Bolivia Beginings

Greetings from Bolivia. Been here over two weeks now and there is so little internet here I can't upload my photos and can barely update this blog. When I say no internet I just mean in our hostels and free around the place. And its unbelievably slooooow when I do get internet so it's all a bit hit and miss and fingers crossed!

But getting over that I've been having a ball in Bolivia. Visited three cities so far. After crossing the border from Corumbá, Brazil to Quijarro, Bolivia we got the 'death train' to Santa Cruz. This is an unbelievably bumpy 18 hour trip where every so often there was such a loud and huge jolt on the tracks I thought we were being derailed. But we survived and enjoyed a few days wandering the streets of Santa Cruz. Our hostel even had a surprise pet, a gorgeous toucan, a bird we were stuggling to spot in the Pantanal. He was fiesty, ripping the place apart and pecking at our fingers and toes but he was great. We didn't find a huge amount to do in Santa Cruz but we relaxed and enjoyed the architecture and everyone elses relaxed state.

Next we headed to Sucre and after only planning two days here we ended up spending five, we got completely sucked in. It was a lovely, small place with pretty buildings, great food and great night life. Our hostel, even though it was a little falling down was great to meet people and everyone was so friendly. In Sucre we visited the largest site of dinosaur footprints in the world and the cheesy jurassic park style museum that accompanied it and we visited the museum of indigenous art where we learned all about the Bolivian weaving and how the government are trying to revive it. Watched two women in full costume recreating the ancient art of the weaving while texing each other when they thought no one was looking! hehe.

I'm now currently in a town called Potosi, and at 4,070 metres above sea level, I'm in the highest town in the world. There is really only one thing to do in Potosi and that's visiting the silver mines that are hidden inside the big mountain over looking the town. From our hostel we headed out on a tour to explore one of the mines. We left early in the morning wrapped up from the freezing cold but were told it would be roasting down in the mines. Eek! We all doned our gorgeous miners outfits and headed off. Because these are working mines, we had to buy presents for the miners that we would be annoying with our existance in the mine, so we bought them the usual... dynamite. We got ourselves some too just for good measure. Inside the mine was a pretty scary place. When we were able to walk we mostly had to crouch as the ceilings were quite low but at certain points we had to get down on all fours and crawl from place to place. Add to this no oxegen, lots of dust and only the light on your head, it was a pretty scary experience. At one point our guide made us run after a mine cart, full speed through the mine shaft and I thought I was going to die! We chewed on coca levels to help with the altitude and the dust! After crawling back up the mines we watched our dynamite blow up in a field. Glad to be outta there, can't believe people work there 6 days a week for 35 years!

  

Heading for Tupiza now and then onto the salt flat. We'll be in La Paz at the end of the month celebrating Brians 25th birthday if anyone wants to join us :) x

into the wild

Days of hiking throught the jungle and wading through the swamp as we spotted animals and birds everywhere.
Nights of camp fire chats, star gazing, drinking caprihinas and swinging in hammocks.
And lots of rice and beans in between.

Just spent the last four days and three nights living the jungle life. We jumped into a jeep in Campo Grande with our tour organised by Ecological Expeditions on Tuesday morning and we were on our way. The pantanal is a wet land around half the size of France right in the middle of Brazil and is one of the best places to spot a wide range of wildlife in South America. And thats just what we did for our few days. We were picked up at the entrance the the pantanal (there's only one main road running through it) by a big safari bus and we all piled in along with the food supplies for the next few days. Even on our journey to our camp, without a guide pointing things out, we spotted loads of animals and birds. The first thing we spotted actually were the caimen, a smaller relative of crocs and alligators. They were everywhere!

We arrived at our camp late afternoon and were told to choose our hammocks. We settled in a bit, had dinner (rice and beans) and after the sun went down and we were chatting by the fire, Brian and another Irish couple (both lads brought a bottle of Cachaca, the main ingredient in Caprihinas, and limes to camp just incase!) asked one of the Brazilian guides, Alex, how to make the perfect caprihinas. They got a masterclass and we enjoyed our Brazilian cocktails by the campside, under the stars for the rest our the trip.

Our next few day consisted of a jeep safari, a jungle trek, night jeep safari, (unsuccessful) pirahna fishing, floating down the river in rubber boats and a bird watching boat trip! And the amount of wildlife was pretty amazing. We spotted kingfishers, cranes, storkes, macaws, toucans, hawks, vultures, howler monkeys, armedillos, capibaras, deer, sea otters, racoons, iguanas, huge frogs and teeny frogs and more! During the night safari, we even stopped to stare at a tarantuala! :( It was pretty hard to get the animals on camera cause they were hiding behind the green and kept moving like wild animals do so I gave up and just observed after a while. 

     

At one point, as we were stopped by a shop/house/farm the owner asked our guide to get rid of an anaconda that was bothering his chickens! It was a mighty two metres and we took him into the middle of a field and watched him find his way back to the water. Dangerous stuff! And I did almost step on a caimen as I waded through the swamp. My only rescue was our guide Jhonny whistling and waving at me to move out of the way! There was no talking while on the trek, not to even warn against potential croc attack! I really enjoyed my few days covered in mud and the paranoid itching from all the mosquitos and lazily swinging in my hammock. So now it's goodbye Brazil and hello Bolivia...

 

The mighty Iguazu

Sitting by the pool relaxing after exploring the huge Iguazu Falls over the past two days! We arrived in Foz do Iguazu early Wednesday morning after a 15 hour bus from Sao Paulo. The bus was huge and very comfortable. The bus conductor kept patting my head, giving me the thumbs up and chatting to me in Portugese when I was awake. Arrived in our hostel armed with all the information about how to visit the falls, what to do there, what buses to get for the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side and decided to go visit the Brazilian side first, after we had rested.

When we arrived at the national parks entrance we had to catch a bus to the falls and our bus was full of Japanese tourists all with cameras out taking millions of pictures even though the bus hadn't started yet and it was a 10 min journey through trees to start the trek to the falls!
Our first glimpse of the waterfalls came as we walked down a path and even though we'd tried to lose the Japanese tourist behind us, they came running after us and practically knocked us over trying to get photos of the first view. Every single of one them was snap happy. Posing infront of the falls, different angles, different group shots. And as fast as they had arrived they were running on to the next view. We left them off!

The path along the waterfalls is about 1200 metres or something like that and is like the over view of all the falls. Brian and myself walked slowly through it all. We came across loads of creatures along the way. And there were butterflies everywhere. It was amazing, all different colours and sizes. The waterfalls just kept getting more and more impressive as we walked along too. Everytime I thought we were getting to the end of it there was more to look at. Got up close to one side of the falls and let them soak me as i stood for a photo! Took loads of photos and Brian had his Canon Eos out too so he got some amazing photos. Check out our flickr over the next few days cause we'll have everything up soon.

Day two we headed for the Argentinian side with a tour group. This side is the close up of the falls. They picked us up at the hostel, drove us to the boarder, helped us get our exit and entry stamps etc. Headed into the national park with the group and straight away our guide was pointing out the wildlife we were passing. As we walked throught the forest we could hear the roar of the falls but we could only see small streams and rivers heading in its direction. Then we were standing on the edge of the falls, looking over. It was amazing. The path followed all the way along the hundreds of waterfalls by their edges. The power of the water was increadible. Standing on a small bridge with the water rushing past right under you, was intense.

This place was really amazing, loved it.

We're off to the jungle now tomorrow, can't wait :) x

Lesson learned in plans changing

So far a farily easy first few days where most things we've planned to do have run smoothly. I was begining to wonder when things might go wrong. Not that I was being negative or anything but everything was going so well. On our first night in Rio we were able to hagle our airport taxi down from R$65 to 50 and found out later a girl in our dorm paid over 70. The other day in Ipamema we escaped another scam. I think it started when one guy threw a pidgeon (!) at Brian as he threw something in the bin, then two seconds later his friend came running over with a toothbrush and some washing up liquid and was shouting 'Dog shit, dog shit, sir.' We just kept walking telling him it was fine but he persisted 'Look Sir, dog shit on your shoe.' Finally got away from him without stopping and there was indeed a little blob of greeny yellowy goo on brians shoe... definitely not dog shit though. These scam arists have good aim!

In Parati at the moment, four hours south of Rio. Cute village that's by the sea with beaches and islands close by. The centre of the town is the original colonial village from around 1660 with cobbled streets and cute little houses and a few big churches. Cars can't travel down the streets anymore cause it's a preserved village. Really nice. It's right on the water too with loads of colourful boats.

So back to when things don't always go to plan. Heading into the centre of Parati to catch a bus to a nearby town called Trinidade which we were told had gorgeous beaches, great waves and nice little treks through jungle. So that plan was bikini, towel, book - relax (in the shade), go for a swim, watch the world go by and plan our next move. It was 40 degrees as we waited for our bus with hundreds of school children running around and all I was thinking was that I'd better get a window seat or I'd die of the heat! The bus journey to Trinidade took about 45 mins and it was mainly though jungle landscape, up one side of a mountain and down the other. On our decent our bus didn't sound too good and about a minute after I'd said 'auw, poor bus' to Brian it cuts out! And as the bus cuts out I notice that it started to rain outside!

Our bus driver had the bus working again after 5 or 10 mins but by that time the skies had opened and the rain was torrential. Made it to Trinidade and without much thought got off at the last stop but as the bus drove away realise that there was nothing to do! And the rain was getting heavier and it was freezing :( Loud, long rumbles of thunder and a flat grey sky make it look like the rain was out for the day. So that was the relaxing on the beach plan gone. Thankfully two Israeli couples had got off the bus at the same time and under some shelter we all tried to play cards and successfully drank beer while we waited for the bus back to Parati.

Oh and Brazil have taken teleshopping to a new level... cattle for sale anyone? (bad photo - its hard to take a photo of the tv!) 

Escape from Sugar Loaf Mountain

The past two days we've spent exploring more of Rio. We headed for one of the highest points in Rio, the Sugar Loaf Mountain to get some views of the city. As it had been raining all morning, Corcovado (which has the Christ the Redeemer on top) was closed so Sugar Loaf was kind of our second choice.



Got the bus out but just like Ireland you've no idea what stop to get off, so we ended up getting kicked off the bus at its last stop and being told that 'Sucre' was way back! So we wandered the streets, looking up at the peak for guidance. Stumbled apon a cute little beach so wasn't all bad. Getting lost is fun.




To get to the top of the Sugar Loaf we got on the cable cars. Half way to the top we stopped off at a smaller mountain, Urca Mountain, and took lots of shots of the city below. And even though it was a crap, overcast day the rain had stopped and we actually had great views. Saw a sign with a drawing of a monkey which said not to feed the animals so I got all excited and started looking up in search of the monkeys :) No luck.

Jumped on the second cable car and made our way to the top. The views were absolutely gorgeous. Rio is impressive to look at. Golden beaches, lots of hills and mountains, jungles and trees, skyscrapers and favelas.

Wandered into a jungly part of the Mountain where, after looking for them for so long, I finally found the little monkeys. They were so cute! Their little faces were like little old men and they had gorgeous black and grey stripey tails. Was so happy after finding the monkeys I wasn't ready for the amount of wildlife that popped up after. We spotted gorgeous green humming birds, pure black beas, grey lizards, brown lizards, butterflies, small spiders, tiny ants, bigs ants and two different large birds that were circling the island. I was very impressed!! Not to mention the hundreds of different types of trees, leaves and flowers.

After our little jungle safari we headed back up to where the cable cars were to find a large crowd staring at one of the cable cars stuck on the tracks. They were stuck for two hours. Better them than me! So we got stranded up the top with nothing to do but admire the view. Can't complain. Could be stuck in worse places. And we got a free can of something fizzy and some crisps to boot :) YUM! All in all a good day, even though Brian did freak out when he thought we were going to have to leave the Mountain by way of a little tub that held about six people and ziped down cables just under the cable cars!

And then today we just wandered around Ipamema Beach. Way nicer than Copacobana by far. No annoying people trying to sell me things. Police with their own gazebos, relaxing on the beach. Felt a lot safer than two days ago. Still stood out with my mik bottle skin!! Rambled trough a Hippy market too. Not much to do on Sundays. Loving the nothingness.hehe. Leaving Rio tomorrow. The only thing I think I missed here was going on a tour of the favelas, would have been very interesting (and maybe Christ the Redeemer but he was covered in scafolding!) but other than that I enjoyed my time here. Very, very relaxing.

I'll leave ye with a gorgeous shot of Corcovado and 'O Cristo Redentor' AKA Christ the Redeemer and his temporary suit of scafolding. Enjoy :) x

rain, rain go away. come again another day (preferably next april!)

So it's day two and I woke up at about four in the morning to the sound of serious torential rain. Hurray. We knew it was coming cause we had tried to book a tour of Rio but the company cancelled cause they knew the rain was coming. And sadly, the Christ the Redeemer statue closes when its raining. I think it has something to do with the fact that its covered in scafolding at the moment and is dangerous when it rains or might have to do with the heavy rain that Rio saw last month. Oh well. We're still going to try get out and do some sight seeing today with our rain jackets. Woo hoo :-)

Yesterday we had a lovely day. Roasting with a slight breeze. And even though every one keeps talking about the humidity I'm not feeling it so that's great. As it was our first day we took things really slowly. Had breakfast in the hostel at about half eight and just hung around the area of Botafogo where the hostel is. Just strolled around. There are VW camper vans everywhere. Brian is very excited :-)

After lunch (fresh bread and fruit from the local supermarket) we headed for Copacobana beach. It was packed. But was hard to find the tourists - well hard to find people as pale, pale white as me. Every one is tanned! Every few seconds we had people up to us asking if we wanted to buy stuff, towels, flags, perfume, teddys, jewellery, peanuts etc. Sat at one of the little huts by the prominade and decided to sample some of the local drinks - Caipirinha (Cachaça, limes and ice) for me and coconut water with rum served in its original packaging for Brian. Just did more strolling around.

Got the metro back to Botafogo, got a bit lost for a while, found Botafogo beach, got a bit lost again, asked a very old Brazilian man for directions but he had no english so we just smiled and nodded. Found our way back eventually and did a bit more relaxing for the night.

So think we are off to see the Sugar Loaf mounatin today... it's the one in the background in this photo taken on Botagofo beach. Even though it's raining and overcast, fingers crossed we'll get a few photo opportunities.

Packing for a year away

So a lot of people have asked me what I'm bringing with me and wonder how I'm going to fill it all into one bag on my back. I didn't know a few months ago either. Well I first started doing a lot and a lot and a lot of research. (nerd!) Then being a list person I stared making lists - clothing lists, gear lists, lists about what I'd need in my first aid kit, a list of misc items, a list of expensive bits of equipment I needed to buy, lists of things I might need, lists of things I'd read other travellers couldn't live without... you get the idea.

So I started by buying the backpack, a Berghaus Jalan Womens 55 + 15l and I ended up with...

What I'm packing

Clothing:

• Merrell Siren Sport - my 'sensible' walking shoes
• Merrell Siena - sandals that are kinda cute
• crappy flip flops - for icky showers
• Cons - an extra pair of shoes may seem silly but if I'm heading out for a drink at night in a big city I'd rather not have to wear my lovely Merrells! These are super old so if I'm not using them I'll throw them out.
• 6 tank tops/string tops (ones a dressy one)
• 2 t-shirt
• 1 long-sleeve top
• 3 shorts
• 2 dresses
• 2 bikinis - I plan on buying lots more along the way :)
• sarong
• a pair of jeans - most people/travel forums/blogs say don't pack these but I can't imagine a year without jeans. And after not packing them when I travelled around Europe a few summers ago I regretted not having them. So they are coming, end of!
• light full length pants
• North Face micro fleece
• rain jacket
• crappy shorts and string top for Pjs 
• micro fibre towel
• mini micro fibre towel for hair

Misc stuff

• 1l water bottle
• sunglasses, seeing glasses, 4 month supply of contacts and solution
• Sporkff
• mini LED torch
  
• silk sleeping sheet
• notebook and pens
• tiny 2010 diary
• small atlas of the world
• Lonely Planet 'South America on a shoestring'
• washing line 
• padlock
• first aid kit - painkillers, tiger balm, plasters, motillium, immodium, savlon, rehydration sachets etc.
• mini sewing kit
• toiletry bag - suncream, aftersun, insect repellent, toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant etc. 
• some make-up - mascara, eyeliner, blush
• hairbrush with bobbles around handle
• pack of playing cards - they have a different picture of Ireland on each card 

Electronic stuff

• iPod
• iPhone - unlocked waiting for Oz
• 10.1" Asus Eee PC 1001HA netbook
• Nikon Coolpix camera
• chargers