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Cooking on the salt flats Sorry for not updating for a while. Since leaving Bonito we have packed in quite a lot.
We first headed to Pantanal which is a big nature reserve. We spent two days there, sleeping in hammocks, and wildlife watching. They have a great bird population there and we came across more than a few toucans. We also saw many caimans, capybaras, otters, aardvarks and Mosquitos! We spent one morning piraƱa fishing and then ate them for our dinner. It is an extremely tasty fish but full of bones so there wasn't much meat. We also went horse riding and i was allowed a couple of canters which was fun. We then crossed the border into Bolivia and were instantly aware that we were in a poorer country. We took an over night train on a very rickety track to Santa Cruz. We spent an afternoon in a spa and then headed out for our last night out with our guide, Zaida and ended up in a rather pretentious club until quite late in the morning. A few hours later we were up again to get our flight to Sucre. Not being a very confident flyer anyway, the flight into Sucre
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Ready for death road was fairly terrifying. We left the flatlands behind and headed into mountains and wound between the mountains on the approach into Sucre airport. Sucre is quite a small city with nice colonial features and as I was still unwell with a cold so I had a couple of days to rest up, wander around the markets and sit in coffee shops reading. We also visited an orphanage one afternoon and took supplies and played with the kids. I was pleasantly surprised at the standard of care and the children were happy and healthy. Next we headed to Potosi at an altitude of 4070m. The main attraction of Potosi is the silver mines. At one time Potosi was the richest city in South America due to the mining. Now little silver is found but men continue to work in poor conditions to extract minerals from the mountain. Some of the group went on a tour of the mines and a lady in her 60's fell down a six foot hole fracturing her humerus so I was glad to have missed that excursion. We then travelled to Uyuni to begin our tour of the salt flats. This was an amazing place to
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Uros floating islands- Titicaca experience. The vast whiteness was incredible and we took advantage of this odd landscape to take some bizarre photos. We then stayed in a hotel made of salt bricks and it was a cold night but we made it through with our alpaca jumpers and hats. We then headed south in our four wheel drives and took in breath taking views of mountains, deserts, active volcanoes and green, red and blue lagoons. And when I say breath taking, I do mean quite literally. We were at over 5000 m at the highest and there really wasn't much air to be breathing up there. Another long, overnight bus journey and we arrived in La Paz. By far the least attractive city we have visited on this trip we spent little time in the city and headed out to cycle the worlds most dangerous road! The day was spent mountain biking down this gravel road attempting to avoid falling off the edge of the road and dropping thousands of metres. Our guide filled us in at each section of the most recent/interesting deaths with evidence of cars at the bottom of many cliffs. Fortunately I made it down, and once I learnt to trust my bike, thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. We finished at a monkey sanctuary and then had the more terrifying journey of driving back up the road in a minibus. From La Laz we headed east and crossed the border to Peru at Lake Titicaca. We visited the floating island of Uros- very touristic but worth a visit to see how they make their islands from reeds and then visited a couple of other islands in the lake and spent a night on the last in a home stay. I stayed with a nice family and they enjoyed dressing us up in their local dress and we went to a community centre and danced with them. Next we travelled to Cusco. We arrived late afternoon and had a bit of time to explore the city. The centre is rather touristic but filled with lovely cobbled streets and colonial buildings. We had an amazing view over the city from our hotel. We were there for
Saturday night so went out and sampled some Peruvian night life. Fortunately by now I have adjusted to the altitude so can dance without being desperate for breath. Today I have just returned from two nights in the Amazon rainforest. It has been nice to spend 48 hrs at sea level and enjoy some heat though the humidity has been quite stifling. We have been on boat trips up the Tambopata river, went for a walk in the jungle and saw lots of cool frogs and insects and so many butterflies! We also went and saw the caimans at night on a boat cruise under a glorious full moon. Most enjoyably though, was the hammock that I spent most of the day swinging in. It was so nice to stop and rest for a few hours, especially as now we are setting off to the Inca trail. After my 3 week trek in Costa Rica I know I can do the Inca trail but I am still a little apprehensive. I am however very excited about the amazing views that I will encounter and seeing Machu Picchu! Lots of love, Clare xxx
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