Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

We had some time to kill before our flight to Colombia.  Our options were a 2 1/2 day trek to Coroico or to ride down the worlds most dangerous road.  As you can tell from the title of this post, we chose the latter.  Yay no more walking!

The tour company we took was called "Downhill Madness" and they do an all inclusive package for US$50 per person.  This includes a CD of photos and a video of your adventure.  The CD also included photos of some other group and some photos of the countryside on a nicer day than the one we got.

We started at 4640m in a place called "La Cumbre".

It was miserably cold for the first hour, we had rain and sleet.  Luckily this stretch of road is well sealed.  Our hands were going numb and it was becoming harder to hold on.  We took frequent breaks to thaw out.

The scenery, maybe on our day but maybe on a better one (not sure exactly).

Us enjoying lunch at Hotel Esmeralda.  This is included in the tour also. 

We decided to stay here for another 2 days with the intention of doing some walks in the area.  However, I got a cold and it turns out that it rains every morning and does not clear till around lunch time.

Instead we enjoyed the pool table, the swimming pool, the TV room and the restaurant.

Tonight we catch a flight to Bogota, Colombia.  So this is goodbye to Bolivia.

Hola,

A shot of Rurre before we left.  A shot of the boat as we were leaving.

The scenery on our 3 hour boat trip up river to the base camp.

To understand the jungle you need to take one sauna, add dense forest and every biting insect on the planet, put on long pants and a long top (to prevent bites from bugs), load yourself up with 10-15 kilos, and walk for 3-4 hours.  Lets just say, you will never be dry again.

We forgot to take photos of base camp.  Suffice to say it was rustic.  Two huts on stilts with plastic and netting for walls.

On that first day we went for a walk for a few hours into the jungle surrounding the camp.  The guides found this tree particularly amusing.  It´s roots dig down into the earth in search of water.

There are ants EVERYWHERE!  These guys were industriously carrying pieces of leaves.  Apparently they will strip an entire tree bare given enough time.

There are some big trees here.

And plenty of mushrooms.

Some odd plants too.

One plant has branches which can be made into useful things.  Much like flax (tho this one is some sort of palm).

An interesting flower.

Tarantula!

On the next day we left for our 2nd camp on the bank of another river.  On the way we stopped to play Tarzan and Jane.

The jungle does not lack for colour.

Our guide Alex decided it would be fun to paint the gringos with traditional dye made by crushing dark green leaves and adding water.

More funghi.

Our camp.

That night we went for a 3 hour walk in search of animals.  We saw an armadillo, a rat, some nocturnal monkeys but no pumas :(

The next morning we awoke to the sound of... bees!  They were everywhere, apparently they like to collect the salt from your sweat.  Neither our guide nor cook appeared to be particularly bothered by them.  The secret is to have a bath in the river and wear new clothes without sweat.  The problem is that for us it was too hot and we started to sweat even when mostly naked.

There were an assortment of other bugs too.

We left camp to do some fishing and on the way spotted some pigs.  The fishing was unsuccessful, again.  We´re just not fishermen.

There are some really big trees here, so big you can make a small shelter between the roots!

We cannot recall exactly which tree this is, it could be the "Curare" tree, it has a very toxic sap.  So toxic if you ingest it you die, if you get it on your skin or in your eyes it burns.

Un Arbol de Leche (milk tree).  It tasted a bit woody.

Our campfire, dinner time!  They weren´t too fussed about letting the bees have a bit of dinner too.

That night Alex started to prepare a bow and 2 arrows for me.  They use these to hunt fish, monkeys, etc.  Sometimes with Curare tipped arrows.  If you use Curare the secret is to drain all the blood and wash the meat before you eat it.

Erin got artistic again.

That night it rained, and rained, and rained.  We didn´t go for another night walk, we had an early night.  This pleased me immensely.

The next morning we packed up our camp.

More funghi.

Erin the explorer.

More funghi.

This tree has spines to prevent vines from strangling it to death.

A great big city of spiders.

A jungle snail.

El arbol de agua.  This is actually a vine which can grow quite far underground in search of water.  The water tastes really good.  It is filtered through many small holes in the wood.  This plant is being investigated for its cancer curing properties.

A flower.

Yet more funghi.

We left a note, on a mushroom for the next group of explorers.

The intrepid explorers.

Back at base camp.  Trying to dry out.

We spent a few hours making jewellery.  Alex made us both a necklance and Erin got an earing and a bracelet as well.  I made some rings, perhaps 8 in total.  One ring broke so I tried it out as a nose ring.

The next morning we slogged through thigh high mud, crossed a river and climbed a small hill in search of parrots.  Sadly a previous group seemed to have scared them all away.  We got a few shots of the view.

We found it amusing to be in jandals in the jungle.

Once again, for the benefit of 2 other tourists with us, I got my face painted and the guides played silly buggers.

The trip back was much faster (down stream).  Here is a single shot of the view.

That night we went out with our guides and some of their friends to sing karaoke and dance.  Well, Erin danced anyway.  (Erin writing now) They are all incredibly good dancers and would put almost anyone at home to shame.  I gave it my best shot but I´m afraid I was pretty terrible.  Maybe I´ll have to come back and learn!

On the way home at approximately 2:30am we took a photo of one of the enormous cockroach like bugs lying in the road - probably hit by one of the many motorbikes in Rurre.

The place we stayed in Rurre.  It was funny every time we walked out the gate because you could hear the frogs - they make a sound similar to what you´d hear in a computer game.

The streets of Rurre on our way to the airport.

This was the controller guy who waved in the plane as it arrived.  Note the sunglasses and jeans.  He was also wearing sneakers which aren´t quite visible.

We made it to La Paz safely where we are now freezing.  I miss Rurre! (Erin)  Regan doesn´t miss the sweating.

Hola,

We took a 17 seater plane from La Paz to Rurrenabaque, after waiting an extra day for the weather to clear.  The plane lands on a grass runway and can only land when it´s dry.

Some shots of the jungle from the plane, and a shot of our plane at the "airport" in Rurre.

The day before we left we happened to bump into some people we met earlier in Cusco, Peru.  They recommended a company in Rurre, it also happened to be the cheapest so we were quite happy to go straight there and book a 3 day tour of the Pampas.

The morning we left it rained... and rained... and rained.  The first part of the trip is a 3 hour drive in a 4x4 on the terrible roads in the area, mostly dirt (now mud) and a few stones.  We stopped for lunch in Santa Rosa an even smaller town near the pampas.

Then... our driver who had been almost falling asleep at the wheel for most of the trip drove into the ditch.  We think he was preparing to avoid another oncoming 4x4 which had just freed itself from doing the same thing (when avoiding a 3rd 4x4 going the same way as us).

We arrived at the river into the Pampas and someone bailed out a boat for us.  It was still raining so we donned our 2 boliviano ponchos for the boat ride to our camp.

Along the way we saw a few birds.

And some howler monkeys and a smaller type also.

Some nice landscapes.

And the cutest little monkeys you ever saw, right down by the riverside and quite keen to investigate the tourists in the boats.  Perhaps hoping for some snacks.

More birds.

Our camp.

Some scenery as it aproached night.

This little guy was sitting right by the river bank that night.

The next morning we were introduced to "Mosley" the resident alligator. He enjoys pasta and long walks on the beach... and maybe a tourist or two.

More scenery, and a toucan.  These guys never let the boat get that close.

The guide from another group came for a walk with us to hunt for Anacondas.  He managed to collect this critter.  The bright colours indicate it´s quite toxic, he was keen to get rid of it.

This is what we were walking through.  In some places the water was thigh deep.  They loaned us gumboots (a photo of them later).

These wetlands are full of wildlife.

Eventually we found a snake, not the large type of Anaconda but a smaller variety.  The guides referred to it as a Cobra.  (We later learned another name but have forgotten it.  We also learned that it wasn´t in fact poisonous as we were led to believe at this stage).

From there we visited a local house, they had some cute little creatures called "Tejon".  These guys were only 25 days old, their parents were killed by dogs.  These creatures live at the tops of trees and can survive a fall from incredible heights.  They make a really odd high pitched squeaking noise.

We were fortunate to spot a sloth.

Another type of howler monkey.

And then we went swimming with the pink (that´s right, they´re really pink) dolphins.  However (as Robert said) it was like swimming in Coca-cola so you couldn´t even see them when they were one meter away.  The water was really warm in places.

Scenery.

Us.

Another bird.

The sunset on the 2nd day.

Erin was feeling a little artistic and playing with the various functions of the camera.  She quite likes this shot.

The next morning we were up early to catch the sunrise.

We returned to camp for breakfast and saw a group of howler monkeys in the trees around our camp.

Our lodgings, such as they were.

After breakfast we went piranha fishing.  Sadly they were not biting there.

Some birds we saw on the way.

After the dismal fishing attempt we returned to see "Mosley" having his breakfast of pasta.

Erin took a few shots of the toilet and shower, and another "artistic" shot of the gumboots.

We then hopped back in the boat to return to Rurre.  Here is a shot of the rest of the group in the boat and a turtle, one of many, we saw on the way back.

We had another go at piranha fishing in a small lagoon by the roadside.  This time they were biting.  The little buggers would steal the bait right off the hook within seconds of it landing in the water.  You had to be quick and give the line a tug at just the right moment.  We never quite mastered it, we´re definitely not fishermen.

Upon our return we received a free t-shirt from the company and also booked a 5 day tour of the jungle.

Hola,

We had an early start to day 4 because we wanted to catch the sunrise over the salar.  We set off without breakfast.  Note how the salt forms geometric patterns, weird!

The salar itself is massive, you really feel quite small standing in the middle of this vast field of white salt.

Sometimes the camera would focus on the strangest things.  No matter how many times I tried to take this shot the damn thing was fixated on the cap.  Oh well, it´s not a bad photo if you´re into arty ones.

We stopped for breakfast at an island in the middle of the salar.  The island is home to many cacti and some birds.

This cactus is 1203 years old and gets 10mm taller each year.

This cactus resembles a teddy bear.

This is an example of the types of birds they have here.  This type comes in 2 colours, bright yellow and dark green.

Morgan, doing what he does best.  Recording the sound of his boots crunching the salt beneath them.

Morgan took this photo for us, we think it´s kinda cool.

Some more examples of the geometric patterns and another arty shot of some tyre tracks.

I´m in the palm of her hand... literally.

The real salt hotel.  Everything except the roof is made of salt.  It smells a little like fish.

We stopped for lunch in another small town on the edge of the salar.  This town was a mining town, they mine the salt for people in Bolivia and export (we think).

A pet llama, not dead - just resting.

The people working with the mined salt.

Last stop, the end of the tour was the cemetery of trains outside Uyuni.

Our guide and his wife (our cook) a bit before they left us to return home to Tupiza where they have 4 children, 15, 12, 9 and 7.  The elder kids look after the rest while their parents are working.

And that, as they say was that.  We had hoped to catch the train from Uyuni to Oruro that night, however as it took a while to find a tour we missed it, it left the previous night.  So, we took another night bus all the way back to La Paz.

Hola,

Day 3 began with a short drive to Laguna Colorado, the red lake.  The red colour is caused by millions of tiny plankton like creatures upon which 3 varieties of flamingo feed.

From there we drove to the Arbol de Piedra (rock tree).  It´s surrounded by other rocks but none have it´s unique shape.  Included a photo of a nearby volcano.

From there to another laguna, one of 4.  We stopped here for lunch and it was here that we got the best shot of a flamingo yet.  They did not seem as prone to flee at the sight of tourists here.

After lunch we saw more of the countryside and the volcanoes in the area as we headed to the smaller "salt hotel", this one is situated on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni itself.

Our accomodation, the floors and beds are made of salt.

The accomodation is situated in a small town.  As usual they have a church.  What we found interesting is that they use power saving bulbs to light the streets! (and the houses of course, when they´re not using fire and candles).

Sunset on day 3.

Hola,

On day 2 we got the front seats, much nicer.  Our first stop of the day was unexpected.  Our guide swerved to miss something on the trail then got out and ran back to herd a bunch of baby birds off the road.

First scheduled stop was an abandoned village.  It was abandoned 15 years ago because it is too cold here.  The people moved to where we stayed the night before.

These funny creatures inhabit this area.  They look a bit like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.  They are the size of a large cat or a small dog.

The first of many lagoons.

Some scenes along the way.

Llamas grazing in a river bed, this terrain is quite odd with its river banks and green river bed.

More scenery.

We stopped for lunch and a dip in the hot pool which smelt vaguely of sulphur.  Love my white arms!

More scenery... are you sick of this yet?

Laguna Verde (Green Lake - they´re inventive these Bolivians!)

Action shots, note the smiles that´s cos we´re in the good seats!

One more shot of the scenery.  Hey, there isn´t a lot to do while sitting in a 4x4 and bumping across the terrain.

Geysers.  We didn´t stay here long as Erin almost blew away!

At our lodging for the second night there was a cat.  Guess who wasn´t interested in the cat.  Guess who the cat decided to visit.  Despite being dissuaded several times.

Sunset on day 2.

Hola,

We weren´t too sore from our horse riding the next day and as luck would have it 2 new people had signed up, but, one person had left.  So that left 4 of us.  Luckily for us they agreed to let us go for US$100 each.  I suspect they realised we were just going to hang around until one of the 3 main tour companies would take us for that price and so just relented.

We all piled into the 4x4, us and 2 people from France.  Morgan, a photographer and musician.  He makes music using recorded sounds which he mixes, filters, etc.  The other Michaela (excuse the spelling) a woman who has been travelling most of her life, 58 countries and counting.

We got stuck with the back seats on the first day, and the 4x4 had some petrol leak problem around the petrol cap (I think they must have overfilled it?).  The smell was not pleasant.

We didn´t see a heck of a lot on the first day, it was mostly driving.  First stop Valley of the Moon.

I took a close up of a cactus, it´s a spiny bugger.

We stopped for lunch in a field of llamas.  Apparently the locals each have 10 llamas, including the children.  They all bring them to this fertile plain.

Some shots of the scenery.

We arrived at a small town where we were to stay the night.  The local children invited us to a game of basketball and then football.  It was a little difficult at altitude (4000m plus I think).

Sunset on day 1.

Hola,

We arrived in Tupiza at 3:30am and paid 8 bolivianos for a taxi ride to take us a whole 2 blocks... we had no map so weren´t to know.

We were pleasantly surprised by the nice older gentleman at the hostal who wasn´t the least bit upset to see us at that time of morning.  Our room was ok but it only had net curtains.  The rest of the hostal was very nice.

This is Tupiza (by day).  It looks like a western movie set.

We tried to book a tour of the Salar de Uyuni but couldn´t find a company with enough other people going which would then lower the price into an acceptable range.  The price for 6 people was typically US$100 per person and that was all we wanted to pay.

So, to keep ourselves amused while we waited for more people to sign up we decided to go for a tour of the countryside, wild wild west style... on horseback.  Seasoned pros, as you can see.

This is what we saw in the 5 hour tour.

We came upon a "massive" waterfall...

I took the challenge and scaled this monster...

To the top.

This part of the hillside is known to have a certain phallic resemblance.

A few more pictures.

A well deserved meal for my horse... which tried to eat every piece of greenery we passed, including the ones with spikes (mad bugger).

Oh, and one other thing.  The guide gave me (Regan) the crazy horse.  Any time another horse started to gallop mine had to win the race.  At one point another tourist (Morgan, we´d later join him on the Salar Tour) took off at a furious pace and it was all I could do to hold on to the damn thing.  When the guide (and Erin) caught up he looked relieved to see me alive and still ahorse, but all Erin could do was piss herself laughing.

Erin reckons her horse was bigger but mine was faster!  I always won, whether I really wanted to or not, mad bugger.

(Erin) I didn´t try to win because I thought Regan might fall off if I over took him!

Hola,

We rode a bus through the rain to Potosi.  We arrived in the cold grey afternoon (4:30pm ish).  Potosi is the highest city of its size (112,000 people) in the world at 4070m. 

From the bus station (such as it was) we took a taxi to a hostal called "Koala Den" which turned out to be too expensive for us at 30 bolivianos each for a dorm room.  So, we walked around the corner to Residencia Felcar which was much cheaper... but was as it turned out a bad choice (more on that later).

First, some shots of Potosi itself.  The third shot shows the hill which contains the mines.

The next morning we were up early for a mine tour (with Koala Tours for 80 bolivianos each).  The hot water at our hostal was not on yet, so we didnt have showers.  We checked out and left our bags in the safe keeping of our hostal.

Koala Tours supplied all the gear, dont we look fine!

Our first stop was the miners market where we all purchased a bag containing one stick of dynamite, one fuse, one detonator and some accelerant (white stuff, I forget the name).  Also a bottle of fizzy drink and a bag of coca leaves.  All to be given to the miners who work for 12 plus hours without eating (as that causes stomach problems).  Total cost 27 bolivianos or NZ 5.40.

Next stop a processing plant where they take the combined minerals plus waste and crush it down and extract the minerals from the waste.  There is approximately 70 percent waste.  Bolivia export the minerals in powder form for further separation.  This is what the rock looks like before crushing.

This is the machinery used to crush and extract the minerals.

Next stop a mine itself, this one called "Candeleria" one of the largest mines with 200 workers.  There are over 300 mines in this hillside "Cerro Rico".  The entrance.

Miners in the mine.

Erin.

The lowest level of the mine is where they are still blasting (they start at 5pm, after we leave).  This is a shot of them preparing the charges.

At the end there was the option to blow stuff up, our guide was showing his machismo by placing a lit charge in his pants.

He then took it out and ran down the hill. This was the result

(no miners were harmed in the making of this blog)

Upon returning to our hostal we discovered that despite paying for a night, and their sign stipulating we were entitled to a shower, we were not allowed to shower without paying (5 bolivianos each).  Further, they would not supply us with towels.  After a brief discussion we took our bags and left.

We would NOT recommend RESIDENCIA FELCAR to anyone.  Try the one down the road.

Footnote: we found out later that a Czech tourist was killed in the mines, on a tour, a few days earlier.  Also, an Italian woman was injured in a separate incident.  Apparently accidents happen all the time, which is why they get you to sign a waiver (which Erin reckons you could drive a bus thru)

Potosi wasnt our favourite place, we left that night for Tupiza.

Hola,

It was time to leave Sucre for Potosi so on our last day we visited the markets one last time for a juice and to say goodbye to the fruit lady.

Then, as we had time to kill, we visited the Supreme Court of Bolivia.  We had to relinquish our passports on entry but they did supply us with a guide free of charge.

Finally we returned to our appartment and packed our bags.  This first photo is of the landlords place.

Our appartment, more of a sleep out really (they had 3 of them)

The front gate and the view down the road and over the city.

Our bus left for Potosi at 1pm, arrived at 4:30ish. We found a cheap hostel, got some food and batteries and organised a tour of the mines for the morning.