hope to see you all again one day to relive it all! South America you definitely got under my skin and I will be back!
Muchas gracias y hasta luego!!!
These photos capture some of my adventures in South America; the close up's are either when I was all alone and had no friends or when I just wanted to take a selfie, and those of me from far away are obviously taken by friends, that or complete strangers I bribed, or of course I'm really talented and made some sort of home made tripod out of rocks and dirt....I'll leave it to your imagination xx
Euro trip with the parents to come.
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