Sunny Sucre and Lofty La Paz, Bolivia

SUCRE

Our bus from Uyuni to Sucre went via Potosi and we were advised by the agent that the same bus would continue to Sucre. When the bus arrived in Potosi at 2am, the driver realised that only four people were going to Sucre. Instead of getting us back in the bus he dumped us in a car (us, one of our travelling friends and an old Bolivian woman). After about 30 minutes the driver looked and seemed incredibly tired, which he happily admitted. Pete offered to drive and he took up the offer. So off we went with Pete at the wheel for about an hour before he asked Pete to pull over by the side of the road because he needed to sleep for a little while - 15 minutes he said he needed as the road ahead was dangerous. So there we sat, twiddling our thumbs at 4am in the morning on a Bolivian highway with a driver who needed to sleep and did so. We woke him up 15 minutes after he dozed off and he rolled over mumbling "Quince minutes mas" ("15 more minutes", somewhat reminiscent of my (Pete's) uni days). So we gave him 15 minutes more and then he took the wheel (and both sides of the road). It didn't help to see him sign the crucifix, head-chest-shoulder-shoulder at each corner or to see the old Bolivian woman ply him with Coca leaves and tell him not to fall asleep... Anyway, after much prayer and too many heartbeats, we made it to Sucre. Sucre has been amazing. It wasn't originally on our agenda but it's an absolutely beautiful city and we're glad we made the detour. We have spent most of our time reading and planning and visiting museums - the poor Bolivians have fought the Spanish crown for independence, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay all in the last 70-odd years. In the battle of the Pacific against Chile they lost the port of Antofagasta, leaving them landlocked and unable to export the huge amount of minerals and gas they'd like to. The result of this is that they refuse to sell gas to Chile (one previously incumbent president tried and was swiftly deposed) but rather to Argentina who sell it to Chile at a premium. Picture outside a Catholic church on Palm Sunday. And we have another overnight bus to La Paz to look forward to now!

LA PAZ

La Paz has turned out to be a great place and we have really enjoyed our time here. We have spent about 4 days exploring the city, which is situated 3660m above sea level. The city´s buildings cling to the sides of a canyon and spill downwards, it is quite amazing and breathtaking. In the background of the city you can see the 6402m Mt Illamani. It is quite difficult to breath here with the altitude, so everyone has to walk pretty slowly! We took a city tour by bus which was incredibly touristy but really informative, have wandered the 'black market', tourist markets, gone through the San Francisco Church (and walked on the roof of it!) and had our first day away from each other! Pete opted to do a day of downhill mountain bike riding, not on 'The World's Most Dangerous Road' (which sounded a bit tame) but on the more challenging 48km 'Ghost Ride'. Starting on a snow capped mountain at 4900m, Pete conquered the tricky tracks and lot of big rocks, with only a few minor falls. The day ended with a tour of a haunted castle. Soph chose to head to Huayna-Potosi (6088m) for some walking and glacier climbing. Walking in the altitude was very difficult and frequent stops were required. At about 5200m, Soph and the group learnt how to ice climb... it was cold and wet, but quite exhilarating. Unfortunately the altitude got the better of Soph and she returned to La Paz with a pounding headache, was dizzy and nauseous and went straight to bed :(

Nearing the 3 month mark

IGUAZU FALLS
From Rio we went to Iguazu Falls, visiting the Brasilian side for half a day and crossing the border. Crossing the border from Brasil to Argentina held the normal amount of amusement, even more so because it was by public bus with our 20kg+ packs . Problem is that in Brasil all public buses have small turnstiles you need to go through when you buy your ticket. And for reasons that we did not understand we had to go through these narrow turnstiles WITH our packs, we couldn't just leave them at the front of the bus. So after doing this about 4 times on and off the buses, we had developed some good weight-lifting muscles and were relieved to reach Puerto Iguazu in Argentina.

We spent a day at the Argentinian side of the falls - absolutely amazing and glorious! But there were so many people it was the first time we felt like real tourists!

SALTA, NORTHERN ARGENTINA
We spent 3 days in Salta where we found the very best empanadas so far (an important job we're undertaking) and some amazing and striking scenery out of town. We decided to hire a car for 2 days and headed south to Cafayate, a wine region specialising in 'torrontes' white wine, vineyard to the left. From Cafayate we drove along the worst road we've encountered to Cachi. Along this road we collected a friendly hitch-hiker who came in handy when one of the car tyres didn't just puncture but completely shredded and needed replacing... From Cachi we had a pretty scary and hairy drive through the dark on windy roads with gushing rivers every now and then back to Salta - and in true South American style - no safety barriers, reflectors on the road etc....

Second day with the car we went north up to Tilcara - the amazing red rock mountains were captivating and we stopped to visit the 'Cerro 7 Colores' - Mountain of 7 Colours. Really beautiful scenery.

From Salta (our wallets a little lighter after replacing the tyre.... grrrr) we caught an overnight bus to La Quiaca, right on the Argentina/Bolivia border.

TUPIZA, BOLIVIA
We arrived in Tupiza after crossing the border into Villazon and taking a 4WD bus (have you ever!?!) . Tupiza is a small town where we opted to do a 7-hour horse ride (NEVER again) through the valleys, apparently in the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and gang - but we're pretty sure they didn't have 'saddle soreness' or whatever it's called like we did. We never wanted to get off the horses because it meant getting back on!!!! Terribly stiff and sore, we decided to embark on a bumpy 4-day 4WD tour to Uyuni via the salt flats the next day.

UYUNI SALT FLATS

We spent a great 4 days in a 4WD car with Eva from Hungary, Vouter from Holland, our driver and guide 'Rapido Wili' and Silvia our amazing personal chef! From Tupiza we drove through and up amazing valleys, passed through small towns, marvelled at the altitude, saw llamas, donkeys, alpacas, humuacas, condors, flamengos, sheep, played soccer with the locals (with a predictable outcome, given the local kids were accustomed to the 4000m altitude), saw beautiful lakes, mountains and volcanoes, swam in thermal baths, got spat on by geysers, tried to push over trees made of stone, went to an Inca cemetery, a train cemetry, stayed in a hotel made of salt, dodged an island of cactus and walked on/touched/ate/appreciated the vast salt planes that are twice the size of Holland! It was a great and memorable 4 days after which we ended up in Uyuni and took an overnight bus to Sucre.

The last of AR and BR

Once again, a lot has happened since our last post so we'll try to keep it as short, sweet and full of pictures as possible.

Torres del Paine National Park

We set off, guns blazing, for our 6 day hike through the national park aiming to take in glaciers, crystal-clear lakes and the famous granite spires of Torres del Paine. After a gruelling (recommended - thanks!) 20km hike directly into 90+ km/h winds, the right foot of the male trekker was a little painful. We managed another 2 days of hiking before we had to cut it short and head back to town. Never the less, we saw some amazing sights and were once again blown away by how beautiful it all was.

Ushuaia, Argentina

All set to take a sip at the "southern-most" pub in the world, we found out that some Ukranian bastard has set one up at his research station in Antarctica. We settled in for a drink at the second-most-southern pub in the world. Unfortunately our photos are safely and inaccessibly stored on DVD so this section will be very black and white, just like the 7000 penguins we walked among on an Island in the beagle channel. Being a small (and the only) tour that lands on the island, we were able to get as close as one metre to A LOT of Gentoo and Magellanic penguins. Photos will follow if we ever find an internet café with a DVD reader. Other sights were beaver nests - their introduction to the area as successful as the cane toad - also sea lions and a number of different birds.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hitting Buenos Aires was quite the shock to the system after almost 2 months in smaller towns or camping. We had ten days all up in what was a beautiful, safe and very large city. Highlights of the big city were:

Mucho shopping - great leather (perfect for handbags and shoes apparently)

FUTBOL!!!! San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores - I imagine half the crowd probably took the bus straight back to the asylum after the game.

Beautiful architecture and other amazing buildings

Fantastic live music and tango

Steaks (minus the tripe, kidney and other offal in a typical Argentinian parrillada)

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

For us, not really anything on Buenos Aires, Rio was far more obviously a large, crowded city but set among beautiful bays and mountains. After a few days we decided to head for Ilha Grande, a beautiful little island off the coast west of Rio, so our time in the city was reduced but we still enjoyed:

Taking the train to 'Cristo Redentor' (Christ the Redeemer), a huge statue at the top of a mountain giving panoramic views over the city.

FUTBOL!!!! Flamengo downing another Peruvian team in the Copa Libertadores. Far crazier than Buenos Aires with fireworks, flares and not one spectator sitting down during game time.

Juices! Very good, fresh fruit regularly whipped up and handed in a glass to Sophia (by regularly we mean 4 to 5 times a day.

Hangliding!!! Quite the heart-stopper and the provider of some amazing views on the Rio coastline.

Ilha Grande, Brazil











Not much to report here as we rarely ventured from our 'Posada' and its nearby beach. We stayed at this picturesque little Island for two nights getting plenty of sun and sea - including a manta ray, turtle and heaps of little fish.