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Published: February 5th 2007
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After spending a couple of days in Cuzco, relaxing after the inca trail (Bryce went white water rafting and Georgie had a massage and much needed pedicure!), we headed into the jungle for 2 nights. This was an amzing experience - very hot and humid dense rainforest. We saw quite a lot of wildlife, mainly monkeys, macaws, bats, priranhas, capybara (a rodent the size of a wombat), and cayman (related to the crocodile). The accomodation we stayed in was a lodge which basically meant that it was pretty open air - we had mosquito nets over us at night and we could hear the fruit bats in the roof eating food and dropping it on the ground around us!
After the Amazon we headed to Arequipa for a couple of nights. We spent a day looking around the town which is set in front of 3 volcanos (a couple are still active I think). We then spent 2 days on a tour through the Colca Cayon which was fantasitc watching 6 or 7 condors circling above us using the thermal air to glide. They had a wingspan of about 3 metres and travel up to 600km per day at 70kph.
We went to the highest point of our trip so far at 4900m (higher than Mt Kinabalu Murray) which was a lookout over the valley and mountain range. We also visited the hot springs which use cooled volcanic water directly from the volcano. That was very realxing but we kept finding hair at the bottom of the pool so I don't how often they clean it! The smell of sulphur in the air also makes you think that someone has let out a cheeky one.
From Arequipa we travelled by bus into La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. we stayed there for a couple of nights. It was a great place to spend time as the street stalls made a really vibrant atmosphere everywhere we went. One of the more interesting things we saw were the llama foetus´ at the witches market. They are meant to keep the bad spirits away but all they seemed to do was keep the flies close.
We caught the bus to Oruro which is a small town to the south of La Paz. It is the place to be in Bolivia for carnivale which we found out pretty quickly.
The streets are throbbing with activity and all the bands are practicing in the street until 2am. We headed to the main square to check it out but were not prepared. Georgie got hit in the back about 3 times with water bombs following an ambush of 6 year olds. We were then on the lookout. It seems that as gringos we were prime targets but somehow Bryce didn't seemed to be targeted as frequentely - perhaps it was his manly qualities that deterred them (you know it!!!!). Then suddenly from behind, Georgie got hit right in the arse of her trackie pants which looked like there had been a small accident. We walked back to the hotel, Bryce armed with a balloon that failed to burst on impact (Georgie's leg again). Two small boys, about 6 years old, poked their heads out of their house eyeing off the possible targets. Little did they know that we had seen them and after being pelted from every angle (mainly Georgie) we were now armed and ready for any surprise guerilla attacks. The scout alerted the small boy who was carrying what could only be described as a water cannon. Bryce knew
this was his golden opportunity to take revenge (Jack Bauer style). As we walked past their front door, Bryce and the 6 year old eyed each other off to see who was willing to make the first move. The boy stepped out of his house onto the street and before he could consider taking aim, Team Bryce did what all good miltary tactitians would have done - ´PRE EMPTIVE STRIKE´. Hitting the unsuspecting boy right in the kill zone of his chest. Now the boy looked quite demoralised at his embarrassing defeat at the hands of the quick thinking gringos, who laugh uncontrolably for the next 5 minutes. Little did we know that 50 metres up the road their was a family fully armed with the necessary weaponary of the day (mainly water bombs). Seeing that we were now defenceless, they threw a bombardment of water bombs and drenching us only metres from our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening retracing our steps and analysing where our carefully planned attack had gone astray. Needless to say, today we are ready and are not afriad to use our ponchos if we have to!
Tomorrow we are heading down
to Uyuni which is where most of the tours for the salt flats begin.
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tim and ana
non-member comment
enjoy
glad to see you are both enjoying your south american adventure. keep the journals coming.