Blogs from South America - page 8

Ok, so it may appear that we are getting a little behind on our blogs but its only because we've been isolated deep in the amazon rainforest, lucky to have running water let alone wi-fi! So I'm writing this blog in our private transport on our way to Shell on the iPhone.We wandered down and met our tour agent at 7.45am who took us down to the dock to catch our boat down to Floreana Island. While waiting for our boat, we noticed a sea-lion getting some early morning suntanning in, resting on the little floating dock. Unfortunately it was quite overcast and cold this morning so he wasn't catching ... read more

La Paz is one of Bolivia´s capitals (Sucre is the other), and it takes a bit of getting used to. Firstly it is 3660m above sea level, and we did it in one day from Arica (sea level) in 10 hours by bus. Just walking up 5 stairs takes your breath away and as La Paz is in a valley you always have to go uphill at some point, the pollution doesn´t help either. Secondly I did a lot of research before we arrived here as we weren´t planning on visiting Bolivia when we set out on this adventure, I didn´t want us to be unprepared. That, however, meant reading lots of stories about tourists getting kidnapped by fake police and being robbed! So, I spent the first 2 days completely on edge with excess adrenaline ... read more

May 30 - Day 2 in La Paz After a first day in which we went somewhat overbudget due to our foolish decision to eat meals in tourist trap restaurants, we committed to a lower budget for the day today. That was assisted by the fact that we finally learned what the fireworks were about! It is a national holiday in Bolivia and basically the entire town was shut down. Stubbornly, Jess and I marched from district to district in the city in an attempt to find the most gringo of the gringo bars/restaurants to potentially meet people or wile away the time. After over five hours of walking through the streets - running into street jugglers, a Bolivian Burger King, and what looked like an "Occupy La Paz" movement on their main street, we settled ... read more

(post by Mike) May 29 - First day in La Paz We have made it to beautiful Bolivia! Landing at 3:45 AM (Aeroplan point restrictions limiting flight options), we quickly made it through customs. The customs officer seemed so happy we were tourists coming to spend money in his country. We then met the wonderful Pepe, our pre-arranged driver to take us from the airport to our hostel. The airport is situated in El Alto, a poor branch town of La Paz, and we passed by many boarded up buildings and some debris on the roads. When we got to our hostel at 4:15 AM, we were a bit disconcerted to see the place totally locked up with a large metal gate and no lights on. But Pepe came through for us, finding a doorbell to ... read more

Dienos bėga panašiu, lėtu ritmu, miegu kiek noriu, keliuosi kada noriu. Iki pietų kaip įprasta tinginiaujam, o po pietų pagaliau važiuoju mokintis su banglente. Nuvažiuojam į paplūdimį esantį miesto pakraštuje. Čia nė vieno žmogaus ir poros metrų aukščio bangos. Pirmas dalykas kurį turiu išmokti tai pirmiausia kaip nuplaukti tolyn nuo kranto praneriant pro bangas. Iš pradžių net lišsilaikyti ant lentos sunkoka, bet netrukus apsiprantu. Pavyksta nuplaukti kiek toliau nuo kranto ir netgi pagaunu vieną bagą ! Bet net nespėju pagalvoti kaip čia atsistoti ant tos lentos, kai aš jau krante. Labai greitai pavargstu, o išlipus iš vandens net galva truputį sukasi nuo nardymo po bangomis. Tikrai ne vienos savaitės reikalas išmokti plaukioti banglente, tai sunkiau nei aš tikėjausi. Visų pirma todėl, kad reikia priprasti plaukioti, stiprinti rankas, krūtinės ... read more