Argentina is so nice, its so great to be in civilisation with good meat, coffee, wine and buses, amongst other things obviously... BUT it is so expensive, so parents, get your credit cards ready...! :s
Salta was really nice, but we got a bit ´coffee time´/ clothes shopping happy, and had to adjust to the shock of the increased prices. we went to a cool museum of Contemporary art in the plaza, and met with a friend from the Parque which was nice.
We´re in a place called Mendoza now, a huge wine growing area, so we´'re doing a bike riding wine tour tomorrow where you cycle from vinyard to vinyard. Should be fun, as long as we can still cycle by the end of it, as we have been warned.
Football- lots of it as its the South America cup. All the hostels have limited reservations. Will try and buy some Argentinian football shirts for dad and bro in BA when we go to a match hopefullly...
Sorry for the lack of blogging recently- inevitably its become harder and harder as the time is running out on our travels :(
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Ambue Ari
So, within a few hours of being at the Parque we decided to stay for a month. This meant we could work with big cats... It was a once in a life time opportunity and despite the annoyances of basicallly a carb overloaded, vegetarian, slop meal everyday, no electricity, cold showers, hay mattresses and a few annoying people... everything else was amazing. I (Pb) got to work with a jaguar called Katie and Tilly worked with an osselote called Lazy Cat. We walked and fed them everyday and played with them in their cages. No major injuries, just a few scratches. No stitches needed but my Steri Strips did come in handy for someone else... The benefits of being a doctors daughter.
We also met some amazing people, went to a fun ´tribal´ themed prom, I also got my nose pierced and was ´Candy Shop girl´. Living in such an intense place like this, it sounds cheesy but you kindof start to feel like a family and it was hard to leave and say our goodbyes...
In Sucre now, gonna try and stock up on some artisan goodies before heading down to the mines at Potosi.
Hope everyone is well back home.
We also met some amazing people, went to a fun ´tribal´ themed prom, I also got my nose pierced and was ´Candy Shop girl´. Living in such an intense place like this, it sounds cheesy but you kindof start to feel like a family and it was hard to leave and say our goodbyes...
In Sucre now, gonna try and stock up on some artisan goodies before heading down to the mines at Potosi.
Hope everyone is well back home.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Pampas Jungle
The jungle was incredible and so much fun. We saw lots of animals, got bitten to death by mosquitos, lounged around in hammocks and spent most of our days on a wooden motorised canoe.
Day 1:
Bit shocked from the temperature change from La Paz to Rurrenebeque, we got out our summer clothes and bikinis to start out trip. First we had a three hour jeep ride to a small village close to the river we were going to be travelleing down. We were sitting in the back, and I definately had the worst seat by far as when stepping out of the jeep, I realised I could not be that tanned, and my hair had certainly not gone prematurely grey in the space of a few hours... The dust made us so dirty, especially because our driver liked to overtake huge vans, that left behind massive clouds of dust that we obviously had to drive through in order to overtake. Also, not very good for asthmatics!
After lunch we had a leisurely ride down the river in our canoe. We also went for a swim, jumping off our boat to wash off all that dirt. Only later did we discover the other groups (which consisted of 7 people we knew from North London, weirdly enough) that they had seen several aligators in the same waters as we'd just been swimming!!
We also saw eagles, herrons, falcons, a rare toucan, tortoises, pink dolphins and a whole group of yellow monkeys! The monkeys were so cute, and one jumped onto our boat, our guide Antonio drove our boat right into the banks bushes so we were almost touching them.
We went to a field where the boys played football and we watched the sunset.
After dinner - much the same, rice and chicken, we went in the pitch black on our canoe in search of alligators and caymen. With a torch all you can see are two bright red eyes. It was pretty scary sometimes because you have no idea where they are under the water... But it was really fun, apart from the mozzzziieess.
Day 2:
On the second day we basically walked through the pampas (swamps)- an anaconda habitat in search of snakes and other creatures... Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we didn't see any anacondas because the water level was so high. But we did see a few snakes skins and an owl. It was blazing hot and the walk was incredibly tiring. Tilly said 'it was the worst day of her life' or something along those lines... this was also because we were wearing wellies that all had holes in them so there was no chance of our feet staying dry. And walking through thigh height water (also depending on how tall you are...!) amongst the reeds with MONSTER MOSQUITOS BITING THROUGH YOUR LEGGINGS (literally there were about 20 on our bums the whole time- deet does not work) was not the funnest thing we've ever done. But, it was an experience.
And lunch and lying on hammocks reading books afterwards was well deserved.
Day 3:
We had the option of waking up at 5am and seeing the sun rise and go bird watching, but we were all pretty knackered and sick of being biten by that point that we decided to get up later! On the last day we basically spent the whole morning swimming with pink dolphins and sunbathing on the boat. I stayed in the water for theeee longest amount of time, treading water and even attempted Butterfly stroke, swimming towards the dolphins, but the closest I came to one was probably 10metres. Still, it was amazing to be so close. But incredibly hard to take pictures of.
In a few days we'll be going to a place called Santa Cruz to volunteer at Ambue Ari Parque with animals for two weeks...
http://www.intiwarayassi.org/articles/volunteer_animal_refuge/volunteer_at_ambue.html
There is no electricity there so don´t get scared of the lack of blogging or facebooking for a while.
Day 1:
Bit shocked from the temperature change from La Paz to Rurrenebeque, we got out our summer clothes and bikinis to start out trip. First we had a three hour jeep ride to a small village close to the river we were going to be travelleing down. We were sitting in the back, and I definately had the worst seat by far as when stepping out of the jeep, I realised I could not be that tanned, and my hair had certainly not gone prematurely grey in the space of a few hours... The dust made us so dirty, especially because our driver liked to overtake huge vans, that left behind massive clouds of dust that we obviously had to drive through in order to overtake. Also, not very good for asthmatics!
After lunch we had a leisurely ride down the river in our canoe. We also went for a swim, jumping off our boat to wash off all that dirt. Only later did we discover the other groups (which consisted of 7 people we knew from North London, weirdly enough) that they had seen several aligators in the same waters as we'd just been swimming!!
We also saw eagles, herrons, falcons, a rare toucan, tortoises, pink dolphins and a whole group of yellow monkeys! The monkeys were so cute, and one jumped onto our boat, our guide Antonio drove our boat right into the banks bushes so we were almost touching them.
We went to a field where the boys played football and we watched the sunset.
After dinner - much the same, rice and chicken, we went in the pitch black on our canoe in search of alligators and caymen. With a torch all you can see are two bright red eyes. It was pretty scary sometimes because you have no idea where they are under the water... But it was really fun, apart from the mozzzziieess.
Day 2:
On the second day we basically walked through the pampas (swamps)- an anaconda habitat in search of snakes and other creatures... Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we didn't see any anacondas because the water level was so high. But we did see a few snakes skins and an owl. It was blazing hot and the walk was incredibly tiring. Tilly said 'it was the worst day of her life' or something along those lines... this was also because we were wearing wellies that all had holes in them so there was no chance of our feet staying dry. And walking through thigh height water (also depending on how tall you are...!) amongst the reeds with MONSTER MOSQUITOS BITING THROUGH YOUR LEGGINGS (literally there were about 20 on our bums the whole time- deet does not work) was not the funnest thing we've ever done. But, it was an experience.
And lunch and lying on hammocks reading books afterwards was well deserved.
Day 3:
We had the option of waking up at 5am and seeing the sun rise and go bird watching, but we were all pretty knackered and sick of being biten by that point that we decided to get up later! On the last day we basically spent the whole morning swimming with pink dolphins and sunbathing on the boat. I stayed in the water for theeee longest amount of time, treading water and even attempted Butterfly stroke, swimming towards the dolphins, but the closest I came to one was probably 10metres. Still, it was amazing to be so close. But incredibly hard to take pictures of.
In a few days we'll be going to a place called Santa Cruz to volunteer at Ambue Ari Parque with animals for two weeks...
http://www.intiwarayassi.org/articles/volunteer_animal_refuge/volunteer_at_ambue.html
There is no electricity there so don´t get scared of the lack of blogging or facebooking for a while.
Friday, 6 May 2011
LA PAZ
We´ve been in the worlds highest capital city (3660m) for about a week now. It´s an amazing city, nestled in the mountains, well its kindof oversprawling up the mountains as well... It´s quite sunny here being quite high up, but at night it´s freeezing and I can feel my tan gradually fading away as we move into winter :(
The famous ´Witches Market´ is basically a few shops down a street selling dried llama babies, old sheep fingernails, dried flowers, cactus' and weeds... but we've managed to buy some more goodies- bags, purses, rings, cocoa leaves etc.
We mountainbiked down the ´Worlds Most Dangerous Road' which was lots of fun. Only two people fell off their bikes, one due to a broken chain, and one due to a collision round a corner. So no-one died. At the top it was so cold, even with our super cool biking gear on, and at one point when we were in the middle of a cloud, our sunglasses got so steamed up we couldn´t see a thing... But at the bottom when we emerged from the fog, it was so beautiful and hot. Though we did get very wet riding through streams and waterfalls and the beer at the bottom was well deserved. (and I used to think the Camel Trail in Cornwall was hard!!)
We´re going to the Amazon tomorrow. Enduring a 24hr bus ride there thats meant to be like Death Road, just a bit wider... It was a 80Bs bus ride there versus a 500Bs flight so we went for the budget option. Don´t know how much I´ll regret it later, but Tilly is adament about taking the bus... So in the jungle we can swim with pink dolphins, ride on canoes down the river, see anacondas on night treks etc. But more of that to come!
Missing you all so much! Can't believe it's been 2 months since we last saw you all! xxxxxxxxxx
The famous ´Witches Market´ is basically a few shops down a street selling dried llama babies, old sheep fingernails, dried flowers, cactus' and weeds... but we've managed to buy some more goodies- bags, purses, rings, cocoa leaves etc.
We mountainbiked down the ´Worlds Most Dangerous Road' which was lots of fun. Only two people fell off their bikes, one due to a broken chain, and one due to a collision round a corner. So no-one died. At the top it was so cold, even with our super cool biking gear on, and at one point when we were in the middle of a cloud, our sunglasses got so steamed up we couldn´t see a thing... But at the bottom when we emerged from the fog, it was so beautiful and hot. Though we did get very wet riding through streams and waterfalls and the beer at the bottom was well deserved. (and I used to think the Camel Trail in Cornwall was hard!!)
We´re going to the Amazon tomorrow. Enduring a 24hr bus ride there thats meant to be like Death Road, just a bit wider... It was a 80Bs bus ride there versus a 500Bs flight so we went for the budget option. Don´t know how much I´ll regret it later, but Tilly is adament about taking the bus... So in the jungle we can swim with pink dolphins, ride on canoes down the river, see anacondas on night treks etc. But more of that to come!
Missing you all so much! Can't believe it's been 2 months since we last saw you all! xxxxxxxxxx
Friday, 29 April 2011
At the Copa, Co, Copacabana
BOLIVIAAAAA!!!!!
We took a boat from Copacabana to the other side of Lake Titicaca to stay the night on a beautiful Island called Isla Del Sol. We stayed in the south of the Island in a place called Yumani, at a local Bolivian womans hostel. We ate fresh ´trucha´ (trout) for lunch, and then again for dinner in nice restaurants overlooking the Lake. It was really surreal as there were also snowy mountains in the distance, that looked like theyd been photoshopped there, and were floating in the air.
In the morning we took a boat to the north of the Island, as we believed it was a common thing to walk the 3-4hour hike across the length of the island. When we got there however, it was only us on the trail. So yes, we actually did some voluntary extra hiking at 4000m altitude. But it wasnt completly pointless, as the views were incredible and it only took us 2hours 15 minutes as we´ve become such pro hikers after MP.... ;)
(By the way, I know the Barry Manilow song isn´t actually referring to THIS Copacabana!)
Who knew a guinea pig was so useful?
After Huacachina we went to a place called Puno, which borders one of the biggest, high altitude lakes in the world, Lake Titicaca (4000m). From there we took a tour to a floating island, Uros. The locals created this island by layering reeds ontop of each other, in layers and layers till they compress enough to form a solid mass, which then becoes the island. Unbelievably, people still live on these islands, and some straw huts even have radio and tv! Me and Tilly were taken into the president of the islands hut, and sat down on their tinyy floor with him, his wife and small daughter, (who was soo cute).
Our guide told us that these local people prefer not to go to hospital when they´re ill, but instead choose to go to an Andean Priest. The Priest gets the patient to lie on a bed, then places a ´cuy´ (guinea pig) on their chest for 25 minutes. When they remove the cuy, they take it to another room, cut it open and inside it is the disease of the patient........ Crazy times!!
Our guide told us that these local people prefer not to go to hospital when they´re ill, but instead choose to go to an Andean Priest. The Priest gets the patient to lie on a bed, then places a ´cuy´ (guinea pig) on their chest for 25 minutes. When they remove the cuy, they take it to another room, cut it open and inside it is the disease of the patient........ Crazy times!!
Friday, 22 April 2011
Huacachina
Huacachina should be paradise, but to be honest it´s really not. Firstly, the lagoon is more like a pond, I think the colour has definately enhanced in all the photos, it is actuiallywuite like Hampstead ponds- but less clean. It is beautiful here however, the sand dunes go on forever like in Sex and the City 2, and all the shops and restaurants, which are all may I add exstortionately expensive, face in to the "lagoon".
Yesterday, we arrived around lunch time and were told nearly every hostel in town was booked up except the one we end up staying in, where buggy/ sandboarding tours are cumpulsory and included in the price.
Around 5 we went sand boarding and left in this crazy looking buggy. At several points in the trip we thought we were actually going to die. The man who was driving was a complete nutter... not only was he elderly but he nearly crashed the buggy and almost ran over some children on the way to the dunes. He also liked to drive on the wrong side of the road.
He would drive full speed over the top of dunes and then down the bottom accelerating...
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But the sandboarding was really fun, especially with the sun setting over the dunes. Tilly tried to stand up but fell over lots of times, perhaps slightly too overexpectant of her sandboarding skills... on the otherhand, I didn´t realise you had to put your feet down to brake, so went flying down soo fast it was crazy.
Yesterday, we arrived around lunch time and were told nearly every hostel in town was booked up except the one we end up staying in, where buggy/ sandboarding tours are cumpulsory and included in the price.
Around 5 we went sand boarding and left in this crazy looking buggy. At several points in the trip we thought we were actually going to die. The man who was driving was a complete nutter... not only was he elderly but he nearly crashed the buggy and almost ran over some children on the way to the dunes. He also liked to drive on the wrong side of the road.
He would drive full speed over the top of dunes and then down the bottom accelerating...
----------
But the sandboarding was really fun, especially with the sun setting over the dunes. Tilly tried to stand up but fell over lots of times, perhaps slightly too overexpectant of her sandboarding skills... on the otherhand, I didn´t realise you had to put your feet down to brake, so went flying down soo fast it was crazy.
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