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Published: August 24th 2008
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It makes your situacion feel fantastic.While in La Paz we stayed with Adam’s aunts in laws (sister’s husband’s aunts). Two 50/60ish ladies named Marta and Lily. I never really did figure out which was which. They spoiled us like our own grandmothers, feeding us constantly and taking great care of Meghan who picked the right spot to get a little sick. Bolivia is super cheap, full of crazy markets and the city looks like it’s made out of nondescript shoe boxes. Everything is very tan, very high (altitude is 3660 Meters = 12,000 feet), and very dry. The Altiplano is a giant plateau that encompasses much of the country, ranges up to 5000 meters (16, 400 ft). It was my favorite city of the trip (until we got to Buenos Aires) and I will certainly be back. The aunts’ brother took us around to see some out of the city sites, the Valley of the Moon, the zoo, etc. It was our first time being posted up in one place for any extended period of time, we spent like five days before splitting up, with Adam and I going south to Uyuni for the salt flat trip and Meghan and Scott consummating their relationship in a
100 dollar a night hotel (a fortune for Bolivia, think 5 stars) and meeting us five days later in Santiago, Chile. The bus to Uyuni was a disaster, it felt as though we were driving on train tracks. Many people tried to sleep, I gave up early and accepted my fate rather than rail against a situation I couldn’t control. It was actually really fun sitting there shaking in my 3rd world massage chair watching everyone around me angrily try and get comfortable. We got in at 7 in the morning - freezing. We got exit stamps at the Embassy, got some good-natured ribbing by the other foreigners who let us go first so after skinning the American sheep they would hopefully only sheer the European ones and waited for our driver, cook and car. These cars will usually carry six tourists, sometimes eight. You are going to be in the car crossing salt and desert for three days with these people, so packing in eight really sucks, and you just hope you don’t get stuck with any lame travelers. We had two people cancel at the last minute meaning there were just four of us and we were blessed
with two of the coolest people I’ve ever traveled with, a Dutch couple Jorn (pronounced Yorn) and Joney (named after Joni Mitchell). They are the first people I’ve ever met on the road who I can see myself travelling with again. He’s an amazing photographer, check out the Bolivian section of his website www.mijnbrein.nl to get a better idea of how nice the place is. The Uyuni Salt Flat trip is as afore-mentioned one of, if not THE BEST thing I’ve ever done.* The Salt Flat are only the first part of the first of three days. We stayed in a hotel completely constructed of salt blocks with a salt floor. Sounds cool until you realize how dry that makes the air and how bad it sucks to have your shirt fall off the bed and get covered in salt. “Bolivia’s a strange planet.” - Jorn concerning the very otherworldly landscape of the volcanic Altiplano. This sums up your feeling the entire trip, it all seems surreal, like a mixture of pictures sent home by the Mars rover mixed with a Dali painting. Every hour the landscape changes into something new you didn’t expect and was amazing. It’s hard to
Frozen Lagoon
The Dutch couple and our wooden shoes. explain. The trip is freezing, reaching temperatures of -25 at night and the final day when you leave at 530 in the morning is a numbing experience. We stopped that day for breakfast at a volcanic hot spring. It’s difficult to convince yourself that jumping into water, no matter how hot, is a good idea when it’s -25, but it was awesome. Getting out, less so. We said our goodbyes to the Dutch, who gave us imaginary wooden shoe key-chains.** We skipped the drive back, got off and crossed into Chile. The change from Bolivia to Chile is amazing. You jump from one of the least developed countries on the continent into the United States. Prices are similar to US, the roads are paved, and it’s full of Carly and Colin; very Kansas City like. The wine was cheaper than water meaning Jesus would have been devaluing his stock had he changed one into the other here. We quickly boarded a 24 hour bus to Santiago and blurred south into the Mullins/Bachman lovingly open arms. Santiago is beautiful in its own smoggy fashion, with the Andes backdrop. It was great to see Carly and Colin again, they haven’t changed much
Hot Springs
-25 at 5000 meters, it felt awesome. which is a compliment. They are extremely gracious hosts, something I can appreciate because it’s something I have no talent for, like making music. Skiing the Andes is something I’ll not soon forget. What is it about watching your friends slam their faces, tear their triceps, and break their collarbones while skiing that’s so hilarious? Man did I laugh. The wine tour was awesome although she talked trash on the boxed wine drinking portion of the population of which I’m a part. The tour guide lady was actually really cool and since we were the only people on the tour we got to ask all those retarded questions you want to in a situation like that but don’t due to social constraints. Having had all the fun and friendship we could handle we left Santiago for Mendoza, Argentina. Everyone tells me it’s beautiful crossing the Andes. We slept. Mendoza is a place I’d like to go back to. It’s basically a wine town and the bike tour of the wineries was great. It’s not just vineyards but olive groves and a chocolate factory as well. We spent a few days there, the only part of the trip I felt a
The Andes
It was an amazing place to ski. little ill actually so one day I just slept. We left needing to get to Buenos Aires to pick up Al and Erin from the airport. Buenos Aires is amazing, it feels like Europe but it’s way cheaper and there’s dog poo everywhere. You can see the decay of the city in the cracked sidewalks and graffiti but it added to the charm for me. I probably walked during the week in BA more than the average American does in a year. We would awake and just walk the whole city until it was time to go home at night. Saw the pink house (Argentina’s White House but pink and with a woman serving as it’s chief, God forbid). We caught some street tango, saw Evita’s grave in the very impressive Recoleta Cemetary, and ate ridiculous amounts of steak. The day after Al and Erin got in we jumped on a 20 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls. It’s amazing, the photos don’t do it justice, but then again they never seem to. We stayed the day, caught another night bus back. Nothing says class like drinking wine on a bus while catching a foreign film. We moved neighborhoods to
Classy
Nothing says class quite like a red mustache. better see other parts of the city, saw a few museums, a Japanese garden, the zoo (awesome) and walked more. We randomly ran into a friend of mine from Brazil, Melissinha who happened to be in Buenos Aires, spent two nights out with her and her friends. We got to break up a lopsided Argentine street fight, which was on our list of things to do. Then we left, and came home. More soon…
Media consumed on the trip (mp3 player viewing mostly): Office - Season 1 and 2 - enormously entertaining
Entourage - Season 3 - highly entertaining, definitely for boys.
Sarah Silverman Show - Season 1 - over the top
Rome - Season 1 - I may have had my expectations too high
X-Men 3 - more entertaining the first time
Flight of the Conchords: A Texan Oddessy - sucked
Darkness at Noon - Koestler, Amazing book, I would recommend it to anyone who can think, or at least enjoys doing so.
The Glass Elevator - Roald Dahl, not as entertaining as the first one (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) but good for what it’s worth.
Moby Dick - Melville, I wouldn’t recommend it. Long winded story
Mid-day Drinking
Carly, Colin, Joel, Megan, Scott, Adam at the end of the wine tour in Santiago. interruptingly tangential with wholly superfluous information.
Old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway, The old man can’t pull some of the fish into the boat? Depressing.
Get Smart - Entertaining.
The Dark Night - Best comic book movie ever, more than a comic movie really. We waited in line with all the Santiago dorks to see the midnight show.
Hancock - Entertaining, I’d never heard of it prior to viewing which always helps.
Rock,
~T
“I guess retards run in small circles.” After Megan told us about running into the same misanthropic retard summer after summer while working with the special Olympics Erin posited this quote, which is hilarious on a number of levels.
“I paid for the whores and you stole all the money” ~ Megan to Scott… long story.
*The Dutch made fun of the American tendency to hyperbolize everything.
** They claimed they usually carry wooden shoe key-chains to give people they like, but had left them in Uyuni with the other backpack thus we were given honorary ones. See photo.
For another perspective and other photos, check out Erin's blog at http://www.ilikemyeggs.blogspot.com/
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PFunk
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the fat, my god the fat
That picture of ol' scotty with the wine really puts it into perspective. It seems his fat is much like a ninja deceptive and unnoticed until it is suffocating you. You should make note and tell his wife/wife to be to be wary in bed. Spousal death by fat has risen significantly here in the states ever since McDonalds introduced their new Fried Filet of Solent Green. It's delicious! Yet something not right here....About a week after Bob's wedding I'm headed to Las Vegas so any bets on the Chiefs or any money you just wanna hand over to a good cause, just send it my way.