Hola! We haven't written on this blog for a long time and with travels ending almost 8 months ago, we are busy with other things (Josh is studying a masters & Georgie is working in London) but we both don't want these memories to disappear!
So we are going to try to make an effort to finish our online travel diary so we have somewhere to store all our memories for years to come. And then maybe we can write about our less fun, more work lives happening right now!
Oh, to be laying on Copacabana beach sipping on a coconut instead of typing away at the computer this monday morning!
Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts
Monday, 9 February 2015
Monday, 9 June 2014
Last pieces of Peru..
After our Canyon trek we had a quick-stop tour journeying towards the end of Peru as we were heading up to Ecuador. The first of these stops was Nazca, and after hearing that there wasnt really much to do in Nazca apart from, well, the lines we just opted to spend a few hours there before catching our next bus. So after our last (yay!) overnight bus from Arequipa, we arrived in Nazca and hunted down a deal so we could see the lines as quickly as possible- flying over wasnt an option as we had heard about to many crashes much too recently and for a half hour flight, it was cheaper to fly to Europe on Easyjet for the weekend..
So we opted for a lovely taxi driver who took us two see two of the Nazca lines. He drove us out of the town and to an observation tower where we we able to see the lines from a height. The lines were impressive and visually interesting, especially the mystery behind why they were there, but anything extra (like the museum we got taken to and a few extra hills) were pointless. The Nazca lines weren't too different to what you'd see on google. We were glad we only planned to stay for a half day, and after an overnight bus and a pretty boiling hot day, we were ready to move on.
So we opted for a lovely taxi driver who took us two see two of the Nazca lines. He drove us out of the town and to an observation tower where we we able to see the lines from a height. The lines were impressive and visually interesting, especially the mystery behind why they were there, but anything extra (like the museum we got taken to and a few extra hills) were pointless. The Nazca lines weren't too different to what you'd see on google. We were glad we only planned to stay for a half day, and after an overnight bus and a pretty boiling hot day, we were ready to move on.
The next stop was Huchachina, a small town/village in the middle of sand dunes, where we would spend the next few days. The places was tiny, tranquil and entirely surrounded by mountains of sand. Sand we were later going to sandboard. We settled here for a few nights, taking part in a morning wine/pisco tasting, which was probably not the best time of day to drink and resulted in 3 bottles now wrapped and stuffed in our backpacks and also the main highlight there, the sandboarding. Sandboarding is basically surf boards on sand going down big hills.. and it was awesome! The trip started in sand buggy's, which, in parts was pretty terrifying, with the driver finding it hilarious whenever he'd take sharp turns down sand hills making all the girls (and sometimes Josh) scream. And somehow, we'd happened to be in the front seat. We sandboarded various hills, speeding down and once Josh did a spectular K.O, flipping off his board with them both rolling down the hill at some pace. A few sand burns and cuts later, we watched the sunset at the top of the sand dunes and that was Huchachina.
Almost at the end of our time in Peru, we then went to Paracas, a national park reserve where we took a boat out to an island full of various sealife. We saw seals, penguins and lots of birds that helped make up the island, which was around 75% bird poop built up over the years. We weren't aloud to get off the boat which we were a little relieved at knowing it would just be a whole lot of dodging bird poop, and spent the afternoon watching seals fighting and flopping each other into the sea, which was somewhat like the game in Gladiators. That night we stayed in of out favourite hostels of the trip, mostly because it had a swimming pool, and had around 2 pounds of fresh calamari, before heading off to our last Peruvian stop, Lima.
Almost at the end of our time in Peru, we then went to Paracas, a national park reserve where we took a boat out to an island full of various sealife. We saw seals, penguins and lots of birds that helped make up the island, which was around 75% bird poop built up over the years. We weren't aloud to get off the boat which we were a little relieved at knowing it would just be a whole lot of dodging bird poop, and spent the afternoon watching seals fighting and flopping each other into the sea, which was somewhat like the game in Gladiators. That night we stayed in of out favourite hostels of the trip, mostly because it had a swimming pool, and had around 2 pounds of fresh calamari, before heading off to our last Peruvian stop, Lima.
Lima was a fairly busy place, but we didn't really have anything planned to do. We missed a beer tasting event at our hostel, so ended up paying a ridiculous amount to try a bottle of their 'hostel homebrew' which was horrendous. We then moved hostels and after a night of flip-cup-beer-pong (yup, they combined both games) we had an early start for a surf lesson.. my very first one. Trying not to throw up in the van, we were told that the water was 'pretty cold' today and the waves wouldn't be too great, which was just what we wanted to know when we'd rather have our heads in a freezer. But it turned out pretty well, with me catching a wave on my first lesson and Josh just brushing up on practise. It wasn't helping that our instructor was telling us to 'be the wave' or 'be at one with the ocean'. Just tell me where to put my feet so I can actually stand up, mate.
There wasn't too much to say about Lima, as we didn't visit anything really related to the place, more just took part in activities we could do anywhere else. We did however go to a water fountain park, where they had around 30 different fountains- some shows, some interactive and some.. just well.. water to watch. It was basically a night of 'can I run fast enough away before this fountain shoots water at me'. I won. Georgie 0, Josh 1.
Next stop, spanish school.
There wasn't too much to say about Lima, as we didn't visit anything really related to the place, more just took part in activities we could do anywhere else. We did however go to a water fountain park, where they had around 30 different fountains- some shows, some interactive and some.. just well.. water to watch. It was basically a night of 'can I run fast enough away before this fountain shoots water at me'. I won. Georgie 0, Josh 1.
Next stop, spanish school.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The Amazon Jungle
Puerto Maldonado, Peru
Our plane touched down in Puerto Maldonado to chaos. The port way to our Amazon adventure was a small town which had been rioting for a few days. Walking out of the airport we hopped in a tuk-tuk to go to our hostel and a little way down the road our driver turned around to take a longer route after seeing hundreds of people lining the street we needed to take, Georgie and I looked at each other, wondering what we had let ourselves in for. We got to the hostel with little hassle though and things could have been far worse, a couple who arrived there shortly after we did had to deal with their driver demanding double the previously agreed fee after also taking the long way around. Talk about extortion. Unable to speak adequate Spanish to confidently diffuse the situation, they turned to the hostel owner behind the check-in desk who shrugged and said "well with the riots I can understand it, it is a dangerous time for them, they shouldn't really be working."
I'm sure Puerto Maldonado is a very nice town normally, primarily used as a gateway to the Amazon by fellow travellers, the scenery and weather were fantastic but, unfortunately we arrived at a time when most of the locals were protesting new laws that the Peruvian government had put in place -whereby everyone who mines in the Amazon would need to be registered. For this they have to pay a large amount and their argument is that if they can't afford to register they will be out of work. The sad thing is that the sheer amount of illegal mining going on is destroying parts of the jungle. Once checked in we grabbed a quick lunch in the only restaurant around us that was open because of the riots of Chicken, cooked with Passion Fruit sauce for Georgie and coconut husk sauce for me. Different, but both very nice. With no shops or tour operators open and the two of us needing to while a day away before our pre-booked trip in to the rainforest, the rest of the day was spent in hammocks. Oh the joys of travelling.
Wildlife watch day 1: bugs, tons and tons of bugs. I also spotted a humming bird while G was resting in her hammock.
The next day we were off in to the rainforest. A 20 minute boat trip down river led us to our getaway for the next few days, Inkaterra, a beautiful ecolodge, with amazing butler service and anything you needed plus a pet baby piglet! Also where we were told Mick Jagger had stayed last year (and that his girlfriend had ordered no females could work for the duration of their stay -this is what we were told, anyway). Upon our arrival we were treated to a welcome drink of refreshing lemonade (the lemons for which were grown on site) and briefed about the excursions we'd get to enjoy during our stay. After this we went on a short walk through the rainforest and were shown what to touch and what not to touch, the list for the latter was considerably longer. Here we saw fire ants, birds and lots of various plants. That night we had a pisco sour on the house before getting on to a boat to do a night time wildlife watch. On this little trip we saw caymans, heron and a night bird that was trying to sleep that our tour guide woke up pointing a huge light at for five minutes. The bird was not happy and soon flew off for some peace and quiet. On our walk back to the lodge we spotted a snake cross our path. With our tour guide nowhere in sight we took a photo and later asked him what it was. "Poisonous." He replied.
We then enjoyed a delicious steak before heading to an early bed for an early rise.
Wildlife watch day 2: fire ants, cayman, heron, deadly snake and angry sleepy bird.
Day 3 was started with a 5AM wake up call. We were then served a buffet breakfast and I feel we need to mention that there was bacon - something we had both been craving since leaving England. For us, this was a big deal.
While we were eating our breakfast a group of monkeys swung past the window.
So after almost all the bacon on the buffet had been consumed we headed out for our morning excursion to Lake Sandoval. Here we had to hike an hour through a nature reserve where we saw squirrels, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, a tarantula and one of the most dangerous animals you are ever likely to come across in the wild, the bullet ant. You may read this and think I'm kidding and ask "how dangerous can an ant be?", well the bullet ant is named such because being bitten by one has been likened to getting shot, that's how much it hurts.
After the hike we hopped in a canoe and went out on Lake Sandoval where we saw bats climbing trees and more birds, monkeys and cayman. After this we headed back to the lodge for lunch before heading up to the treetops for a canopy walk. The idea was to enable us to see the wildlife that lives higher up than is possible to see from just walking through the base of the rainforest. We, however, saw squat.
The rickety walkways made the event more of a challenge to just get across and we were only allowed to go one at a time as they were so weak so we were pretty scared. We were shown a room that is available to rent out up there though that costs $1000 a night and you get butler service and dinner in the treetops. All very nice but Georgie and I both agreed that we wouldn't be able to sleep as we'd be too scared of the floor giving way in the middle of the night!
Afterwards we headed back to the lodge where our evening activity was a night walk through the rainforest. Here we saw loads of creepie-crawlies. Loads of poisonous spiders, more birds, bullet ants and bats. This was when we had to be most careful of where we were treading as all sorts of dangers could have been lurking underfoot.
Wildlife watch day 3: monkeys, squirrels, monkeys, tarantula, bullet ants, birds, monkeys and cayman.
And with that, our final excursion in to the rainforest was done, we got up the next morning and took the 20 minute boat ride back up the river to Puerto Maldonado where we were dumped back in to the chaos by our tour company. This is where I have my only complaint of the whole experience. We had no idea what we were coming back to, no shops or restaurants were open and no taxis were running services to or from the airport. While the rest of our group went straight to the airport in transport organised by Inkaterra but our flight not until the next day we were left to fend for ourselves. Luckily our hostel found us an open cafe to eat at and this was quite an experience. The sort of place the locals go where no English is spoken, we just pointed at other peoples food to order and hoped we were understood. On our walk back to the hostel we saw loads of protesters setting fire to things and turning tuk-tuks on their sides.
We then spent the night in the hostel too scared to venture out, hoping things would be calmer by the morning. Sadly they weren't and after the hostel rang three taxi companies to try and get us to the airport we finally got a lift. Only instead of a taxi turning up to collect us, a couple on scooters did and we had another adventure in store. Winding down side roads and avoiding the crowds of protesters, we frequently had to turn back to find another way around for the the swathes of people or fallen telephone poles. It was a challenging journey for all as we had to keep our big rucksacks on our backs which meant my abs got a work out every time we accelerated as I tried to keep my body upright. We arrived at the airport and I felt I'd done a gym workout, but we were there and our Amazon adventure was over.
Our plane touched down in Puerto Maldonado to chaos. The port way to our Amazon adventure was a small town which had been rioting for a few days. Walking out of the airport we hopped in a tuk-tuk to go to our hostel and a little way down the road our driver turned around to take a longer route after seeing hundreds of people lining the street we needed to take, Georgie and I looked at each other, wondering what we had let ourselves in for. We got to the hostel with little hassle though and things could have been far worse, a couple who arrived there shortly after we did had to deal with their driver demanding double the previously agreed fee after also taking the long way around. Talk about extortion. Unable to speak adequate Spanish to confidently diffuse the situation, they turned to the hostel owner behind the check-in desk who shrugged and said "well with the riots I can understand it, it is a dangerous time for them, they shouldn't really be working."
I'm sure Puerto Maldonado is a very nice town normally, primarily used as a gateway to the Amazon by fellow travellers, the scenery and weather were fantastic but, unfortunately we arrived at a time when most of the locals were protesting new laws that the Peruvian government had put in place -whereby everyone who mines in the Amazon would need to be registered. For this they have to pay a large amount and their argument is that if they can't afford to register they will be out of work. The sad thing is that the sheer amount of illegal mining going on is destroying parts of the jungle. Once checked in we grabbed a quick lunch in the only restaurant around us that was open because of the riots of Chicken, cooked with Passion Fruit sauce for Georgie and coconut husk sauce for me. Different, but both very nice. With no shops or tour operators open and the two of us needing to while a day away before our pre-booked trip in to the rainforest, the rest of the day was spent in hammocks. Oh the joys of travelling.
Wildlife watch day 1: bugs, tons and tons of bugs. I also spotted a humming bird while G was resting in her hammock.
The next day we were off in to the rainforest. A 20 minute boat trip down river led us to our getaway for the next few days, Inkaterra, a beautiful ecolodge, with amazing butler service and anything you needed plus a pet baby piglet! Also where we were told Mick Jagger had stayed last year (and that his girlfriend had ordered no females could work for the duration of their stay -this is what we were told, anyway). Upon our arrival we were treated to a welcome drink of refreshing lemonade (the lemons for which were grown on site) and briefed about the excursions we'd get to enjoy during our stay. After this we went on a short walk through the rainforest and were shown what to touch and what not to touch, the list for the latter was considerably longer. Here we saw fire ants, birds and lots of various plants. That night we had a pisco sour on the house before getting on to a boat to do a night time wildlife watch. On this little trip we saw caymans, heron and a night bird that was trying to sleep that our tour guide woke up pointing a huge light at for five minutes. The bird was not happy and soon flew off for some peace and quiet. On our walk back to the lodge we spotted a snake cross our path. With our tour guide nowhere in sight we took a photo and later asked him what it was. "Poisonous." He replied.
We then enjoyed a delicious steak before heading to an early bed for an early rise.
Wildlife watch day 2: fire ants, cayman, heron, deadly snake and angry sleepy bird.
Day 3 was started with a 5AM wake up call. We were then served a buffet breakfast and I feel we need to mention that there was bacon - something we had both been craving since leaving England. For us, this was a big deal.
While we were eating our breakfast a group of monkeys swung past the window.
So after almost all the bacon on the buffet had been consumed we headed out for our morning excursion to Lake Sandoval. Here we had to hike an hour through a nature reserve where we saw squirrels, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, a tarantula and one of the most dangerous animals you are ever likely to come across in the wild, the bullet ant. You may read this and think I'm kidding and ask "how dangerous can an ant be?", well the bullet ant is named such because being bitten by one has been likened to getting shot, that's how much it hurts.
After the hike we hopped in a canoe and went out on Lake Sandoval where we saw bats climbing trees and more birds, monkeys and cayman. After this we headed back to the lodge for lunch before heading up to the treetops for a canopy walk. The idea was to enable us to see the wildlife that lives higher up than is possible to see from just walking through the base of the rainforest. We, however, saw squat.
The rickety walkways made the event more of a challenge to just get across and we were only allowed to go one at a time as they were so weak so we were pretty scared. We were shown a room that is available to rent out up there though that costs $1000 a night and you get butler service and dinner in the treetops. All very nice but Georgie and I both agreed that we wouldn't be able to sleep as we'd be too scared of the floor giving way in the middle of the night!
Afterwards we headed back to the lodge where our evening activity was a night walk through the rainforest. Here we saw loads of creepie-crawlies. Loads of poisonous spiders, more birds, bullet ants and bats. This was when we had to be most careful of where we were treading as all sorts of dangers could have been lurking underfoot.
Wildlife watch day 3: monkeys, squirrels, monkeys, tarantula, bullet ants, birds, monkeys and cayman.
And with that, our final excursion in to the rainforest was done, we got up the next morning and took the 20 minute boat ride back up the river to Puerto Maldonado where we were dumped back in to the chaos by our tour company. This is where I have my only complaint of the whole experience. We had no idea what we were coming back to, no shops or restaurants were open and no taxis were running services to or from the airport. While the rest of our group went straight to the airport in transport organised by Inkaterra but our flight not until the next day we were left to fend for ourselves. Luckily our hostel found us an open cafe to eat at and this was quite an experience. The sort of place the locals go where no English is spoken, we just pointed at other peoples food to order and hoped we were understood. On our walk back to the hostel we saw loads of protesters setting fire to things and turning tuk-tuks on their sides.
We then spent the night in the hostel too scared to venture out, hoping things would be calmer by the morning. Sadly they weren't and after the hostel rang three taxi companies to try and get us to the airport we finally got a lift. Only instead of a taxi turning up to collect us, a couple on scooters did and we had another adventure in store. Winding down side roads and avoiding the crowds of protesters, we frequently had to turn back to find another way around for the the swathes of people or fallen telephone poles. It was a challenging journey for all as we had to keep our big rucksacks on our backs which meant my abs got a work out every time we accelerated as I tried to keep my body upright. We arrived at the airport and I felt I'd done a gym workout, but we were there and our Amazon adventure was over.
Friday, 25 April 2014
Amantani homestay
Lake Titikaka, Peru
We've got a little behind on these little blog updates but after almost 4 weeks here, here's our first post in Peru (no sightings of Paddington Bear just yet).
Our first taste of Peruvian life led us to the highest lake in the world, Lake Titikaka to visit the island of Amantani and stay with a local family.
Our journey started nice and early as we were picked up from our hostel in Puno and transported down to the lake. After buying some presents (rice, apples and a colouring book) for our host family, we were led on to our boat and serenaded by the soothing tones of the Beatles, as played on panpipes.
We were then introduced to our tour guide, who referred to himself only as 'Bruno from Puno'. As you can imagine he was quite the character.
A short boat trip led us to the floating islands. These are a set of islands made out of reeds, created to evade the attacks of the Incas and still house large communities even to this day.
We were shown how the islands are made from blocks of reed roots which are fastened together and covered in reeds before being anchored down. If these folk fall out with the neighbours, the good news is they can just upsticks and float a little further downstream.
The reeds really are a huge resource for these people, not only do they live on them, they eat them too (if you take the very base of one and unravel it it can also be a particularly effective hangover cure if then placed on your forehead!). After tasting some reeds- which i guess tastes like celery(?!), we were given a ride on a local water taxi to the nearest floating island to see how the locals get about, before heading off to Amantani.
Once there we met our host for the night, a single Mum called Sofia. She had a crazy four year old son who we first thought was called Pedro, but later discovered to be called Juan Sebastian. Yep, our Spanish still needs some work. After letting him pelt a football at me for an hour (this kid didnt understand a game of passing) we regrouped with everyone from our boat and hiked up to the island's highest point to watch the sunset. This gave us our first bit of training for Machu Piccu as the hike was pretty steep and tough going, but luckily only short in duration and the beauty of the sunset made it totally worth the effort.
Once we had descended we headed back for some dinner before going out for the evening's main event, a dance at the local village hall. Decked out in local attire, a poncho and hat for me and a very tight fitting dress and scarf for Georgie, we headed out. A short, but tricky to navigate in the dark, walk later we made it to the hall.. and we were the first ones there! We sat there quietly hoping others would show up as 3 Peruvians working the bar and the band sat and stared back at us in silence. This was awkward to the extreme.
It seemed like hours passed (in reality it was more like 10-15 minutes) before, luckily for us, other fellow tourists started making their way through the doors and the party started.
Although we were all completely unaccustomed to the music, our hosts soon showed is the appropriate dance moves (no robot or moonwalk necessary here) and Sofia was always the first off her seat which meant I was always the lucky first tourist having a go at each dance! We were also lucky enough to bump in to some of the friends we made on our Slat Flats trip so together with them, we merrily danced the night away!
The next morning was started with pancakes for breakfast (my favourite!) before saying our goodbyes to our host family. Pedro kept things formal, offering us a handshake each.
After a short boat ride we then hiked another island and got to know some of the other tourists a bit better, where we made plans to meet for dinner that evening.
Another boat ride led us back to Puno where we had the best steak, called lomo, we've ever had in our lives and after a few beers our wonderful trip was over.
We've got a little behind on these little blog updates but after almost 4 weeks here, here's our first post in Peru (no sightings of Paddington Bear just yet).
Our first taste of Peruvian life led us to the highest lake in the world, Lake Titikaka to visit the island of Amantani and stay with a local family.
Our journey started nice and early as we were picked up from our hostel in Puno and transported down to the lake. After buying some presents (rice, apples and a colouring book) for our host family, we were led on to our boat and serenaded by the soothing tones of the Beatles, as played on panpipes.
We were then introduced to our tour guide, who referred to himself only as 'Bruno from Puno'. As you can imagine he was quite the character.
A short boat trip led us to the floating islands. These are a set of islands made out of reeds, created to evade the attacks of the Incas and still house large communities even to this day.
We were shown how the islands are made from blocks of reed roots which are fastened together and covered in reeds before being anchored down. If these folk fall out with the neighbours, the good news is they can just upsticks and float a little further downstream.
The reeds really are a huge resource for these people, not only do they live on them, they eat them too (if you take the very base of one and unravel it it can also be a particularly effective hangover cure if then placed on your forehead!). After tasting some reeds- which i guess tastes like celery(?!), we were given a ride on a local water taxi to the nearest floating island to see how the locals get about, before heading off to Amantani.
Once there we met our host for the night, a single Mum called Sofia. She had a crazy four year old son who we first thought was called Pedro, but later discovered to be called Juan Sebastian. Yep, our Spanish still needs some work. After letting him pelt a football at me for an hour (this kid didnt understand a game of passing) we regrouped with everyone from our boat and hiked up to the island's highest point to watch the sunset. This gave us our first bit of training for Machu Piccu as the hike was pretty steep and tough going, but luckily only short in duration and the beauty of the sunset made it totally worth the effort.
Once we had descended we headed back for some dinner before going out for the evening's main event, a dance at the local village hall. Decked out in local attire, a poncho and hat for me and a very tight fitting dress and scarf for Georgie, we headed out. A short, but tricky to navigate in the dark, walk later we made it to the hall.. and we were the first ones there! We sat there quietly hoping others would show up as 3 Peruvians working the bar and the band sat and stared back at us in silence. This was awkward to the extreme.
It seemed like hours passed (in reality it was more like 10-15 minutes) before, luckily for us, other fellow tourists started making their way through the doors and the party started.
Although we were all completely unaccustomed to the music, our hosts soon showed is the appropriate dance moves (no robot or moonwalk necessary here) and Sofia was always the first off her seat which meant I was always the lucky first tourist having a go at each dance! We were also lucky enough to bump in to some of the friends we made on our Slat Flats trip so together with them, we merrily danced the night away!
The next morning was started with pancakes for breakfast (my favourite!) before saying our goodbyes to our host family. Pedro kept things formal, offering us a handshake each.
After a short boat ride we then hiked another island and got to know some of the other tourists a bit better, where we made plans to meet for dinner that evening.
Another boat ride led us back to Puno where we had the best steak, called lomo, we've ever had in our lives and after a few beers our wonderful trip was over.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Sucre & Round Two of La Paz
Sucre & La Paz, Bolivia
Sucre gave us a chance to catch up on sleep, before heading back to La Paz to begin our journey out of Bolivia and onto Peru. The only thing in La Paz we had left to do was 'The worlds most dangerous road' but hearing of someone we met breaking their collarbone cycling the road just as we arrived to La Paz, we opted to visit Tiwanaku, a pre-Inka site, instead.
Heading straight off an all-night bus and onto another one to visit Tiwanaku, we tried to stay awake to take in all the information our tour guide gave us. Tiwanku was a pre-Inka site that is still being discovered and was a small town that inhabited lots of farmers. Over 60% of the information has been lost about the site, but the visit got is excited about our visit to Macchu Pichu! The Inkas had beliefs similar to the Egyptains regarding the after-life and we saw the process of mummification and beheading.
After the tour and hearing about 'the highest Indian restaurant in the world', we decided to head to The Star of India for dinner. Ordering a Tandoori and Korma, I'm afraid to say we were disappointed and were not impressed with the quality of the food, especially with the craving of a homemade curry back home! This led to an early night before heading to Puno, Peru in the morning and heading to Lake Titikaka for a home stay with a family on the Armintani Island.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
The Mines of Potosi
Potosi, Bolivia
Potosi, the self proclaimed "highest city in the world", was just a short bus journey on from Uyuni. After our trip to see the Salt Flats we thought we had started to acclimatise and felt much more confident of dealing with being so high up. But the altitude came and slapped us in the face again.
Unable to do much more than grab a quick dinner of fried chicken (which is hugely popular here in Bolivia, by the way) we made straight for our hostel to rest up.
The hostel we chose, Juan Carlos V, was another fine choice. We had some difficulty aquiring a room to begin with, as we only speak "un poco de español" and our new landlord spoke even less English, but after a lot of gesturing and some fine translation from one of the other guests we were all booked in for the night.
After dumping our bags in our room we made for the rooftop terrace which gave a beautiful view of the city and many mountains surrounding it. It's astonishing to think that so many people could find their way to and live so happily tucked away in those mountains.
The next day there was only one thing on my mind - go to see the mines. Potosi is famous for it's mines, which produce silver and zinc among other natural resources and caused something of a silver rush amoung Europeans in the 1500s. Georgie, though, was understandably nervous about heading in. We decided to book with a company called Real Deal Tours after being recommended them by a friend we met on our Salt Flats expedition. She had also been nervous about being in the confined space but had assured us that she hadn't felt too scared on this tour.
So we handed our money over and waited to depart.
First up we went to a local market as it is the custom to buy presents for any miners you encounter whilst trawling through the mines. Common items to pick from include drinks (mining is thirsty work), Coca Leaves (miners love to chew on these as they work away) and dynamite (apparently quite useful in the mining industry). We went with drinks and coca leaves.
We then got kitted out in waterproof over layers, breathing masks and miners helmets and made our way to the mines.
They were so interesting, both in how vast they have become (the sheer manpower it will have taken to carve these labyrinths in to the mountains is crazy!) and in seeing how these people earn their livings. Our tour guide Efrain told us that his father had worked down the mines for 70 years and out of those that we bumped in to this number ranged from 12 to 40 odd. To try and add a little perspective to that, we came out with heavy lungs from all the dust and debris from spending barely 2 hours inside and we had worn masks.
Now these mines aren't exactly Moria but they are pretty scary in parts. The worst of which came when we had to scale three flights of ladders in quick succession, I didn't dare look down. Oh and once we'd done this we came face to face with the devil, or 'Teo' as the locals call him. It is their belief that he owns all of the minerals in the mountains and as such they have built a statue of and regularly pay homage to him, offering llama blood, coca leaves and alcohol as marks of respect.The interesting part about the alcohol is that it is 96%, this is because the miners believe that by drinking the purest alcohol possible, Teo will reward them with pure Silver and not a mixture of elements that then need refining.
You can also add to this frightfulness the nightmare of nightmares - I dropped the first memory card we used in our camera somewhere in the mine. I'm so annoyed that we've lost 150 odd images from our first few days in Rio, but hey, at least we didn't run in to a Balrog!
Potosi, the self proclaimed "highest city in the world", was just a short bus journey on from Uyuni. After our trip to see the Salt Flats we thought we had started to acclimatise and felt much more confident of dealing with being so high up. But the altitude came and slapped us in the face again.
Unable to do much more than grab a quick dinner of fried chicken (which is hugely popular here in Bolivia, by the way) we made straight for our hostel to rest up.
The hostel we chose, Juan Carlos V, was another fine choice. We had some difficulty aquiring a room to begin with, as we only speak "un poco de español" and our new landlord spoke even less English, but after a lot of gesturing and some fine translation from one of the other guests we were all booked in for the night.
After dumping our bags in our room we made for the rooftop terrace which gave a beautiful view of the city and many mountains surrounding it. It's astonishing to think that so many people could find their way to and live so happily tucked away in those mountains.
The next day there was only one thing on my mind - go to see the mines. Potosi is famous for it's mines, which produce silver and zinc among other natural resources and caused something of a silver rush amoung Europeans in the 1500s. Georgie, though, was understandably nervous about heading in. We decided to book with a company called Real Deal Tours after being recommended them by a friend we met on our Salt Flats expedition. She had also been nervous about being in the confined space but had assured us that she hadn't felt too scared on this tour.
So we handed our money over and waited to depart.
First up we went to a local market as it is the custom to buy presents for any miners you encounter whilst trawling through the mines. Common items to pick from include drinks (mining is thirsty work), Coca Leaves (miners love to chew on these as they work away) and dynamite (apparently quite useful in the mining industry). We went with drinks and coca leaves.
We then got kitted out in waterproof over layers, breathing masks and miners helmets and made our way to the mines.
They were so interesting, both in how vast they have become (the sheer manpower it will have taken to carve these labyrinths in to the mountains is crazy!) and in seeing how these people earn their livings. Our tour guide Efrain told us that his father had worked down the mines for 70 years and out of those that we bumped in to this number ranged from 12 to 40 odd. To try and add a little perspective to that, we came out with heavy lungs from all the dust and debris from spending barely 2 hours inside and we had worn masks.
Now these mines aren't exactly Moria but they are pretty scary in parts. The worst of which came when we had to scale three flights of ladders in quick succession, I didn't dare look down. Oh and once we'd done this we came face to face with the devil, or 'Teo' as the locals call him. It is their belief that he owns all of the minerals in the mountains and as such they have built a statue of and regularly pay homage to him, offering llama blood, coca leaves and alcohol as marks of respect.The interesting part about the alcohol is that it is 96%, this is because the miners believe that by drinking the purest alcohol possible, Teo will reward them with pure Silver and not a mixture of elements that then need refining.
You can also add to this frightfulness the nightmare of nightmares - I dropped the first memory card we used in our camera somewhere in the mine. I'm so annoyed that we've lost 150 odd images from our first few days in Rio, but hey, at least we didn't run in to a Balrog!
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Eating cheaply in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Since we're travelling on a pretty tight budget we thought we'd post a blog to show fellow travellers a good way we've found to eat on the cheap in Rio de Janeiro.
There is a brilliant type of restaurant here called 'A Quilo' which are buffets where you are charged by the weight of food on your plate. The prices and standard of food on offer vary hugely, as you might expect, but we have found some cheaper ones we have been very happy with.
One of these is a place called Express Grill just off of the Copacabana beach which charges R$3.99 per 100g between 11:00 - 12:15 and as a result we've found ourselves in there stocking up on some brunch relatively often.
The food you can expect to see on offer are salads (be careful as these will often be washed with tap water), grilled meats such as chicken & white fish, flavoured & plain rices, mashed potato, chips and boiled veg. Many also have authentic Brazilian fare such as Feijoda (a black bean stew), Bobo de camarao (a shrimp based stew) and Salgado (various types of finger food), plus many more dishes to try! Lots of these restaurants also offer sushi or grilled meat to order (known locally as Churrasco), but these can cost extra so we have avoided them so far. You also have to pay extra for dessert but again these are done on a pay by weight basis and often include cakes, ice creams and gateaux. Another nice touch that we've found at many of the places we've been is that they offer a free Brazilian tea, coffee or hot chocolate at the end of your meal.
Other favourites of ours include Aipo Aipim, Estacao Sabor and Temperarte all of which are located around Copacabana beach.
The important thing to remember here is that this is not gourmet gastronomy and if you're looking to save a few pennies for other things later in your trip you can't be too fussy. With that in mind we've found that paying around £3 -£4 each for our main meal of the day is pretty good going considering the amount we get to put in our bellies for that price. Now you can't really argue with that, can you?
Tips:
All of these places offer a takeaway option for the same price as dining in.
For very hungry customers there will normally be an all you can eat option.
For money savers, some will have certain times to eat that are cheaper.
Avoid extras like cooked to order meats and sushi to keep costs down.
Before going for dessert, be aware most places include fresh fruit as part of the main buffet.
Since we're travelling on a pretty tight budget we thought we'd post a blog to show fellow travellers a good way we've found to eat on the cheap in Rio de Janeiro.
There is a brilliant type of restaurant here called 'A Quilo' which are buffets where you are charged by the weight of food on your plate. The prices and standard of food on offer vary hugely, as you might expect, but we have found some cheaper ones we have been very happy with.
One of these is a place called Express Grill just off of the Copacabana beach which charges R$3.99 per 100g between 11:00 - 12:15 and as a result we've found ourselves in there stocking up on some brunch relatively often.
The food you can expect to see on offer are salads (be careful as these will often be washed with tap water), grilled meats such as chicken & white fish, flavoured & plain rices, mashed potato, chips and boiled veg. Many also have authentic Brazilian fare such as Feijoda (a black bean stew), Bobo de camarao (a shrimp based stew) and Salgado (various types of finger food), plus many more dishes to try! Lots of these restaurants also offer sushi or grilled meat to order (known locally as Churrasco), but these can cost extra so we have avoided them so far. You also have to pay extra for dessert but again these are done on a pay by weight basis and often include cakes, ice creams and gateaux. Another nice touch that we've found at many of the places we've been is that they offer a free Brazilian tea, coffee or hot chocolate at the end of your meal.
Other favourites of ours include Aipo Aipim, Estacao Sabor and Temperarte all of which are located around Copacabana beach.
The important thing to remember here is that this is not gourmet gastronomy and if you're looking to save a few pennies for other things later in your trip you can't be too fussy. With that in mind we've found that paying around £3 -£4 each for our main meal of the day is pretty good going considering the amount we get to put in our bellies for that price. Now you can't really argue with that, can you?
Tips:
All of these places offer a takeaway option for the same price as dining in.
For very hungry customers there will normally be an all you can eat option.
For money savers, some will have certain times to eat that are cheaper.
Avoid extras like cooked to order meats and sushi to keep costs down.
Before going for dessert, be aware most places include fresh fruit as part of the main buffet.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
A few days in..
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Just had the frustration of accidentally deleting everything I wrote.. So here it goes a second time!
Just had the frustration of accidentally deleting everything I wrote.. So here it goes a second time!
We are a few days into Rio getting into the swing of things. Taxis are like mini rollercoasters and the best way to eat is by buffet - which is both an exciting and nerve-racking experience as most of the mouthfuls are something new and not always what you are expecting. With Rio having a beach but also being in the city it's a good combination of both city-break busy days and being able to just sit with the sand in our toes. The beach is super busy (we think because it's carnival) and they have all kinds of sellers walking up and down selling things from cocktails to hallomi (which they grill for you there and then on their make shift BBQs) and scarfs to tattoos. The waves are impressively strong and wipe you straight out if you're not on your guard, which we both learnt the hard way and almost cost me a pair of sunglasses!
We have also visited a botanical garden, where we had our first interaction with wildlife and saw many wild baby monkeys swinging from trees as we walked below. Our necks ached for the most part of that day just looking up.
Carnival is now over, but it was such a fun experience to walk down streets and at the end see a street party in full swing. It gave a community feel to the whole of Rio with all ages joining in the party - our host for the trip Jacqueline, even took her 4 year old nephew to the local street to dance! Carnival is something we definitely won't forget in a hurry. No matter who you are in Rio, everyone celebrates carnival and the colours, music, food and atmosphere was unforgettable. That's one thing from our bucket list ticked off.
Monday, 3 March 2014
Houston, the eagle has landed
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Well we are here! After a 21 hour day of travelling we have finally arrived in South America. Our journey began at 4am on Saturday morning as, blurry eyed, we made our way to Heathrow airport where we loaded full rucksacks on to our backs for the first time. Two steps later and Georgie was on the floor, tripping over a shoelace and struggling to find her balance with the weight she was now carrying. I guess you were right Mum, people do trip on shoelaces. Luckily she was okay and we were soon aboard our first flight to Madrid, where, after a quick bite to eat and a stock up of snacks and drinks we were off to Rio.
Well we are here! After a 21 hour day of travelling we have finally arrived in South America. Our journey began at 4am on Saturday morning as, blurry eyed, we made our way to Heathrow airport where we loaded full rucksacks on to our backs for the first time. Two steps later and Georgie was on the floor, tripping over a shoelace and struggling to find her balance with the weight she was now carrying. I guess you were right Mum, people do trip on shoelaces. Luckily she was okay and we were soon aboard our first flight to Madrid, where, after a quick bite to eat and a stock up of snacks and drinks we were off to Rio.
Now I'm not what you may call the most confident of flyers, I dislike take off and landing and every so often I become a bit over awed by just how high up we are when in the air. So when some bright spark decide to go in to the toilet on our flight and light up a cigarette, setting off the on-board fire alarm and sending our air stewards in to a frenzy, I have to admit I almost soiled myself. Only the knowledge that the one place I could clean myself up and find solace should my bowls inextricably open was currently engulfed in smoke and at the centre of such a scene helped me keep my composure.
"You're loving the drama of this aren't you?!" Georgia said, turning towards me as I watched.
"...Yeah..." I stammered whilst wondering if we were all about to burst in to flames at 38,000 feet in the air. In the end calm was restored and I went back to my movie.
After a few hours we landed in Rio! After finding our way to our apartment for the next two weeks we passed out with exhaustion.
Day 2 was spent on the Copacabana beach before we headed to the Sambadrome to watch the carnival procession. We're currently battling our technology to figure a way to get pictures on here and I will struggle to do justice to how good the event was, but it was incredible. The floats and costumes were SO extravagant. My only regret is that, still struggling with jetlag and exhaustion, we couldn't stay and party until the end. I guess we have an excuse to come back another year there though!
We've just got back from spending another day at the beach and I can hear the drumming of carnival through the window. Who knows what tonight will bring.
To loved ones
We are safe. We are well fed and are looking after each other. We have a good Wi-Fi connection at our apartment so shall write again soon (and hopefully figure a way to put some pictures up!)
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