Ravens Travels

We arrived in Leticia, Colombia on a very warm day; it was a day of burned sweaty faces. We checked into a hotel after traipsing the streets looking for one that wasn’t already full, great idea to arrive on a Friday!! We got there too late to get our visa stamps at the airport so for one day we were illegal, does anyone care, no, it happens all the time here when you arrive by boat. Our first surprise on getting to Colombia was the price of the hotel room, its more expensive here then we originally anticipated, ah well, every country has been, damn guide books are way out of date. For a double room ensuite, with fan and fridge, its 50,000 soles, about US $25. In the town itself there isn’t much to do unless you’re going on jungle tours but already the atmosphere was a million times better then what we had left behind in Iquitos. From nearly every building music spews forward outs a bounce in your step and a smile on your lips. Its hard to describe but you already feel like you’re closer to the Caribbean The nightclub we went to was funny and strange. There was two dance floors, one for singles and one for couples, they didn’t seem to mix, of course we didn’t stick to the rules This isn’t typical of places here, and I still don’t know why they did it here. Two military officers surveyed the place with figure eight walks carrying large weapons with their hands ready to jump into action should anything happen. That’s a major factor with Colombia, there are police and military everywhere, you can tell if its not military but guerilla by the boots or so we were told, normal army boots = army, wellies = guerrilla. Okay so back in the nightclub, around midnight they had a stage show of five ´professional dancers dressed in skimpy versions of traditional Indian costumes doing set dances. The guys drooled a lot and the locals seemed to enjoy the show a lot but really they were terrible dancers, not in tune with the music or each other. It was entertaining though, we probably shouldn’t have laughed but we couldn’t stop so we left....

We had tried to see if we could get from Leticia to Bogotá by bus but to no avail, the surrounding land is no go area, its controlled by guerillas so we had to take a plane, $157 later we reached the capital. Bogotá is a bustling city that has more people then the whole of Ireland. It’s very modern and cosmopolitan, from its fancy restaurants, bars to suit every taste, sky rise buildings, huge malls to the usual designer names beaming out of shop windows. It also contains a lot of charm in its old buildings, pride in its history and culture and the variety in street performers. It feels like a young city with the hustle and bustle of many college students going to the universities or gigs. But for all you could see through rose tinted glasses (which I seemed to wear there for the first few days) like every other city there is a seedy undertone. One evening when we were in an Internet cafe a prostitute kept hassling Arjan, she wouldn’t leave us alone, even following us to a cafe later, eventually she got bored but as she was so freaky it can unsettle you. There are many beggars and junkies on the streets, a lot of shops, restaurants and pubs close completely very early on a Sunday evening so it can be a depressing city to walk through were every second step is followed with hassle on dark streets. But still I don’t dislike the city, the gold museum was as fantastic, as the Botero gallery was funny. By the end of the week we spent there I felt like I could get around the place without a map easily, but then it is very easy, the road names are in a grid system, similar to American streets of avenue and street numbers.

From Bogotá we got the bus to Manizalles. The center is forgettable, on our first night we stayed in it, we found it hard to get accommodation as with the bank holiday weekend nearly everything was full, the only hotels not were the love hotels, the ones you can also rent by the hour, the hotel neuva york was a bit dirty but at 25,000 soles a night it was somewhere to sleep before moving on to a hostel in the suburbs the next night. In Mountain house they are very helpful and it feels like you’re in a home rather then a hostel, similar to a bnb but without imposing on people. If you’re going to Manizalles its worth staying there, 20 mins walk from the centre and close to the surrounding mountains for good walks.

After two cities we felt like it was time to go to the countryside for a while so we headed to Salento in the coffee region, close to Valle de Colca. Our original choice of hostel , Plantation house was full so we stayed in a hospedje managed by the Lisa, the daughter of the Palm hostel owner, for 30,000 soles we basically had our own mini apartment, it was great and after seeing how busy the other place had been we were glad that we had been moved. As we had tried to stay at plantation house they made us honoree guests which meant we could avail of their facilities, book exchange, broad band internet and the coffee farm discount. The owner Tim had struck up a deal with two local coffee farms that if he sent people from the hostel they would get a discount, instead of paying 10,000 soles they would pay 4,000. The farmers agreed to the price for a tour as there is a lot of competition in the area and this meant they would have nearly guaranteed regular additional income. The deal was with a large coffee farm run by Don Raul and a smaller family runs one by Don Luis. There is a nice walk down to the farms through country paths, the farms themselves are in a town called Palestine, the border between there and Salento was a burned out house. The walk back was harder, well after an hour and a half of downhill we could only go back up and decided since it was a nice day not to take the bus. We had been told about a shortcut, which was shorter in distance but included a lot of climbing and sweat. We looked wrecked at the end Anyway we had chosen to visit the smaller coffee farm, and it was really good, the owners son did the tour and he was a really good guide, as he had no English and we had little Spanish, he spoke slowly, repeating when necessary and even tested our understanding at the end, that was a bit cheeky but he was really proud when we did understand the process (so were we!!!). At the end of the tour they roasted the coffee beans in front of us and then served us cups of coffee. I normally don’t like coffee but wow here it was fantastic. While in town we also decided that we had to see the regions highlight - Valle de Colca. You can get a jeep to the edge of the park for about $1.50, from here there is a five hour circuit walk through the mountain paths, a private house that opens its gates so people can see humming birds,

cloud forests and the famous wax palm tree forest. The palm trees can grow to 50 meters high (that’s 25 Arjans), the trees are so tall and skinny that I kept expecting to see one break.

The walk was really nice, even the muddy uphill crawling. The last climb is about 50 mins uphill at a steep incline, from here we emerged from the cloud forest into a fog filled field and out walked a white horse, maybe from the tiredness or the strange scenery we both expected to see Gandolph from Lord of the Rings to be walking behind him. It was like being in a fairytale. When we got back to the base we found out we had missed the last jeep back to town by 15 minutes, so we had to walk the 10km back. The walk was long and involved a number of hills but we weren’t too worried, okay well a little. It was starting to get dark quickly, our torch batteries had died, it was starting to rain and we had no coats. We had also been told to be careful as there had been guerrilla sightings recently and people didn’t like to pick up people on the road just in case. Millions of fireflies lit the road for us until the rain got too heavy, after we had walked about 6km and gotten soaked in the storm we heard a beeping horn. A local woman in a jeep felt sorry for us and told us to get in and she would drop us back to town, she wouldn’t take no for answer and told us not to worry about soaking her seats, she said she couldn’t just leave us there. Normally I would be cautious about getting in strange cars but we were just so grateful for the lift and the shelter back to the town.


From Salento we decide to travel up to Medillin, our chosen hotel was really good value, 25,000 soles for a very clean double room ensuite, cable TV (with all kinds of stations), fan, phone, and room service. We were in the middle of the city centre but the reason our hotel was so cheap, it doubled up as a love hotel and was on one of the worst streets in the centre. The shops sold produce through steal bars; our road was home to many drug dealers, junkies, sex shops and prostitutes. In general there was not much to see in the city, it wasn’t very pretty, etc. Botoro plaza was nice to walk around and look at the statues but that was about it. The surroundings of the town were much better. While we were there though there was a music weekend festival going on so there was many street performances, which was really nice.

Drum role......... we then went to Cartegna, which is by the Caribbean, the old city is really nice, beautiful buildings with nice balconies and though its very touristy there isn’t too much hassle from sellers etc.

We decided that we just had to spend some time at the beach so we spent three nights on Playa Blanca. It’s a boat journey into the Caribbean Sea away from the city. The beach was really nice, the water was clear and when all the tourists left the place was practically deserted, it was pure heaven. On a busy day there was about 15 people on the beach in the evening, by the day there was more when the tours arrived but that was for 3 hours only.

Even then the beach was big enough not to be crowded. The first two nights we stayed in Wittenburg, its run by Gilbert from France. You can pitch a tent for 5,000, sleep in a hammock with mosquito net for 8,500 or have a room ensuite for 20,000 per person. It was so nice to be able to wake up and run to the sea and swim for a few hours before breakfast. The sun was very strong though and my factor 50 wasn’t strong enough, ah well.

On the third night we had to move to another place further down the beach because Witterburg was being knocked down. The Colombian owner had sold the land to the Sheraton hotel chain that had bought up the whole beach. They were going to destroy the desert island effect to make it an exclusive place for the rich...so if you see a Sheraton hotel spit on it for me!! As we were getting ready to leave Gilbert told us they had been told they could still use part of the land for the camping and hostel for about another two months and then after that it was all over. It’s terrible!!! The local people have all lost / are losing their jobs in the restaurants, hammocks accommodation, etc and they have been told that they don’t have any chance of getting jobs with the hotel because they were bringing in specialized people. The local people live in a village one hour through the forest that backs the beach. It’s such a shame to have seen something so basic and perfect and know that in a few months it will have changed beyond recognition. If you are in the area, visit it soon, so many of the other islands now have high rise buildings and are all so expensive that you can already see that they are going to change all the beaches eventually.

Back in Cartegna we visited a local fishing village and a mud volcano. The mud volcano was great, you could sit in it and have a mud bath, and it’s supposed to have healing properties and did ease the pain of my sunburned pealing skin. On the trip we met a Dutch guy Willem who was very funny who had been traveling for a year and a half. So that night we went on a pub-crawl and dancing with him. We had a great time but it was time we started moving again.

So now we’re in Santa Marta, we’re here to arrange a tour to the lost city. You can’t get to it without doing a tour. It takes about 6 days of hiking there and back and is supposed to be an amazing experience so I’ll let you know about that next time. While in town we took a day trip to Taganga which is a local fishing village, I was so disappointed by it, I’d heard how nice it is but after Playa Blanca I found the beach terrible (more gravel then sand), the water is not as clear and well the only thing to do there is drink.........

Okay so last time I updated you about our whereabouts etc. was after the riots and strikes. We had returned to Cusco to see a few debris on the road but the centre basically untouched. The evidence showed that most things had happened away from the tourist areas.

As we had been delayed we tried to figure out what we should do, should we rush to the next place? No, we hung around for a few days to go to a religious festival in Paucartambo, now before you start groaning, I should explain a bit. The celebration is for the ´Virgen del Carmen´, who is of mixed blood, i.e. she is a mixture of the traditional religions of the local people and the catholic religion, which had been forced upon them by the Spanish invasions. The festival is celebrated by colourful processions and dancing.

The dances all hold meanings and the participants were masks, and brightly coloured ornate clothes. Its an amazing sight, and on a side note these guys know how to party, there was loads of dancing and drinking going on. We had arranged to spend one night at the festival, go to see the sun rise at tres cruces, then back to the festival before heading back to Cusco. On the trip we met up with Emma, a girl who had been living in the States for a few years but had just returned home to Malahide, small world, huh. She was really excited as she had been looking forward to the festival for a while, it coincided with her birthday. Our tour group was small and when we got to the town we discovered that there weren´t many tour groups at all, mostly just locals, yippee...

The first evening we watched the dancing and costumes in awe, and then with screams and astonished giggles we ran to the side streets or crouched against the sides of buildings as some of the entertainers picked up some of the fireworks and ran through the crowds, they were crazy. It was scary and amazing to see at the same time. No one knew what to do. The fireworks were a great success albeit a bit strange. There was one part that included people jumping over fire, girls being grabbed from the sides to dance through the streets by the dancers and loads of beer and spirits.

After the excitement and fun we had to go back to the bus at midnight to start the journey to tres cruces. Here we were to see a beautiful sunrise that is supposed to contain mirages etc.... but it was an overcast day with clouds, so though it was nice, freezing ourselves for a few hours on the side of a cliff for an average sunrise was disappointing, especially when we had all wanted to stay and party.

We headed back to town, cold but all wide-awake, which considering no one had had any sleep was surprising. The morning and afternoon was followed with more dancing and partying, an open air mass and the religious procession. It really was a great party.

Feeling like we’d been in Cusco for long enough we tried to get to Arequipa, after a few changes to the buses etc because of a few lingering strikes we got there on a cool evening. The main square in Arequipa was really nice but here there was a lot of hassle from agency touts and restaurants. While in town we visited a few museums, one that contained the body of Juanita, an Inca mummy. This was really interesting and our guide was very friendly and full of information. She was student in the college and her teacher was one of the people who found the original body. We also visited the convent of Santa Catalina; it was like a city within a city. The city is nice and we spent a few days at museums, historical sites etc, while waiting for a clothes to dry. Ahh the simple things in life are great - clean clothes!! From here we decided to go to a small town called Chivay, which is at the start of the Colca Canyon, it’s a nice town with a great setting. Loads of walks and relaxation at hot springs put us in the mood to see more. So we set off into the canyon to see Condors, and terraces from Inca times that were still in use today.

After a few days we headed back to Arequipa for the night to catch a connecting bus to Nazca...this was one of the main things that I had been waiting to see. The town was nothing special but the lines were fantastic. We had a clear perfect view with not a cloud in the sky. We were lucky, we heard people a few days before couldn’t go up in the planes because of the weather. The lines were so clear. I had expected to be disappointed as I had built it up in my mind but I wasn’t. Yippee!!!

After Nazca we headed to Lima, We had heard so many stories about the place we thought that we would hate the town but nope, it was a city like any other, loads to see though. As we had a flight to catch we only had a few days. We went to a ceramics museum which was really interesting, they also had an erotic section which was very clinical, various sex acts were on the sides of jugs etc but far from being a form of soft porn they all seemed to have lessons, with attached babies or people with stds, very strange!! Some of the pieces were really old and very graphic. We had also heard about many people being robbed in the city but we saw nothing like that at all. We’ve just been very lucky!!

Pulcallpa was our next stop. It’s a small town with a big personality. Nearly all the traffic is mototaxies, (the front is a motorbike but instead of a back wheel you have a bench with two seats and two wheels, its like a child’s three wheel bike with an engine and space for two additional people). They were a great way to get around. It was so warm that sometimes it was the only way to get a cool breeze. The town had a certain charm but also a strange sight. Flying over the town and perched on the sides of buildings were loads of black vultures. It was very weird. One day we took a wrong turn and ended up in the slum area, the vultures were in force and the smell of death was over powering. From here we had decided to take a cargo boat to Iquitos up the Amazon. We went to the docks to book a cabin, as we wanted somewhere to store our bags etc without having to worry about them. We were shown a boat that was leaving the next day - the Camilla. The cabins were like saunas, no air to breathe but we were told that was the only boat leaving the next day and during the day we could put up hammocks outside to keep cool. So without paying we booked the cabin and were told to put a lock on the door. That evening after further thought we decided to go to another port to check out other options. We were shown a larger very new boat that was also supposed to be leaving the next day. This boat was a millions times better then the last with a large cabin, attached bathroom and a fan in the room!!! So we decided to book Henry 7 and set up our hammocks. The boat though didn’t leave on time and we stayed on board in the port for two days. Ah well it was free accommodation while we waited. On a side note we saw the other boat leave the day it was supposed to. The boat journey took four days but it was a lot of fun. We met some really nice people, there was a couple from Utrecht, Jessica and Geert, a crazy guy from Belgium, Ronald, a group of guys from Lima who smoked weed all day, an English and Danish couple, Mike and Inga, an Argentinean guy following che`s route, Nicholas, a Columbian and Canadian couple, Alessandro and Stephanie and loads of children who wanted to listen to everyone’s ipods or look at their cameras. The mix of people on board was really nice and though we tried to practice our few Spanish phrases it was mostly dictionary time (much to the amusement of the younger children). The ship was only supposed to hold about 300 people but there was much much more on board, I was really glad we had a cabin!! The hammocks were great to relax in but not for sleeping. They were all squashed together and hung anywhere and everywhere possible. To get from one end of the ship to the other you nearly had to crawl but I still wouldn’t have changed any of it. There were loads of funny incidents, there was a young boy who was my shadow for the journey, he even made me a bookmark to remember him by, but he was very clingy and was obsessed with Madonna’s song like a virgin. After hearing it a million times I could have screamed. Or there was the young guy who did a heavy metal air guitar solo to abbas mamma mia.... to see the funny side, you really would have had to have been there.

When we got to Iquitos we were all tired but it was also nice to be on land and choose our own food etc.... We expected to be blown away by the town but to be honest I didn’t see the appeal. I think our timing was wrong. The security guard at the Columbian embassy kept telling us to come back later, the taxi drivers were annoying, we couldn’t find a book exchange, the owner of the Texan grill fired one of his staff while screaming at her in the middle of the restaurant for a simple mistake, we bumped into the captain of the Camilla boat who gave out to us for not taking his boat, and when we went to the market it was closing up and people, dogs and vultures were rummaging through the rubbish for scraps to eat. Not great first impressions of the town. The next day went better, we booked a fast boat to get to Leticia for the following day (9 hours instead of two days), I managed to change one of my books with an English man who owned a tourist agency, the Columbian embassy gave us loads of information and photocopied a circular that I could show immigration if they gave me any hassle on entering the country. All in all it felt like a good day. We also had a mini reunion at dinnertime to say bye to everyone off the boat. Loads of fun and we even thought maybe we should have stayed longer. They all seemed to really like the town but I was impatient to get to Columbia.

Now we’re in Leticia and though it’s a little more expensive then we expected, I love it here. The vibe on the street is more positive and every building has music spewing out.

Okay so we arrived in Puno on the other side of Lake Titicaca on a bright day. With in a few minutes of being there we knew that we had preferred the Bolivian side to the river. Puno is full of tourists and locals trying to sell you anything and everything. Every step is accompanied by hassle from tourist agencies; restaurant workers, shopkeepers, beggars and of course pesky shoe shine boys (they were among the most annoying!!). We decided to book to half-day tours with an agency called Best way Travel, they seemed to be the cheapest option. (They’re not reliable and I would advise anyone to never use them!).

In the morning we visited the Los Uros Islands. Originally we were supposed to be visiting three islands according to the agency but it turned out to be only two of them. The islands are about forty in total at the moment but this number changes islanders fight and divide up islands or join them together. The islands are made up of reeds and are floating on Lake Titicaca. It was interesting to hear how they live and how the islands are made. To walk on them is really strange, you feel like your bouncing with every step. The first island was two meters in depth, yes the same height as Arjan, the islanders really enjoyed that fact and presented him with a chain. The second island was the `market island, souvenir stalls covered part of it. It was nice to visit the islands but it did feel a bit like being at a zoo. I found out that I would never make a press photographer, it felt a bit strange taking photos of the people, ah well I’ll just have to practice more.

The afternoon tour was to the funeral towers, which date back to Inca and pre Inca times. It was an interesting site but I felt the tour spent too long there. Also the guide was supposed to stop somewhere for a sunset photo but they raced back to town instead.

Both tours reinforced in us why we don’t like doing tours. You have no control over how long you spend at things. We booked our tourist class bus tickets via the agency to Cusco for the next day.

This is were we started to get annoyed with the agency, they sold us a tourist class ticket (basically a clean bus with a toilet, it was supposed to stop at one site for photos and be a direct bus.) The agency was supposed to pick u up at our hotel at 1.30 for a bus at two. By 1.50 no one had shown up, the owner of the hotel was really helpful and rang the agency to find out what was going on. Finally a young boy arrives to collect us (yes we were surprised too), we catch a taxi to the station were a girl from the agency is waiting for us with our tickets saying that the bus is due to go. We race on and sit down. Looking around us we realise that it’s a local bus and we’ve just been ripped off. We have no problems with local buses but it’s the principal of them overcharging us for it because they were too late to pick us up for the correct bus. So if you ever have to use an agency, don’t use them!!!!!

So anyway we made to Cusco, the centre is really nice. Upon arrival we already had a good feeling about the place. We spent a few days here exploring, visiting the Inca museum (was interesting to learn a bit about the sites we would visit), Museo de Arte y Monasterio de Santa Catalina (so much wealth in this place), contemporary art gallery (out of all the pictures and displays, I liked one picture only) and Museo de Sitio del Qoricancha (after the Inca museum this was just a summary version in four rooms and a corridor). A shot uphill walk led us to the site of Saqsaywaman (pronounced sexy woman). It was very impressive and we spent a long time walking around and exploring. Its crazy to think how much the Incas built and created in such a short time.

While we were in town we had checked into various tours for Machu Pichu but found them to be too restrictive time wise and expensive (about $130-180), so we decided to do it our own way . We decided to stop off on the way in the towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo to visit the Inca sites there, (after all we had already paid for a tourist ticket, entry to 17 sites for 70 soles, 3 soles - $1). The sites were really impressive, especially the terracing for the various eco climates to allow the growing of various agricultural crops. Both towns were quite nice too. In Ollantay we got the train to Agua Calliente ($57 return); this is the nearest town to Machu Pichu (entrance $40, but hey its once in a life time). The town felt like any tourist resort in the canneries with people screaming out happy hour, 3 drinks for the price of one. In town there is the perfect place to escape and relax, the hot springs, ahhh... F

rom town we took the first bus at 5.30am to the Machu Pichu site, we wanted to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately the weather was bad, slight rain on and off all day and a fairly grey sky. But it still didn’t take from the site!!! The views looking down on it are amazing and you can sit for hours just gazing at it.

While walking through it you don’t necessarily appreciate the size of the site but with the terracing it appears to grow out of the mountain. We spent most of a day wandering around the site, feeling really happy that we didn’t do a tour; we saw the groups arriving and leaving in the space of a few hours.

We headed back to Ollantaytambo by train on the tenth and decided to spend one night before heading to Cusco again. The next day though there was a teacher and transportation strike. We heard a group walking through the streets shouting in protest. As the day passed the group seemed to grow, in the plaza they were holding placards and stones. They didn’t touch tourists (we even visited a local site were the Pumamacha, were the Incas were to have started according to local legend) but if you were driving a bus or taxi when you weren’t supposed to be a hail of stones, cans and bottles were thrown. Some taxis also ended up with slashed tires and some injuries trying to stop people touching their cars. Protest groups had blocked all the roads in and out of town with rocks, boulders and themselves. The next day the strike was supposed to have stopped but it was still going ahead, locally the group was getting bigger. A few fights broke out among the groups. We heard that in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa the fighting was worse, buildings had been set on fire, many people attacked and even some killed. The police were trying to stop the crowds with teargas. While we were in a local cafe near the square the police arrived to say that there was bomb scare, all tourists were to be kept indoors till they searched. They didn’t find anything. From the windows we could see a few fights breaking out over taxies and mostly people running onto large trucks to move to were the action was. We arrived back in the hostel just as a small bomb went off, no one was hurt. A lot of the time was spent running in and out trying to get updates. We heard about 3 policemen who had been stripped and stoned close to the town. The reports were mixed about them being dead initially and then much later to that maybe they were in hospital. Everything quietened down when more police arrived with weapons, tear gas and rioting gear. What started quickly and seemed to last a long time was quickly over as the government issued statements of arresting people. The police were still patrolling as we left town, earlier then we thought when it all started. On a side note the local stations news wasn’t carrying the story at all, but we could catch updates about the other towns on CNN and a station from Venezuela. The Peruvian government represtatives blamed Venezuela for putting pressure on them, if you ask around this is not the case at all. It was also quite ironic that the government here had slammed the Venezuela government for revoking a TV license to a station that didn’t agree with their policies but here the news was kept quiet locally. On one Internet page it only talks about the loss of tourism revenue. Just fewer than 2000 people were prevented from seeing Machu Pichu, they say that with them returning home disappointed and bringing their stories it could cause a drop in tourism of 10%. The country makes about $5 million dollars a day from tourism so it could mean people out of work and pocket.

Anyway it was a strange few days and though there is debris on the roads they seem to be passable again in some areas. Locals say it’ll happen again but they don’t know when. We’ll see and for the moment keep going...

On a side note you shouldn’t let this put you off the country. Though we’ve really only seen the sacred valley, and Cusco, I can still say its beautiful place.

Okay so after Serere we headed back into Rurrenabaque to originally spend one night before flying out the next day... instead we ended up staying two nights...

After checking into our hotel and grabbing a little food we headed to a local pub called PachaMama run by an English girl Katrina and her boyfriend, to meet up with some of the group from Serere and ´the volunteers`, Kit and Meghna. Kit had been marketing and selling the place to everyone when we were in Serere. Its a nice pub/cafe, good music, movie rooms, book exchange, food, etc..... good atmosphere too. But as it’s at the edge of town, a whole five minutes more walk many people don’t visit it, (a tip the drink here is a little cheaper then the wildly advertised and visited Mosquito bar)!! Anyway after many drinks and games of pool, Arjan got talking to Katrina about the place. She was looking to sell and he was seriously considering buying it. After taking the grand tour of the public and private areas, he really was convinced that we should invest in it and lives there. Okay so we may have been drinking a lot but the money side of me had to ask a few questions, yearly profits, seasonal trends, cost of living, and growth potential. I know I could have just got hooked on the fantasy but the reality and answers told me that this was not the business for us!! So after convincing Arjan that he shouldn’t buy it, or let Kit away with his tab if we did as a good will gesture we proceeded to get very drunk and have a laugh. Besides we still have a few months of traveling a head of us and we’re not ready to stop. The next day there was no way we could fly so we changed the flight and relaxed.

So we flew back to La Paz, relaxed and happy. But after the clean lowlands the city appeared to be unbreathable, dirty and too noisy. It was hard to get used to it again so we decided one day was enough and off we headed to Copacabana. The town is situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. The altitude caused a few problems for me but at this stage Arjan was flying around. The town is nice and though its touristy you don’t feel hassled all the time. While we were there we decided to spend two nights on Isla de Sol. From the dock on the island you have to walk up Inca steps to get to the town, after loads of breaks, huffing and puffing we made it to our hostel. Wow, the views from our room were amazing, three of the walls had huge windows overlooking at the bays, perfect for catching the sunrises and sunsets. The island was nice but as I was having altitude problems I was glad to leave, I couldn`t walk too far without feeling ill, while Arjan was able to explore the whole island.

After returning to Copa for one night we then headed to Puno in Peru...

Okay so last time I was on line we were in Sucre but I had yet to tell you anything about it. We ended up staying longer then expected due to flue or a bug, basically we weren’t able to travel further . Don’t worry though we didn’t spend the week suffering and doing nothing. The hostel Charcas was in the city centre and within walking distance of the main sites. (Stats - double room shared bath 80 bolivianos, private bath 130 bol.) Sucre is known as the white city, as well as being known as the most beautiful city in Bolivia, though it is a nice city this description was spoiled by coming through the usual roads filled with rubbish that seems to great us on arriving at any city here. While we there the city was celebrating a 25-year anniversary. Every night and day the sounds of marching bands could be heard practicing in the schools, and any available space, As the main day, Friday, crept closer they took to the streets. The whole parade and practice sessions were taken very seriously as the country’s president was going to be watching the final march. On the Thursday night the local army barracks set off various firework displays, which we could appreciate from the rooftop in the hostel. On the Wednesday morning we visited the cathedral and capilla de la virgen de guadalupe. It was nice but quite gaudy at times; one room contained an altar with the all Seeing Eye seen in Egyptian art. Across from it was a burial bed decorated with various pictures of the grim reaper, over looked by angels on the ceiling. There were also statures of a saint as a child with a slit throat, blood included of course. The statue of the virgen is adorned with jewels and precious metals and is worth an absolute fortune but then the whole effect is turned into a joke by the surrounding multi coloured lights that belong in a disco or at an Xmas party. I wonder who is claiming that idea. We also ran into Helen and Chris in the pub that afternoon, (the couple from the road trip in Argentina). They were taking Spanish lessons locally, and by the sounds of it were doing well. They also told us that they had finally booked their flights back to the Uk but only for a month and then they were off to Korea to work, after nearly two years they’d decided to try and settle somewhere.
That afternoon we headed to the Joy Ride pub to watch the Championship final with Liverpool and Milan. By now you all know the score and you can imagine the atmosphere in a pub filled with Dutch supporting Liverpool because they had two Dutch players`, there was also a young Liverpool supporter who cried at the end of the match much to the amusement of a local Caca supporter and thus now a Milan supporter. To add insult to injury upon leaving the pub he rubbed the crying guys head and said loser with a sloppy smug grin.
In town we also visited a textile museum, which explained the history and methodology behind the various weavings created and worn by the indigenous people.

It was quite interesting and also contained a section on dance. The only down side is that there is an abundance of information to read which can make your head feel like exploding by the end. We also checked out Casa la Libertad.

It has many pictures of ex presidents including one that Bolivar said was the best representation of him.
On the Friday night there was a feeling of celebration after the marches and demonstrations we decided to go to a blues night in Bibliocafe. There were three bands playing, one of them was La Maya, the band we’d previously seen in Santa Cruz. On the Sunday we were supposed to go to the market in Tarabuco but weren’t feeling up to it, between lack of sleep and feeling unwell it just wasn’t meant to be. We were disappointed about missing it but found out that afternoon that one of the buses returning from the market, containing a lot of tourists had crashed, killing one person and harming many more. Now we count our blessings that we didn’t go, you never know...

On the Monday we headed to the worlds highest city Potosi. This is where the problems with high altitude really kicked in.

The city is nice and the mountains overlooking it are beautiful but when you’re constantly out of breath it can be hard to appreciate them completely.

Potosi is a mining town, previously it was silver but now it was mostly tin. Many people died in the mining of the silver for the Spanish crown, many of them locals and slaves, we were informed that the working conditions haven’t changed that much over the centuries, the life of a miner is short, the work is extremely hard and the mines contain toxic gases. We were considering visiting them but the breathing problems prevented us from doing so. While in town we visited the mint, the tour was interesting, though very cold, the museum contains, coins, melting machines, pots, minerals, and even mummified babies. We also visited a local church were you could walk along the roof to have amazing views of the city and surroundings.

After Potosi we headed towards Uyuni.
From here we arranged to do a three day tour around the South of Bolivia, taking in Salar di Uyuni (the salt lakes),

Colchani to see how the salt is processed, Isla Inca Huasi (cactus island),

various lakes,

arbol (stone tree),

a stone valley, geisers,

hot springs,

dali valley and along the way flamingos, andean foxes, llamas, etc.... The trip was really enjoyable and the group we were with was nice. The trip started with a train museum that we ended up seeing twice as we had stumbled on it ourselves on our first day in town.

In Uyuni itself we stayed in the local Hi hostel were the owner’s son chatted up all the girls, evening pinching bums, he was starting young at 3. The best place in town was the American run minuteman, really good pizza and pasta with a smile.

From Uyuni we took a seven-hour night train to Oruro. Instead of heading straight onto La Paz like some of our fellow passengers we decided to stay in town for two days. We had heard a lot about the masks made in town for the devil festival in Feb and le gran poder at the beginning of June. I must have looked like a child in a candy shop checking out the costumes and masks. They were amazing and I really wanted to buy loads but the sensibilities kicked in about trying to carry everything and the cost of post so we bought one which, fingers crossed, makes it through an post back to Dublin.

So now we `re in La Paz and have been for a few days. We had been told that it was the best place to shop but so far nothing has jumped out, so instead of the original plan of buying loads I bought a new rain cover for my bag as my other one is in bits and a pair of combats, ohhhh last of the big spenders, no! I think if the trip was shorter it would be easier to shop but where would the fun in that be. In town we visited the local coca museum, it was interesting but as its been renovated is badly laid out and hard to follow. It’s also presented as being a balanced view of the history but I found this to not be the case. They talk about how the Bolivian people use the plant for spiritual reasons and to allow them to work harder and that the rest of the world use it only as a drug, for profit and exploitation, they also say that the world points all the blame at them but as we all know many countries are blamed and Bolivia isn’t completely innocent either, we’ve seen many non spiritual users here.

Okay so after the hassle of having to backtrack in Paraguay to get the bus we wanted we arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on May 10th. Our accommodation of choice was Residential Bolivar. For a double room with shared bathroom it costs 120 bolivianos (about $15). The courtyard is a very relaxing place with hammocks to while the hours away while watching the permanent residents, two toucans. One shy, while the other is cheeky and plays biting games with guests. Don’t get me wrong he’s not vicious, just playful and Arjan swears it doesn’t hurt. Hopefully the photos turn out

The city itself is nice and clean in the center, it’s quite a sprawling city and near the bus station isn’t the nicest.

The street of our hostel was shut down, as there was a sit in demonstration for disabilities, the posters covered deafness, blindness, lost limbs and wheelchairs. From the day we arrived till the day we left four days later they were sitting there 24 hours a day. It seemed to be a peaceful demonstration made up of all ages, from a baby a few weeks old to a man in his eighties; it’s just a pity that the street was turned into a public toilet. There was also a demonstration and mini march around Plaza 24 de Septembre. It only lasted a few hours but trouble was expected. Armed riot police overlooked the group of indigenous protesters chanting anti political words.

As we still weren’t sure if we had seen condors we headed off to the Santa Cruz zoo (price 10 bol), its bigger inside then it looks. We discovered besides seeing condors from a great distance learning how to fly we hadn’t actually seen any before then. So now I just have to figure out what birds are in the photos The best part in the zoo is a large cage, which you can walk into and either take a tiny stroll or sit and watch the birds fly over and around you. It’s a very relaxing place to sit. Outside the zoo are telephone boxes shaped like parrots, though they were unique but we’ve seen them a few times now.

As the spiderman 3 movie had just come out we tried to find a cinema to see it but lo and behold the ones we knew about were either shut down for a long time (judging by the state of the buildings), had turned into churches (don’t ask) or were closed early. So we headed for a quick drink in the Irish pub, we had decided to give it a second chance. We’d been there during the week and though the layout and music were good the service was absolutely terrible. The pub has many waitresses, too many really, who either stand at the bar chatting or all shout the orders at the three equally confused barmen. The barmen all seem to try to catch all the orders and then get themselves into a knot. For example we were sitting right beside the bar but the barmen had a waitress take the order and then it proceeded to take 20 minutes to get two bottles of beer in a quiet pub... but we gave it another chance because we were told it was good and we probably got it on a bad day.... well we went back, service improved a tiny bit but if you’re in town you’re better off going somewhere else. Anyway after a few drinks we headed back to the hostel to hear some really good music coming from a balcony. We sourced it to the upstairs Lorca Cafe on the square, a local blues band, La Maga was playing. So the band and the cafe saved the night, but not counting what we drank led to really sore heads the next day.

On the Monday we caught a shared taxi (25 bol each) for the 2.5 hour journey to Samiapata. We checked into La ´Posada del sol, run by Trent and Rosario. They’re a really friendly family. The room itself was a spacious spotlessly clean double room ensuite with a separate area in the corner with laundry sink. May sound like a small point but its a nice touch. The balcony with comfy chairs enjoys a view of the surrounding mountains. The damage as they say for this was 80 bol/ $10.... not bad.... oh and they also had the best breakfasts of any of the places we’ve been to... In the town there seems to be a lot of foreigners living there, we found out later it appears this way because they’re all in the tourist or food trade, there are about 50 out of a population of 3000. It means though that the standard in a lot of the places is higher then you would originally expect from a small town. The best restaurant in town for food, drink and a really nice atmosphere is Latina Cafe run by a friendly French owner and his Bolivian wife (who doubles as chef). They told us that it took them 5 years to build the place but it looks great. The town has many agencies and tour guides but I found the best one to be the German run roadrunners. The guys are really friendly and helpful and they have a large book exchange, which I really needed at that stage. They also have weather information and can tell you all about the local area without pressuring you into buying tours. They even advised one customer that for their requirements of staying in the Omboro Park they should book with the Dutch run, Ben Verhoef tours, as they were the only group licensed to negotiate with the lodge. We were also thinking of doing one of bens tours taking the old trade route to Sucre combined with part of the Che route but at $250 it was over our budget.

On one of the days we went to the museo Arqueologico. Here we met with a Belgium couple who had been traveling for eight months and had only 4 weeks left. They were a bit depressed about it. I wonder how we will feel when it’s our turn to be counting down days. Enviously enough they did the Mongolian express from Russia to China...that’s something I would love to do in the future. Anyway the museum wasn’t very good and the video was cheesy, but the ticket of 32bol also included entrance to the UNESCO world heritage site - El Fuerte, the remains of a pre Inca ceremonial site. Though the site was interesting it was a bit dissappointing, some of the etchings that I had expected to see had either been covered with mud/moss or were too far away to see. As it was a nice day we'd got a taxi up to it (30 bol) and walked the ten km back. The views of the valleys were well worth the uphill struggle at times. Though the walk as a whole wasn’t hard and quite quick to do.

From Samiapata we got a bus to ValleGrande for 20 bol each. While waiting for the bus we met up with Anat from Israel who has been traveling for eight months through central and south America, though she has another four months to go and wants to see everything she admitted she was getting tired. In town we checked into Hostal El Marques, which had been recommended by Trent and Rosario. It was more a hotel though then a hostel. The room was huge, ensuite, TV and balcony for $10. After dropping the bags we met up with Anat who only had a few hours in town before catching her next bus. We headed to the Che museum; it was quite a morbid place, filled with various photos from different angles of his dead body. He had been shot nearly 40 years ago (in oct) in the nearby town of La Higuera. After been shot his body was moved to Vallegrande were it was put on show in the laundry room of the local hospital. The museum has photos of people posing beside the body and in the accompanying texts some admit to not knowing who he was while others had heard of him but didn’t realize he was close by looking to start a revolution. Its a pity when you hear he was in the wrong place and that if he had been in Potosi he would have been welcomed as they were looking to start something at that time. The museum ticket of 10 bol covers all the local Che sites so we headed to the laundry room.

It feels strange to walk through the hospital grounds, past open wards, queues of sick people and washing to get to the old laundry room. It’s quite small and covered in graffiti. A local man proudly points out were people from our respective countries have left their marks while we stand there and cringe. He also seems to take delight in asking if we would like to see the area were Che´s hands had been cut off. After this we take a taxi to the site near the airport were his body had been originally buried in an unmarked grave. The site is undergoing repairs but then to be honest there is not much to see there anyway. Previous to general Vargas 1995 admission to the whereabouts of Che´s body it has gone by unnoticed.

In 1997 the Bolivian and Cuban governments worked together to move his body to Cuba. Later in the day we had dinner in the local restaurant El Mirador. The food was filling which was good as we were all starving. There’s no menu, you get a choice between beef, chicken, fish and pork. It’s served with rice, chips, and salad. The next day we started to feel the effect in the changes in altitude, to be honest we didn’t expect to feel it so soon, Its horrible to be out of breathe all the time when you know if you were lower you’d have no problem with the little walks around town. So we took one easy day for Internet and to try to get tickets to Sucre. This proved harder then we thought. The first company said we had to catch a bus to Matarrel and if we were lucky we might catch a bus around 7ish, this all sounded a bit dodgy and the girl wasn’t very helpful so we headed to the other office, El Senator, on the same street as the hospital. The lady here was really friendly, we were to get a bus the following day to a town that wasn’t on our maps Sorreano and from there after a few hours (3 or 4 we understood) we would transfer to another bus to Sucre. So the next day we got the bus around 2 and discovered that we were in fact taking the old trade route we’d wanted to do before. The scenery was beautiful and though we couldn’t stop and take photos it was nice to see it. Though some of the roads were scarily tighter on the side of the cliffs, especially some of the bends. We arrived in Sorreano at 8pm and were told that our next bus wasn’t until 7am the next morning. We had totally misunderstood! After walking through the plaza while been gaped at we found the only place in town to stay, Alojamiento Central. A room ensuite was 50bol. ($6) The room contained four rusty squeaky beds that had seen better days. The room smelled of an old damp and musty area that hadn’t been aired in years. The bathroom was disgusting and as I don’t want to ruin anyone’s appetites I won’t describe the stains. But we had nowhere else to stay and it was only for a few hours. It came accompanied with a group of girls who stood outside giggling; Arjan had managed to get his own fan club. It turns out that they don’t get many foreigners and especially not tall blonde pony tailed men. So though the room was horrible, all we could do was get a fit of the giggles, only us, its just typical, but hey we got to see another side of the country.

The next morning we were at the bus stop before six as instructed to secure our seats and join the queue. There was no way we wanted to miss the bus. We arrived in Sucre tired and happy. We’d just calculated that we had done the tour we had wanted in our own way for a lot less, accommodation in both towns, food, transport, entry freshet cost us $40 each compared to the tour price of $250, which hadn’t included all accommodation and food.

So we decided to go to Paraguay via Posada in Argentina for less border problems. Our original choice of hotel in Posada was booked out, or so they say, the place was more up market then we originally were told and they don't take kindly to backpackers, especially ones who had just gotten off a dusty bus...We found a nice place around the corner, and nice by a lot of standards and not just ours....hehehe... Not much to say about the town as it was a stopgap for us. The next day we caught an early bus to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.

This is done with much anticipation, as we don't know what to expect. We can't find a guidebook on it, the information on the web is inclusive and (boo hoo) some travel helpers didn't reply to Arjans query...so finally after the ease of travel in Argentina we had a bit of a challenge on our hands. The information we did have was a couple of pages from the lps south America on a shoestring...When talking to other backpackers most generally looked vacant and said cool but why or gave us a lecture on how other countries have so much more to offer and why waste your time, no one goes there.... but that was half the appeal to be honest

Anyway we pass through the Argentina border with no problems then we reach the Paraguay side. An official goes off with everyone’s ids and passports to get the visas etc; on the large bus there is only about 10 passengers so there was plenty of space to relax. As we sit there we watch as a dozen men start to walk to the bus. No. Not new passengers but "del boy" sales people. They open they're jackets to reveal walking shops, as long as you don't ask questions you can buy jewelry, cameras, watches, gadgets, souvenirs, cosmetics, bags.etc...anything they can carry, after a few minutes two cars pull up and eight more people board the bus trying to sell things, its getting ridiculous, there are more of them the passangers. Children also approach with candies and sweets.... soon another bus with more people pulls up and the sales peoples all leave to chance there arm with the new victims...As we get our passports back we're told welcome to Paraguay, what am introduction to the country (especially when we knew the border crossing on brazils side had the worst reputation for contraband goods, weapons and drugs.)...

We drive to Asuncion through some contradicting scenes, there are some really expensive modern homes and buildings beside some run down shanty towns that reek of stale urine, sometimes the smell is so strong you can smell it through the windows a few more blocks after you've passed by. We reach the town by late afternoon. It’s a sprawling city with many broken and unpaved red roads. Some of the women appear caked in the red clay and pretty soon the dusty air and sweat paints us similarly. Our Hotel is Hotel Miami, for a double room ensuite it costs 100,000 guiranis, bit more then we thought so we try our luck at a discount, so a little haggling and we get it for 90,000 without breakfast. The hotel itself is quiet and in the center of town, the staff are friendly and the place is secure, an inside gate can only be unlocked by the receptionist and is always locked... It’s not the most up market place but when you're on a budget you just want somewhere to crash that’s cleanish. Strange part is the John Wayne tapestry that’s outside our bedroom...

The city has a strange feel to it, by day there are a lot of police walking or sitting looking bored tapping very large heavy guns, On the Friday there appears to a peaceful demonstration and public talk in the plaza uruguaya. Policemen paying acute attention, down all the surrounding alleys, are watching it carefully and streets are groups of waiting heavily armed riot police. It’s as if they're waiting for a major fight or trouble but nothing happens and they traipse the streets in the afternoon back to their usual faces of boredom. When walking around town we see more contradictions that followed the journey into town, there is the Palacio de Gobiero that is a stones throw from the tin houses of the prostitutes that work plaza indepencia in the early hours. There is the camona de diputades; a very well equipped expensive building that’s huge glass windows mirrors the shantytowns that overlook the river. Food wise, well in general it was okay, noting to write home about, especially after being spoiled in Argentina. One thing though is the Confiteria Bolsi; it has the best burgers ever. In general, though we expect the deteriation of the city we expected more historical buildings, a bit more colonial architecture but then we didn't know too much about the place to start so I can't be too disappointed. The local tourist office proves to be very helpful.

Originally we were going to go down south and visit a national park but due to time restraints and the fact that we've already just recently seen many butterflies, which is one of the main attractions, we skip it. The time restraints are down to a boat trip. We wanted to travel on the Rio Paraguay and were advised that though many people travel from Asuncion to Concepcion it is nicer to travel from Concepcion to Bahia Negro. The girl in the tourist office assures that there are buses from there to our next destination of Filadepfia. So we packed our bags and got the bus to Concepcion, the early buses are a bit of a killer.

Concepion is about six hours north of the capital. We pass through some sparse scenery that is full of some beautiful birds. It’s a bird watchers paradise. The colours and amazingly diverse. In Concepcion we check into Hotel Center which is 35,000 for a double room ensuite with fan, or 60,000 with air -con. The evening we arrive Sunday seems to be good timing. There is a local celebration in relation to a local regional moto cross competition. The streets are brimming with people on scooters or in 4*4 jeeps blasting music from huge speakers. There is a mood of excitement and celebration; I'm presuming that whomever they support did very well. We check in the hotel about the boat and we find that we are just a few blocks from the dock were we can arrange everything. Heading down there the next morning we wander aimlessly around the port, we try to figure out who to get tickets from but nothing is very clear. The boat is docked and we can see crewmembers fixing it up, doing basic repairs and starting to load some of the goods and cargo. A security guard directs us to the offices - the green building- the colour is faded and pealing and not easily spotted but we get there. The guy in the office tries to be helpful but our understanding is terrible. At the start we thinks it’s our poor Spanish letting is doing and start to berate ourselves for not knowing more but then we realise that he's actually speaking the national language Guarani. Two French guys approach us; they too want to do a similar journey with the car they bought in Chile. They’re traveling for about four months. Their car though is too big for the boat so they strike a deal with a different boat and head that day but before they go they help us and act as translators, their Spanish sounds near perfect. We find out the boat leaves every Thursday at 11, so the following day, it reaches Bahia Negra on Friday but as its the rainy season the roads or non roads as he describes are wiped out, we'd be stuck so we instead decide to go to Puerto Olimpo which arrives on the Thursday but he assures us that there are onwards buses out of town. He also says to sleep its good to have hammocks, so with our tickets in hand we went to pick up some locally. The next day we get to the docks around 10 as told. The boat is already overflowing with people and produce. This after all is not tourist boat but a local way to cargo transporter. Though we expected some of it we didn’t realise how full the boat would be. We find out later that there is between 200 and 250 people on board and this is the norm...The boat is filled with fresh fruits, vegtables, drinks, breads, baskets, sweets, clothes etc....its bursting at the seams. No wonder there was no room for the French guys car...As we walk around we see the boxes are piled high and that there are hammocks hanging from every available space. You guessed it problem number one, we possibly have no were to sleep for two days...We finally find the only place left to stand at the back of the boat near the stairs. We’re right beside the showers and toilets. The smell can be overpowering and mixed with the smell of food and fresh produce it’s a real strange mixture. We’re also close to the engines so the heat is intense. But we decide instead of turning around and getting straight off, we’d give it a chance and with some luck the scenery would be amazing and we’d see some amazing wildlife. We’d been told that you could see monkeys, loads of birds and some really nice scenery. On the boat its like musical chairs, if you move you lose your seat and this is how we gain some seats after a few hours...Good thing too, we were starting to get sore legs. The saving factor in the end isn’t the scenery, we saw nothing at all!!! Its nice but not mind blowing...the saving factor is the people, we were in the rural areas and they don’t get many tourists and they made us feel so welcome. They were among some of the friendliest people we’d ever met and some of them were very entertaining. It turns out that there were three travelers in total on the boat, us and a young polish guy who was taking two weeks off from his Brazilian college exchange course.

Okay I’m going to attempt to describe the people but I know I’m not going to do them much justice....

Were we are sitting there is a mother and child with so many boxes that they take over a long bench. They’re very quiet but very smiley. The son keeps smiling and staring at us, he looks like he wants to say something and after 12 hours or so comes over and says quick hola and runs back very proud of himself. There is a large man sitting beside me that seems to know a lot of people as many stop by to talk to him, he’s treated with a lot of respect. I’m just jealous that he has a seat and a hammock space, not fair!! There is a cheeky smiley elder man who tries to start a conversation with Arjan, its strange, they talk to me through Arjan, they direct all the questions for me through him. And no it’s not a matter of understanding differences but how they treat women. Anyway after a few minutes of talking to the smiley cheeky guy and its turns to a debate about which countries have the best beers and which countries can drink a lot. He seems to have a lot of respect for the Dutch and Irish drinking prowess. He seemed to adopt us and kept making sure we had enough to drink and eat, though he didn’t have much himself he kept offering us beer and chocolate.... very funny guy but we stuck to our water, well after carrying 5ltrs we wanted to get rid of some of the weight of it There is a quiet man who watches everything, he doesn’t say much but smiles kindly and keeps checking we’re okay. There is a young man who moved to the area a few months back, as a recently qualified doctor. He has good English and quickly becomes our translator and source of information. Through him and the group around us we find out that our plan is doomed, the roads at our stop our washed away from a rainfall from the previous week. After talking to him about all the main stops with useable roads and getaway plans we decide to get off earlier then expected at Vaille Mi. The stop is the following evening so that means only one bad nights sleep on the wooden seats that are sending our backs numb with pain. The town is supposed to have one hotel (Paroda) so we’ll have somewhere to sleep and three possible ways to leave town, there is a flight every Friday to the capital for usd 45, and from there we could catch a bus to Filadelphia, a bus service that depends on road conditions and if the worst happens return boat journey at the weekend. The man in charge of the engines comes around to our part of the boat quite a lot, as his luggage is stored there. He is a character and knows everyone. He is also the man in the know. He managed to secure the last hammock space for the cheeky smiley guy; it’s even in one of the best positions on the boat. Mr. Engine guy also has the hairiest back I’ve ever seen but that’s not the strange thing, its very patchy, its as if someone waxed inch cubes sporadically on his back. His vest is ripped and filthy and his shorts are an indiscript colour, but he seems to be a very clean person, as he always seems to be coming back from the shower area with his washing, always underwear. We know this because below one of the seating areas in front of us there are holes- windows into the engine room and he’s hanging his clothes through the holes on nails to dry. I’m not sure if everyone has noticed as they’re using the holes to rest their feet. There is a young couple on the other side of the toilets that stare at us all the time. The girl is the only person on the boat who appears hostile, my back knocked her slightly when we boarded but so did everyone else’s, that can’t be the reason but from her looks you’d swear I got up and slapped her in the face, ah well that life. Her boyfriend has a blank bored look. No idea what he’s think but doesn’t appear to be much. Though our position on the boat may be accompanied by a distinct smell I wouldn’t change it, its great for people watching and the group we’re in our great. Its also convenient for the shops on board, some of the market sellers are not waiting till they get to the markets to start selling, main meals are around 11.30 and 6, otherwise there’s plenty to buy and eat. That evening some of the older guys in the group refuse to sleep until I’m in some sort of sleeping position, even allowing me to use their ice boxes as foot rests even though they’d spent half the day telling other people not to lean on them. They’re very into chivalry and respect, its really nice. That night between millions of possessed demon mosquitoes and taking turns with Arjan to lie down on the bench there wasn’t much sleep to be had. The next day everyone on the boat was up around five, we looked like zombies... Later that morning we met the polish guy who is studying in Brazil, we didn’t know he was on board before then. He was also trying to determine how to change his plans because of the rainfall and had it half sorted out. There was a polish missionary priest on board who had been living in the area for over thirty years who would bring him part of the way. He offered to bring us to and though it was a really nice gesture we didn’t know how we would get from the place he would leave us, we’d probably have to walk over 100km, in our state we thought it was better to decline. We also found out from the doctor that we could get off the boat earlier by a few hours and catch a bus to the town of vaille mi. So feeling stinky and looking like part of a slashed zombie movie we got off at a stop called three mountains. It meant we could check into the hotel a lot earlier; after all it was now few nights without good sleep. Local young men agreed to show us to the bus stop and were the hotel was. It was really nice but before getting to the hotel he got off the bus early (we didn’t know this) and paraded us through town like zoo animals calling out to people that he didn’t even appear to know. He was a nice guy but I wanted to kill him, we were in the midday heat with little energy, sweating buckets and the backpacks seemed to be getting heavier with every step and on top of all this he had a bad knee and picked up his scooter and was sitting comfortably. Anyway enough moaning the hotel turned out to be a bit expensive at $20 for a double room but worth it. It was spotlessly clean, comfy bed and a good shower. The next morning we caught the 5.30am bus back to concepcion, we had been told it was rapido and that we would be there by midday, and we were just happy to be able to keep moving for 60,000, it was a way out and lot cheaper then the plane. The scenery from the bus was really nice, so many birds etc, it was what I was expecting from the boat. At around 10am the bus came to a stand still, everyone had to get off the bus and carry all their belongings, climbing over a fence and then walk 40 minutes on a hot day through a farmers muddy field. With swear pouring down everyone’s flushed red faces we kept up a quick pace as if you stood anywhere too long you started to sink in the mud up to your knees. When we got to a part of the bus we boarded another bus, we had just swapped buses with the passengers going the opposite way. There was no other way to pass and the rod was a rover in parts and huge trenches in between. After that we had to wait an hour for all the baggage and cargo to be swapped. Eventually we got to town three hours later then expected muddy, tired, ready to drop but still smiling. We went back to the same hotel and decided that three days of little of no sleep meant we should check in for two days to recover. But between the heat and those evil possessed mozzies we got no sleep, mixed with a place were the water was temperamental which meant no showers we were wrecked.

We left town on the 7.30 bus to filadelphia , a town that had been set up by Russians and Germans. Many people in the town spoke German so yippee we ´d be able to understand, okay Arjan would!! Come on in job if you didn’t understand German you couldn’t do the job fairly. Walking through town there are clear divides between the original local people and the new groups. The hotel we’re staying in has 24 up market rooms with silent air-conditioning, mini fridges, ensuite and TVs for 120,000 g or like us you can get one of the budget rooms for 60,000. These rooms have shared bathrooms, noisy aircon, nothing fancy, cells really but somewhere to sleep. It’s a good hotel and considering the good we’ve had lately the attached restaurant is great. But yes you guessed it loads of mozzies and flies, mostly hovering around the showers.... The bite marks are now competing with my freckles, and they’re numerous. After a few relaxing days walking around and sleeping we were hoping to get a bus to Santa Cruz in Bolivia without backtracking but the info we had was wrong so we had to back track to the capital and get the bus from there.

The journey though long at 22 hours was really nice and took in some of the Chaco scenery....

Okay so we hired a car originally for four days but extended it to five days because we had so much to see. The best deal was with a large company that ended up being about 1000 peso between the four of us including insurances etc for a group b car. The car was a corsa, not the ones we’re used to but a Chevrolet, it was a decent size and the boot fitted the four large backpacks so we were happy. Our travel companions were Chris and Helen, a couple from the UK that we had met before at a campsite in Ushuaia, really good people to travel with. For insurance and cost etc Chris was the driver and for her sense of direction Helen was the directions person, Arjan and I, well we tried but we don’t drive and our sense of direction doesn’t take into account one way roads, ...

On the first day we left Cordoba around noonish and headed about 35km to Alta Gracia, now dubbed forever Andy Garcia.... here we visited the Museo Casa de Ernesto Che Guevara, the museum is in the old family home, and a bargain at 3 peso entry fee. Che’s family moved here originally because of the drier climate, which would help with his asthma. Many the photos are many recognisable ones from various biographies and documentaries. As Arjan had just felt one such bio before we left he was able to add to the information provided. Even though it was informative it was very hero worship and tries to make you think that he was perfect, but nobody is.... I suppose like everything memories get distorted over time and stories grow lives of their own. I was tempted to give into the shopaholic side and buy loads of cheesy souvenirs but in the end the budget side one and I settled on a replica Cuban note with Che's face on, something small to stick on the wall.... After the museum and some lunch we headed to the local Jesuit estancia, I can’t say too much about it, the building was nice but the inside rooms did little to appeal to me.

From here we headed to the resort town of Villa General Belgrano. It’s a quirky town that is very proud of its German origins advertising German microbreweries, black forest gateaux and goulash. The town main street has many restaurants displaying cheesy photos of people in traditional clothes etc but it seems like a theme park more then anything. There is even a children’s amusement ground called Oktoberfest, which borders on the main roundabout, which displays large beer kegs. The hostel we’re staying in is set in a forest at the edge of town and is really nice, though the mosquitoes are treating us like we’re the three course meals, they keep anyone looking for the swimming pool on the grounds. (Stats - dorm 15 pesos, 4 pesos for breakfast).

The next day we head to Le Cumbrecita so we can walk up Cerro Wank and giggle and take silly photos of the sign, yeah yeah I know, but its fun to not grow up the walk isn’t too bad in itself but the mosquitoes are vicious, they’re huge and bite through your clothes...

From here we head to Mina Clavero, this town is nice but in itself there’s not too much to see, we use it as a base for other sites close by. The hospedajes primavera is nice and quite cheap, double rooms ensuite for 4 pesos (10 euro)... but it and the place across the road seem to have been hijacked by senior citizens... at least we know they’re quiet, though they did have a party.... The first day we get up early and head to the Parque nacional Quebrada del Condorito but before we can get there we end up in a fog that is quite dangerous, we can’t see anything, by some stroke of luck we manage to pull the car over and after nearly driving into we see we are at el condor cafe, as its too risky to keep going we try to waste some time by having food and playing coin games which are still going through my head.... after the air clears a little we decide to change our plans and go somewhere else for the day as no one wants to take a risk in that kind of weather especially on cliff roads.... we head instead to Rocsen Polyfacetic museum.
This is another addition to the weird and wacky visits. The outside is decorated with nearly 50 statues that are supposed to 'represent the evolution of thought´, they show philosophers, historic leaders, religious figures and writers.... the inside itself is a huge warehouse filled with everything, thrown together by a man.... You enter an area filled with chaos, there are old cars, bikes, tractors, trailers, bottles, posters, dolls, toys, stones, books, lamps, stuffed animals, musical instruments, cameras, type writers, record players, medical equipment , even skulls and a shrunken head, I could go on forever trying to list it all, its just crazy !! I know there is some order to it but it doesn’t jump out directly.... what’s more scary is that Arjan seems to feel at home, we even spot similar items to his own, camera, glasses, old bibles, voodoo stick... when i was there i could see what our house could end up like.... at least i can charge an entrance fee after the museum we head to see a damm,

it was smelly, enough said about that!!!

The next day we try again to go the condor park and we succeed with big blue skies. The walk to the balconies takes 2-3 hours, from here you can see young condors learning how to fly but they were on the other side of the gorge so you couldn’t see them properly without binoculars.... when we decided it was time to leave two large birds landed near us and then it was time to take out the cameras and become trigger happy, Chris claimed the best photo point on top of a rock which he creeped to, he got some really good shots and now I’m curious if any of mine did...

as we were leaving we bumped into Jeff an American guy we had met before, he knows everything about birds or at least seems to, he’s traveling around most of the parks in Argentina with his tent and binoculars...he’s a nice guy but I kept finding myself drawn to the tattoos on his arms, they’re all of different birds, and really detailed, I’m impressed but ouch ! We couldn’t spend too long talking to him as Helen and Chris were waiting for us in the car, those guys are quick!!!

The next day involved a lot of driving and a detour into a hippie town, it seemed like an interesting place but we didn’t have time to explore though we did count some tie-dyed hippies the local tourist office told us about the most amazing river in the Cordoba region but we ended up taking the wrong road and didn’t see it.... we did end up with a long scratch along the car though... this led to some humming and hawing about trying to cover it but whats done is done.... we keep travelling through dirt roads over and around the mountains with pitspots to take bird photos (damn birds wouldn´t stop flying away or stayed out of range), we arrived in Estancia Santa Carolina in good time, its a nice church but well i was expecting more then mozzies.... the caretaker was quite nice and very informative ,

he said he like punk music and then ran to a cd player so i was wondering what he was going to play but to my ear it sounded religious though he swears it wasn´t , ah well it was a church.....

That evening we reached the town of Jesus Maria, the cheapest place we could find was booked out so we ended up paying 90 peso for a double room, the hotel was nice but the air conditioning drowned out all noise including thinking... the next morning and our final journey before heading back is to the local estancia.... we were there just after its advertised opening time of 8 to find that it officially opens at 9 but they opened a little earlier for us, similar to before, nice building but could have done without going into all the rooms......from here we made it back to cordoba in good time and bidded bye to our travel chums.... wonder what they thought of us....

We decided to stay another night in Cordoba just because , the next day we headed to Puerto Iguaçu, the journey was 20 hours long but who can complain when you get champagne on the bus.... ahhh this is the life.... at the final end of the bus journey we transferred in posada and met Naomi and Israeli girl who was traveling alone for a few months, she’s a nice girl, the next day we head to the water falls, the Iguaçu waterfalls border Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, though only the first two have the view points. On the bus there we bumped into Naomi who came along with us.

On arrival in the park (30 peso entry fee) we are covered by butterflies, they’re so tickly, they ´re very beautiful and hopefully a few shots turn out. The waterfalls themselves are quite impressive and we walk to most of them, the main one at the devils throat is huge and covered in mist from the power of the water as it falls.

The next day we headed to the Brazilian side were there is less butterflies but a better view of the falls from a panoramic aspect, same price again, 30 pesos, the choice of which I prefer well the Argentinean side if I’m honest, its less organised but you have more a sense of nature and animals...I know I know, I’m turning into a nature freak but its so beautiful in many of the parks or even just gazing from bus windows...


We also visited a little hummingbird garden in the town on the Argentinean side, it was very cute and there were so many birds, at one stage I was holding one of the food supplement bottles and there was many fluttering around me....

Okay onto the next town, from here we headed to posadas; this was just a stopgap to head into Paraguay. That’s were we are now and I’ll fill you in on that later.... tomorrow we’re going on a boat trip for a few days, lazing in our hammocks, mine is a crazy purple and yellowy mustard colour , gazing at the scenery... traveling can be hard but its so rewarding to see so much....