Aug 2007

After a short flight we were in Santa Cruz where the sun shines and the only thing worth doing is to sit and watch beautiful girls walk by...or so we were told. We arrived to a cloudy sky and cold weather! Apart from a fantastic array of ice-cream shops and a modern European feel there were two things that really made Santa Cruz stand out. These were sloths and go-karting. In the main square, instead of watching beautiful girls we stood in amazement watching a sloth in a tree. It was quite fascinating seeing these agile but slow creatures work their way up and across trees, reaching for branches that looked way out of reach whilst continually eating. Go-karting was next on our list and when the taxi driver eventually found the place we were soon sitting in our karts trying to rev our engines. It goes without saying that Nic was by far the best female driver on the track (she was the only one) and that she did the female population proud by coming 2nd (from last)! David tore round the track, lapping Nic twice and as you´ve guessed it, he came first. After this bit of excitement we dutifully boarded an overnight train and headed to the Pantanal.....

We were very relieved to arrive in Sucre. The city seemed very chilled and we had a comfortable hotel we could call our home for the following two nights.

You can just make them out - sort of

We quickly jumped onboard a dinotruck which whisked us away to a cement factory....Mmmm this wasn´t what we were expecting. Ahhh but after a quick BBC Walking With Dinosaurs episode (good old BBC!) all was clear and we were taken around the corner to a rock face covered with the big boys tracks! This area is a World Heritage Site because these marks are the largest recorded dinosaur tracks in the world.... how random!?

Ladies first

The next day we were up early, again, mmm. We were heading to the surrounding hills with a big bag in the back of the truck. We arrived at a cliff edge and mentally prepared oursleves for what we had let ourselves in for! We were going to paraglide off this hill.... all 600 metres of it! Nic went first to make sure it was safe for David! (It was done in weight order because the wind got higher as the day went on! Honest!) Before we knew it she was up in the air gracefully falling to the valley below. She landed with the biggest grin on her face, this was the best thing ever! By the time David had a go the wind was rampant and turbulent. The equpment was a little tight, so most of the journey felt out of control and with a testicle wedgy to boot, he was relieved to touch the ground.... Awesome but bum squelching experience.

The journey to this city was bumpy and long. We had watched the sun set and continued along some scarey roads in a bus that had really passed its use by date! After a few windows falling out and picking up a few hitchhikers along the way, we eventually saw the dizzying lights on the horizion.

Potosi was once the richest city in the world because of the silver mine here. An extinct volcano that dominates the the city is where all the action was to be had! We were very lucky to be here in the 1st of August as this day was the only time of the year when the miners pay sacrifice to Pachamama (Mother Earth) for all the wealth the land has given them.

Not a good combo

We quickly booked up a tour through the mines and bought gifts for the guys who work in its dingy depths. This was bizarre - it would probably be David´s only chance to ever buy dynamite! With a fuse and stick of TNT in hand we ventured down into the merky depths of the mines and witnessed what these guys had to do....it was all by chisel, hammer and brute force. We were shaken by at least 15 blasts of dynamite from the above and below tunnels. Needless to say this made us feel very exposed! We handed over our gifts (reluctantly!) and made our way outside to the party! There were two llamas at the entrance to our tunnel, looking rather edgy as you´d probably expect. They were dosed up with alcohol and coca leaves before being bundled to the ground. The manager came out sharpening his knife and proceeded to cut each head off. Blood spurting in all direction they gathered the red stuff and began spraying the walls, themselves, us and all the equipment with the warm fresh blood. With the llamas still jerking in the background we declined the offer to a BBQ and made our way back into the town with several explosions around us marking the annual celebration we had just witnessed!

We´ll never forget that! Meat was off the menu for a few hours at least!

The rest of the evening was full of explosions and as you probably expect, alcohol (96% - lethal stuff!) and TNT don´t really mix. It turned into riots and rocks being thrown....a bit scarey as it all seemed to be outside our hostel, which proved rather tricky when we wanted to get inside!

We all caught the train down to Uyuni to begin our 4 day 4WD trek of the salt flats and south western region of Bolivia - what a treat this was....

David´s new teddy bear

Squeezeeeeeed a gooden out that morning!

The hallucinogenic salt flats are unlike anything we had ever experienced. The undisturbed horizon was a sight to behold and we took advantage of the crazy tricks on the mind to be had! Our driver was insane..there are no roads to follow so it´s each driver for his own. Our guy knew this whole region like the back of his hand after doing these trips for 15 years. He was getting out of the car, pretending to be asleep and even driving within arms reach to the car next to us...all at 70mph!

We were staying in very basic accomodation and the temperatures at night reportadbly got down to outside... we were chilly! Not forgetting the fact that we stayed at the highest point on our travels, 4350m above sea level (we only managed a few hours sleep!)

Nic in an old lava field from the still smoking volcano in the background

David´s feet were warm for the first time in days...

Llama!!

The trip also included a large amount of dirt, rumble, sand and mud driving passing bright pink flamingos, hundreds of llamas and awesome views of the many surrounding volcanoes. We took many stops for pictures of a still smoking volcano, vivid coloured red and green lakes and barmy rock formations scattered around empty plains (some areas were so surreal they looked like Dahli paintings!) We were walking amongst thermal mud pools and gesyers without any marked barriers to hold us back... it stunk and so did we by this point so opted for a natural hot bath, 4300m above sea level at 7am in the morning. David´s trunks truned to ice within minutes of getting out of the water! We also managed to have a go at ice skating, with a twist. Now 5000m above sea level, on a frozen magnesuim green lake and a volcano in the background marking the Chilean/Bolivian border, I don´t think we´ll be skating anywhere else like it!

We were cream crackered by the end and needed a shower - these four days were a definate highlight of our travels so far!

We were now officially in Bolivia, just. We were nearly not allowed in the country due to the fact that the Peruvian officials took it upon themselves to stamp our passports with the wrong date. We had supposedly arrived in Peru after we had actually intended to leave! To be fair we could have just walked straight accross the border without as much as a blink of an eye lid, but we thought it wise not to do so!

After a very interesting bus journey which involved the bus getting on its own boat to cross the lake, we arrived in La Paz!! Whopppee! This place has to take the prize of the most craziest. There are no traffic lights and even when there are a few scattered in the modern parts of the city, they pay no attention. Instead the horn is the best form of communicating which direction you intend to go. Which is pretty hard when the drivers don´t even know where they are going in the first place!!!

We slowly pounded the streets taking deep breaths due to the altitude and took in as many sites as possible...We visited he renowned Coca Museum which couldn´t be missed after receiving the benefits of the fine leaf on many occassions! We also checked out the Witches Market which included the sale of Llama feotues (a bargain for souveniers back home!) and the black market where you could get all the Yves Faint Laplonk shirts and Armanki jeans you could want!

We finished off our stay in the World´s highest oxygen bar... we enjoyed a variety of flavours for 20 minutes including strawberry, peach and vanilla all whilst playing the playstation and Nic reading Cosmo!