This entry covers 21 - 24 November
Day 1:
The entry into the city of La Paz is seriously impressive...located at the foot of a mountainous area the view from the 2nd level of the bus looking down on the city is something else...sadly there isn´t much more to write about this place other than it stinks to high heaven and is quite ugly. We had an absolute ripper of an evening with an Irish girl called Elbe who I met on the bus...celebrating her birthday with some friends in La Paz, the evening started in Loki Hostel and moved around the corner to their hostel which was hosting a pool evening. Some of Elbe´s guy friends negotiated a couple of free drinks for a rendition of the Full Monte on the bar counter. The joll got to a gallop in no time and after a pit stop in Ramjam, we made our way to this steamy underground pub called Route 34...I couldn`t help thinking I was in the cast of Human Traffic...a striking resemblance between the famous quote from this great movie....I got 70 quid in the back burner and I`m going to blow the lot...The bouncer kindly unlocked the door to a bustling street and very bright sunshine...needless to say the 22nd of November was a non-event for most who were on the joll.
Day 2: N/A
Day 3:
Theresa and I hit the walking tour of La Paz around midday which proved tougher than anticipated. At 3500m above sea level and certainly not flat, the walk was more of a trek through dirty streets with stray dogs sniffing each other for clues to where their next meal was coming from? We decided to buy some steamy matching sunnies in one of the local markets to hide our bloodshot eyes. The highlight of the tour was the witches market which sold everything from llama feuteses to potionts claiming to make you rich. We also decided to sign our lives away and booked onto the infamous `most dangerous road´ bicycle ride for the following day. This meant only a couple of drinks in the hostel before an somewhat early and nerve racking start in the morning.
Day 4:
The time had come to tackle the widely spoken about dangerous road...the bus picked us up around 7.30am for the 1 hour climb into the altiplano mountain range. After a couple of simple instructions we were set to go...the guide`s basic advise was that you`ll know everything you need to know after about 10 minutes on the bike...assuming you survive the first 10 minutes!
Some stats on the ride:
- drop in altitude: 4700m to 1100m
- distance: 60 km
- estimated time: 4 hours
- terrain: gravel roads wide enough for one vehicle at a time, 400 to 600m cliff faces
A slow and uncertain start quickly turned to aggressive angles and clenched teeth as the team flew down the gorge. We did stop every now and then where the road is considered really dodgy to prevent some adrenalin junkie from ramping into the abyss and on the whole it was a day filled with epic sights and tight corners. The only mishaps on route included a German girl careering into the gutter (on the non-dangerous side) and my chain snapped (luckily not on a corner as the wheels locked for an instant just before giving way). It was all over too quickly and we spent the afternoon taking it easy by the pool and in some place in the middle of nowhere. before an arduous 3 hour bus ride back to ¨reality¨. Without any interest in spending another day in La Paz, Theresa and I decided to try our luck in landing a bus ride to Uyuni which only heads that way 3 times a week and was fully booked that evening. We hung around in the reception until after the official departure time before being informed that there were 2 no-showers and we could jump on board....SUCCESS but only partial relief as the bus was making one pit stop to pick up some more passengers half way where we´d have to go through the same painful wait and see game for no-showers...fingers crossed at 2.30am hoping nobody takes `our` seats was almost as nerve racking as the most dangerous road...success...another bunch of no-showers. High 5`s all round (just Theresa and I) and we were safely secured on a 1st class bus ride to Uyuni. Being the poorest ecnonmy in South America means the country doesn´t exude the luxuries of asphalt highways and trying to sleep while being tossed around in your seat is near impossible...but we were on the bus and thats all that counted.
Lesson for the day: never dispair...it will always somehow work out!
The Amazon
This entry covers 18, 19, 20 November
Day 1:
A short 30 minute flight (almost inaccessible by road) and we stepped off the plane into a thick curtain of humdity. The warm air (reminiscent of Mozam) left most GAPpers pitting from every nook and cranny within minutes. We made a short bus ride to a tributary of the majestic Amazon River...as we boarded a propelled canoe, I felt a childhood dream coming to fruition. Just like the pictures in National Geographic, the forrest piles in tight with the swollen river bank which plans hundreds of metres wide despite being relatively close to its Andean source. It was great to sit back and soak it all up...while steaming hot, the wind in my face made left a smile across the Dog´s face as I took in all the beauty this forrest had to offer....the canopies of 40m trees draped with creepers and vines in the continual struggle for light. From Capybarras (largest rodent in the world) to cayman, gigantic blue butterflies to scarlet red parrots (amongst many other birds found nowhere else on the planet...this was it...definitely a highlight of my tour so far.
I still don´t think the GAP operators make a profit when they serve buffet dinners for backpackers...not sure if I´m just a pig but I find it very difficult to hold back especially with the lean times ahead in Bolivia and the following 2 months! Packing on a couple extra kilos becomes a priority at these feeding frenzies.
After dinner we were off on a night walk in search of small animals and insects of the forrest. The guides had no chance in requesting a total silence rule as a bunch of 10 years old GAP tourists headed into the unknown...I quite enjoyed taking a photo of Blair taking a photo of a spider (with his custom made Spidy Light clipped onto his telescope of a camera)! Other than that, the most memorable creatures was a cricket sitting on a walking palm tree....yes people, this tree has numerous roots that start about 2 metres above the ground and enter the topsoil in various locations...the tree searches for the best position to intercept light by steadily growing roots in the direction it wants to go with the trail runners dying off to allow the tree to ¨walk¨ across the forrest floor...top speed of only 15cm per annum but still pretty damn impressive!
Day 2:
I was up at 4.45am to catch the sunrise over the Amazon River which was not a spectacular as anticipated as the canopy trees stops the early morning sun from reaching the river bank...this didn´t stop the mist from climbing over the wall of trees and diving into the cool river below (which I dutifully captured on camera). We went for another walk through the forrest. We were advised to were long sleeves and long pants. My multi-purpose zip off longs would have gone down a treat out here but were so nastily dirty, I couldn`t bear pull them on so had my trusty jeans as a backup...they do not breath very well in 98 percent humidity! Observations in the woods:
- Pregnant palm tree: stores water in its trunk
- Fishtail tree: leaves used as cool roof covering for local huts
- Ironwood: 300 year old hardwood, 2nd biggest in South America at 45m
- Climber plant: used for snake bites
- Wild fig: hitting the base of the tree with a paddle makes one helluva racket and is therefore used to tell lumberjacks to pack it in or identify the location of lost individuals
- Killer/Strangler fig: stretching to its next victim from the canopy it squeezes its host of all nutrients until it dies leaving a hollow 40-50m skeleton behind
- Sumnipanga: rubbing its red leaves between your fingers stains a deep red, used by locals for face paints and dying clothes
- Spiky tree: thorns used by locals to make darts for hunting
- Tecada flies: make a similar noise to our Xmas beetles to attract mates...the difference being that the hissing drone comes in waves as the sound makes its way through the forrest as millions of these flies jump on the bandwagon
- Screaming Piha: bird that whistles like a human calling to a pretty girl
- Taranchula: seeing this puppy in real life is something else, coaxed out by the guide using the stem of a leaf this spider crept out of its hole (too heavy to have its own nest) to see whether anything was edible (apparently can whoof down a small bird!)
- Ray snake: didn´t get to check it out properly as it dissappeared into the bush
- Colony of leaf cutter ants: pretty harmless but incredibly efficient
A raft awaited us at a 300 year old oxbow lake. A mecca for animals and birds on vacation...dead still and superbly hot. The following beasts were ticked off the list:
- Greater Anis, American Swallow Tailed Kite, Amazon Kingfisher, Blue Morofr Butterfly, Longnose Bats, Hoatzin, Yellow Rumped Cacique, Cabec Tree (Mother of the forrest between 50-60m, used for plywood, cotton, Harpy Eagle nests, 50 people holding hands to circumvent the base).
We headed to a typical local farm in the afternoon where the local practice polyculture (numerous crops on one piece of land rotated over 3-5 year to allow the thin layer of topsoil to recover). They grow almost every imaginable fruit (avos, papaya, grapes, melons, bananas, pineapples, lemongrass, mangos, starfruit etc).
We had a pretty uneventful night excursion on the motorised canoe spotting more cayman, a paca and a coati (racoon) although the breeze while riding along the river was welcomed with open arms as respite from the sticky heat and mosquitoes.
Day 3:
An early start was required to make the trip on the boat back to Maldinado in time for our connecting flight back to Cusco and then Lima. I wanted to jump off in Cusco and head south into Bolivia although instructing the airline to put my bags in the Cusco hull was going to cost me no less than US50! I decided to give them the finger and sidestep this ridicuous ruling although required rounding up support from the fellow GAPpers to take on some of my stuff as hand luggage so I could take all my kit off the plane in Cusco. Dressed for Alaska to reduce my own hand luggage weight, I boarded the plane and made a successfull exit at the half way point. Following some emotional goodbyes from some of the GAPpers I was officially on my own on a continent of foreign speakers....
I made my way to the bus station and booked a direct ticket to La Paz, Bolivia. This trip was not without its highlights/lowlights and lived up to Peru/Bolivia`s reputation as one of the most dangerous countries to bus around in the world. Cutting across from the wrong lane, our legend of a bus driver decided to stop to investigate a blowout we took on some hours earlier...needless to say the bus trailing thought we were doing the usual hang wide on a corner take it at pace vibe and proceeded to plough into the back right of our bus...thankfully a glancing blow but almost sent the bus behind us down a 5 metre bank off the road. While the drivers fought over who was at falt, I took my gap and made for a nearby stone wall to do the necessaries as number 2´s are not only prohibitted on the buses but also a health risk to all who attempt anything while locked in the cabin of horrors!
Most travellers jumped off just before the border leaving only a handful to face the Bolivian military. Thankfully I had latched onto a couple from Cusco who told me where to get the stamps in what seemed more like a vegetable market than a border crossing. A couple of stamps on the Peruvian side and everything seemed to be going to plan until we were waved into a room by some serious loking dudes in camo. One by one we were called into the leutenant´s office for questioning (in Spanish I might add!) and body checks...they made some joke as I was released leaving me with a weird sensation of relieve. The rest was pretty much stock standard and it was onyl 2 more hours before we reached La Paz..the major city of Bolivia.
Day 1:
A short 30 minute flight (almost inaccessible by road) and we stepped off the plane into a thick curtain of humdity. The warm air (reminiscent of Mozam) left most GAPpers pitting from every nook and cranny within minutes. We made a short bus ride to a tributary of the majestic Amazon River...as we boarded a propelled canoe, I felt a childhood dream coming to fruition. Just like the pictures in National Geographic, the forrest piles in tight with the swollen river bank which plans hundreds of metres wide despite being relatively close to its Andean source. It was great to sit back and soak it all up...while steaming hot, the wind in my face made left a smile across the Dog´s face as I took in all the beauty this forrest had to offer....the canopies of 40m trees draped with creepers and vines in the continual struggle for light. From Capybarras (largest rodent in the world) to cayman, gigantic blue butterflies to scarlet red parrots (amongst many other birds found nowhere else on the planet...this was it...definitely a highlight of my tour so far.
I still don´t think the GAP operators make a profit when they serve buffet dinners for backpackers...not sure if I´m just a pig but I find it very difficult to hold back especially with the lean times ahead in Bolivia and the following 2 months! Packing on a couple extra kilos becomes a priority at these feeding frenzies.
After dinner we were off on a night walk in search of small animals and insects of the forrest. The guides had no chance in requesting a total silence rule as a bunch of 10 years old GAP tourists headed into the unknown...I quite enjoyed taking a photo of Blair taking a photo of a spider (with his custom made Spidy Light clipped onto his telescope of a camera)! Other than that, the most memorable creatures was a cricket sitting on a walking palm tree....yes people, this tree has numerous roots that start about 2 metres above the ground and enter the topsoil in various locations...the tree searches for the best position to intercept light by steadily growing roots in the direction it wants to go with the trail runners dying off to allow the tree to ¨walk¨ across the forrest floor...top speed of only 15cm per annum but still pretty damn impressive!
Day 2:
I was up at 4.45am to catch the sunrise over the Amazon River which was not a spectacular as anticipated as the canopy trees stops the early morning sun from reaching the river bank...this didn´t stop the mist from climbing over the wall of trees and diving into the cool river below (which I dutifully captured on camera). We went for another walk through the forrest. We were advised to were long sleeves and long pants. My multi-purpose zip off longs would have gone down a treat out here but were so nastily dirty, I couldn`t bear pull them on so had my trusty jeans as a backup...they do not breath very well in 98 percent humidity! Observations in the woods:
- Pregnant palm tree: stores water in its trunk
- Fishtail tree: leaves used as cool roof covering for local huts
- Ironwood: 300 year old hardwood, 2nd biggest in South America at 45m
- Climber plant: used for snake bites
- Wild fig: hitting the base of the tree with a paddle makes one helluva racket and is therefore used to tell lumberjacks to pack it in or identify the location of lost individuals
- Killer/Strangler fig: stretching to its next victim from the canopy it squeezes its host of all nutrients until it dies leaving a hollow 40-50m skeleton behind
- Sumnipanga: rubbing its red leaves between your fingers stains a deep red, used by locals for face paints and dying clothes
- Spiky tree: thorns used by locals to make darts for hunting
- Tecada flies: make a similar noise to our Xmas beetles to attract mates...the difference being that the hissing drone comes in waves as the sound makes its way through the forrest as millions of these flies jump on the bandwagon
- Screaming Piha: bird that whistles like a human calling to a pretty girl
- Taranchula: seeing this puppy in real life is something else, coaxed out by the guide using the stem of a leaf this spider crept out of its hole (too heavy to have its own nest) to see whether anything was edible (apparently can whoof down a small bird!)
- Ray snake: didn´t get to check it out properly as it dissappeared into the bush
- Colony of leaf cutter ants: pretty harmless but incredibly efficient
A raft awaited us at a 300 year old oxbow lake. A mecca for animals and birds on vacation...dead still and superbly hot. The following beasts were ticked off the list:
- Greater Anis, American Swallow Tailed Kite, Amazon Kingfisher, Blue Morofr Butterfly, Longnose Bats, Hoatzin, Yellow Rumped Cacique, Cabec Tree (Mother of the forrest between 50-60m, used for plywood, cotton, Harpy Eagle nests, 50 people holding hands to circumvent the base).
We headed to a typical local farm in the afternoon where the local practice polyculture (numerous crops on one piece of land rotated over 3-5 year to allow the thin layer of topsoil to recover). They grow almost every imaginable fruit (avos, papaya, grapes, melons, bananas, pineapples, lemongrass, mangos, starfruit etc).
We had a pretty uneventful night excursion on the motorised canoe spotting more cayman, a paca and a coati (racoon) although the breeze while riding along the river was welcomed with open arms as respite from the sticky heat and mosquitoes.
Day 3:
An early start was required to make the trip on the boat back to Maldinado in time for our connecting flight back to Cusco and then Lima. I wanted to jump off in Cusco and head south into Bolivia although instructing the airline to put my bags in the Cusco hull was going to cost me no less than US50! I decided to give them the finger and sidestep this ridicuous ruling although required rounding up support from the fellow GAPpers to take on some of my stuff as hand luggage so I could take all my kit off the plane in Cusco. Dressed for Alaska to reduce my own hand luggage weight, I boarded the plane and made a successfull exit at the half way point. Following some emotional goodbyes from some of the GAPpers I was officially on my own on a continent of foreign speakers....
I made my way to the bus station and booked a direct ticket to La Paz, Bolivia. This trip was not without its highlights/lowlights and lived up to Peru/Bolivia`s reputation as one of the most dangerous countries to bus around in the world. Cutting across from the wrong lane, our legend of a bus driver decided to stop to investigate a blowout we took on some hours earlier...needless to say the bus trailing thought we were doing the usual hang wide on a corner take it at pace vibe and proceeded to plough into the back right of our bus...thankfully a glancing blow but almost sent the bus behind us down a 5 metre bank off the road. While the drivers fought over who was at falt, I took my gap and made for a nearby stone wall to do the necessaries as number 2´s are not only prohibitted on the buses but also a health risk to all who attempt anything while locked in the cabin of horrors!
Most travellers jumped off just before the border leaving only a handful to face the Bolivian military. Thankfully I had latched onto a couple from Cusco who told me where to get the stamps in what seemed more like a vegetable market than a border crossing. A couple of stamps on the Peruvian side and everything seemed to be going to plan until we were waved into a room by some serious loking dudes in camo. One by one we were called into the leutenant´s office for questioning (in Spanish I might add!) and body checks...they made some joke as I was released leaving me with a weird sensation of relieve. The rest was pretty much stock standard and it was onyl 2 more hours before we reached La Paz..the major city of Bolivia.
Cusco and beyond...
This entry covers 18 November
A free day at last to organise the next phase of my travels. Spent the day speaking to travels agents in Cusco and tour operators over the phone to find out whether heading to Bolivia would result in a blown up tourist bus or not. Most seemed to feel that the strikes had abated (although numerous websites site strikes as a way of life for Bolivians) and advised that the martial law declared in the Pando area was nothing to be concerned about. So without further adew, I decided to stick to my original itinerary and head to the land of corruption....over 200 presidents sinces its independence 189 years ago!
But first I have to inform you of the biggest coincidence since Harry met Sally...while doing all the Bolivian cross checks I bumped into Mark, Mitch and Mike (mates from Rhodes days)!!! With high fives all rounds we decided to celebrate fate by dining the the most non-exclusive of restaurants...word on the street had it that a 25 minutes taxi ride to the small village of Tapong is where the best guinea pig in town could be found. Cooked ¨the traditional way¨ in an oven as opposed to fried in the restaurants in Cusco we were presented with what looked like a skinless cane rat on steroids. The frog game (tossing coins onto a table on holes with the ultimate shot being into the frog´s mouth) made for a super vibe compnsating for the most horrific meal we forced our way through. Thankfully we had a 2 litre coke to wash it all down.
A drink at Rats Bar in Cusco seemed to be a fitting place to wave my fellow South African adios as the GAP Tour must go on...a flight to the Amazonian town of Puorto Maldinado awaited us in the morning.
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