toogreytogrind

This city was next on our trip. It is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, whereas La Paz is the administrative capital, ie that`s where the government is. So what you might think. Not so here where it is a very emotive subject. Some people want to move the government back to Sucre, and the protests turned to riots which resulted in deaths.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070033959

Both of us weren`t feeling to good after the trip to the mine. My throat felt like it had a layer of skin taken off it. That was just after 40 minutes.

I have worn silver in the past and also had some black and white film developed (very nice but expensive), I never even thought of where the silver came from nor what the workers went through to get the silver out of the mine. But what should we do, there are not really other opportunities for those workers. The government at least should make some legal requirement for companies to supply respiration gear for free and guards and the machines. Well we were told that 11 years ago that the mine only had another 7 years of life due to the honey comb effect of 500 years of mining. Collapse of Cerro negro and the economy it produces is imminant. There are 15,000 miners that work in/on cerro rico, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Potosí is a town that boomed due to the discovery of silver (Ag) in the hill (Cerro Rico) that over looks it. Mining and tourism would seem to be the only industries here, and are interlinked. We went one the tour today to visit the mine. First you visit the miners market to buy some dynamite. Yes in this town you can send you kid to the shops to get hold of some TNT, fertiliser, and fuses.

The miners all seem to be small, and this advantage becomes apparent when you´re in the mine. If you are tall buy their standards then you will be stooping a lot and still bumping your head and tripping over stuff. Parts of the roof were caving in and the wood props were hanging down with rocks looking like they would drop at any time. Bandanas were on sale to cover your mouth and nose. Problem, this just made muy glasses steam up and I couldn´t see, with it down I was choaking and gasping for air.

Lisa was determind to make it to the museum the first stop. She turned back when she started gasping for air, about 20 meters. I can simpathise, I was breathing profundo y tambien. Not something you want to do when you know what´s in the dust. Well I made it to the first part and the museum but, even there the air was unpleasant, and in parts standing upright was impossible. After a over long stop, I just wanted to get on with it, we started again. The roof of the tunnel was now even lower and the floor even more uneven. I was moving my bandana over my face and then banging my head, removing it and then choking with the dust. I say the guide up ahead with a girl. She said, I´m not going any further. I said, good idea. The guide asked if I was sure. Yes, I got what I wanted out of the trip.

What did I want out of the trip? An understanding of what the conditions are like, and what the 15,000 workers go through. The others on the trip who did go all the way said it got narrower and lower the further down.

Did I feel as though I missed out by turning back? No. I got out of it what I wanted.

Did I feel a wimp, in the land of machismo, being the only guy to turn back. No. Could I have carried on? Yes. But for what reasons. Not to be thought of as a wimp. I´m 40 and I know my own mind, if I don´t want to do something then I´m not doing it. Could I have carried on for a sense of achivement. Yes. But I guess, with my background, I want to be climbing up something to get to a top or mountain biking something technical to see if I can ride it, or how fast I can ride down hill.

Any regrets? No. Try everything to see if you like it, if you don´t, that´s you and you move on.

Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes. To try to undestand the shit people have to put up with to make a living.

Salar Uyuni

This place has been described as more sureal than Dalí. It´s a lake that dried up thousands of years ago with islands covered in cacti hovering in the distance over the white salt crystals. I guess something to do with the heat of the sun, producing a relextive quality in the salt. Even with factor 45+ with the altitude and reflexsion of the sun I got sunburn.

We had booked this trip

Pampa: What is pampa think of the jungle, now think of what it would be like if it was cleared of most of the trees.

We were running a tight schedule to meet up with Shelley so we booked up all our trips with American Tours in La Paz. The choices of getting to Rurrenbaque are around about a 16 hour trip in a 4x4, usually a Toyota Land Cruiser (if you`re un-lucky a Jeep, American enginering at it´s worst, you may not get where you´re going). The times can vary, if it rains the wheels spin and you slide all over the road. By plane is the second option a bit more pricy but only 40 minutes. The thrid option is boat, but that takes 6 days, it´s a bit more predictable. With rain the road turns to mud and the thing we didn´t think about was so does the runway. Planes at rurrenabaque land in a cloud of dust and squerm about trying to brake. In the wet! No way.

We were waiting at our hostel waiting for our taxi to the airport, organised by the agency, or so we thought. It never arrived. We jumped into a taxi and headed for the airport. After checking in we say our plane. Trying to get to a seat in the 19 seater involved bumping your head every step. The trip was bumpy but fun, I find flights in small planes less scary than the large planes, where the clinical environment makes you feel like you`re not flying. Flying over the Andes is spectacular, snow capped mountains eventually gave way to trees, grass and rivers. Then we saw the runway. An orange brown strip of dirt in the middle of the Pampa. A bumpy landing and we were there.

Now the day before I had a kebab and some serious food poisoning. Having paid quite a bit of money for the trip I started Cipro to kill off all those bacteria giving me the cramps. The first day in Rurrenbaque we spend just in the town, as we wanted to see the sites, that took about 5 or 10 minutes. The day after we set off on the Pampa trip in a Land Cruiser, sharing it with two other travelers. Phil and Marina two New Zealanders. Later that day we went out on the river to see some of the wildlife Caymen, pink dolphines, capibara, etc. We had a fantastic day if a bit hot. That was the problem as the heat when I was already dehydrated with the food poisoning took it`s toll and I had to go to bed and drink rehydration drinks (thanks Phil and Marina) while the others went on a night time trek to se all sorts of fantastic things. Rehydration powder had made it on to my must take list it really makes a difference.

The day after I was feeling more myself and I was glad. We saw an anaconda in the morning and in the afternoon we went fishing. Now this is the first time I`d been fishing and the interesting thing is what was biting. Pyranhas infest the waters and so it was no surprise that they were biting. What was surprising is for such a small fish how they bit with such force. Baiting the hook with a chunk of meat and casting it in to the water got immidiate attention and within seconds the meat was stripped from the hook. I seemed to be the only one not having any luck with these fish. I then changed tactics and started fishing from the bank with fat instead of meat. They were still biting but not stripping the bait off.

Got one!

One of the Bala tours helpers got the fish off the bait, which was still ok. with the same bait I then landed a sardine, and then another pyranha. While the fishes were biting my hook the mosquitos were biting me. A lot! Lisa counted 43 and then lost count. The problem with my getting mosquito bites, is that I must have a alergy to them and the end up like boils.

The last day of the tour was wet, and we turned back early. We had lunch at the camp and then started off. The road was now water logged so we were spinning and sliding our way back to Rurrenabaque. Later the road dried and things we`re going more smoothly. Until there was another Land Cruiser that pulled out in front of us and our driver didn`t brake nor did he turn the wheel. He just drove straight into it. We were surrounded by police within seconds. Where did they all come from! The seemed excited that there was something to do. The Land Cruisers went off to the station and we were walking to meet them. I found another victim from the Land Cruiser, a cockaroach. Now I`ve seen roaches before but not this big. This one was as big as my hand.

On getting back to Rurrenbaque we found that all flights had been delayed, due to the runway being a bit muddy!!!! So our flight was delyed as well. We did eventually get out of the Pampa and back to La Paz.

Also know as the old road from La Paz to Coroico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungas_Road

Note I say old road as there is a new road which now takes the bulk of the traffic. The new road is safer but slower so some traffic still prefer to take the quicker route. So the old road is no longer the WMDR anymore, but that doesn`t detract from the road´s spectacular views. Now how did this road become the

WMDR, anybody who has travelled through Bolivia must think how did they choose, there are so many roads here that deserve that title. The difference apparently is the death rate of the WMDR was the highest.



Gravity Bolivia, and many other companies offer a guided mountain bike ride down this road and then you get into the support bus and go up it. They did a great job of keeping everyone more or less happy. They gave some good training to some inexperienced riders as well. I can see why they are the recommended agency to go with.



The ride: well it is what it is, it is a road after all so mountain bike wise it is not that difficult, nor that fast. But it was a great experience and you get the sense of why and how people used to drive up and down this road with the knowledge that someone dies nearly everyday on it. The traffic changes sides and drives on the opposite side so that drivers can see their wheels and where they are in relation to the drop, and I do mean drop.

It´s not the sort of moutian biking to make an experienced mountain biker go weak at the knees but it is a great experience to ride a piece of history.

Photos:
http://www.gravitybolivia.com/gallery/PhotohighlightsfromtheWorldsMostDangerousRoad

Of all the capital cities I´ve vistited, La Paz has got to be the most beautiful, from a distance. La Paz drops down from the altiplano (high flat lands) into a deep valley with buidings hugging the sides, snow capped mountains add the back drop. Take a journey down the valley and there`s valle de la luna, a moon scape valley.

The centre of the city is far from beautiful, but more so than other Latin american capitals like Tegus. But that´s not hard.

If you like trout, you`ll like Copacabana. Well it`s difficult to find a menu without trout on it. Walk down by the lake side to admire the sunset and get draged into one of the kioskos, by some crazy woman holding a plate of raw trout.

We up-graded here as well and went for a very quirky hotel on the lake side.

From this small town you can vistit the Uros, the floating islands of lake titicaca. My impression of these islands were, of, what have turists done to this place. As always the locals were selling handy crafts, but they were very expensive in relative terms. A local boy was singing for us apparently in lots of different languages, but when he got to the English version we didn`t understand a word. An italian gave him s/ 20. you can see why their lifes have changed, is money is this easy to come by. Also it is, I think bad for budget travel.

Restaurant Turístico, jr lima No 418 puno. We were going to be crossing the border into bolivia, so we needed to get rid of some soles. Why not treat our selves to a posh restaurant, so we picked the above place. Everything was more expensive but what the hell. I went for a soup to start with and then Alpaca as a main, Lisa just went for a pizza. My soup came and Lisa said start. We thought they would be bringing the pizza with my main. After finishing my soup my main came and Lisa said to start. Half way through my main Lisa`s pizza still hadn`t arrived. A quick word with the waiter and we were told it was on it´s way. After finishing my main, another chat with the waiter we found out the pizza would be ready in 10 minutes ie. it wasn´t even prepared. We received no appology. We obviously left no tip, only serve food if it`s be ordered, that`s how you make your money.

Colectur: run an excellent service from Puno to copacabana for s/ 12, this is direct with the company all other companies are at lease s/22.

We´re in a hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, and we`re watching the new version of the Omen. There´s a big black pit bull dog, Lisa expreses her fear of dogs. That´s not news to me.

Me: I saw a Taco Bell today.
Lisa: I used to eat at Taco Bell all the time when I was in the states.
Me: Is it good?
Lisa: No it´s shit!

It´s quite a good film but nothing that different to merit a remake. Why does Hollywood do that sort of thing? Why not do a remake of Matrix reloaded, it needs it!
........................................................................................

I´m standing in a field with Chachani as a back drop and there´s a alpaca and a black pit bull charging straight for me. I see Lisa on the run, out of the corner of my eye. Both alpaca and pit bull run straight past me. Lisa comments on how brave I was for standing my ground. Well I would take the credit if I could, but it was more a case of:

"What the ......!"

Fros the shaman, if you can call him that, so I´ll call him Fros from now on, calls off his dog and the alpaca backs off.
Fros asks if we´re ready to go down to the river. Everyones ready and we go down to the river. Fros starts the cleansing ceramony at last the day is looking like it might have some promise. How wrong, could we be.

We had the San Pedro and tried to chill and feel nature take its course. Unfortunetly Fros and the dog had other ideas. The dog persisted in attacking our bags and things. Fros kept saying are you feeling anything yet. Not the sort of think you would expect nor want. Lisa did ask the same question to which I replied. "I feel cold and shivery!" That may have had something to do with the cold.

......................................................................................
We arrived at Puma Tours Arequipa, on Calle San Francisco, our Shaman turned up, Fros. Remarkably looking like any "Juan" of the street. He was with a Chinese girl called Ye, who seemed a bit puzzled by every thing. For good reason, as well. We later found out that the reason she seemed a bit puzzled by everything, was, she really didn´t have any idea what she was doing there. She was just someone he found in the street.

We went to the Shaman´s house, not something we were told about. There we met his family and dog a big black pit bull. Lisa was looking distressed!

The dog started getting excited as it know´s it´s going out. Its jumping around is scaring Lisa. Not something we need. I asked if it was coming with us and he said, yes, he said that there were some not nice people where we were going and we needed it for protection. Not something we wanted to hear on both counts. I start to think, ok we´re going to be taking a trippy cactus drink and there´s Lisa who is scared of dogs, not a good combination.

We arrive at the mirador where you can see El Misti and Chachani, a great location. We get out of the taxi and the dog imidiatly gets the attention of the local alpaca. The alpaca walks straight over to face off with the dog. For those who don´t know what an alpaca is, it´s a cuddley woodely, cartoony version of a llama. So there´s the bizzare site of an alpaca and a black pit bull facing off. Even more bizzare in that the pit bull looked more scared than the alpaca!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

We go back to the room and by now I´m really not feeling to good. The pain in my stomach has moved and now feels like the green goo what I drank is on the move southwards. With hours of cramps all moving down wards, waiting for hours like an expectant mother or father ready to give birth to that little runt Pedro. Eventually Pedro is flushed back to Pachamama where he came bit by bit. While in the toilet the tiles are moving like they are meeting. Quick naps between, trips to the toilet I dream of black volcanos and the lava giving birth to black dogs.

.....................................................................

We´re just coming up on something and the fire is just getting going and Fros and Ye want to go. It turns out that Ye has a 8:00pm bus to nasca. Beautiful! We start to head off. I stop for a Gypsy`s and the dog is behind me staring at me, I really not liking this, and it was no quick neither, a piss a real Austin Powers one. I look behind again and he´s still there. After I finish the dog rushes over has a quick sniff at my handy work and cocks his leg and squirts out a quick one and walks off in front of me. While we were coming up we had a dusty walk back in the dark down seemingly endless calles all with dogs on the roofs are in the street having a go at Fros´ dog.

...............................................................................................................................................................

Footnote.....
The best advise to anyone thinking of taking any trip with Puma Tours Operator, Arequipa, on Calle San Francisco, is don´t. I´m sure a San Pedro experience can be good, this one was just a piss take. I´m sure the rest of their trips are as bad.

Their details;
Puma Tours Operator
Calle San Francisco 204
Arequipa

El Misti is the Volcano that overlooks the town of Arequipa, it´s 5800 and some meters. I had my reservation to do it with a local agency. I went for my briefing but there was a problem. The other people in the group had pulled out and there was only me ie there was no trip.

Chachani is another mountain that over looks the town. Not quite so impressive from the town as it is further away. The agency suggested that I should do that instead as there was a group for that the next day. So I coughed up another $15.

Soroche is what they call altitude sickness here. Chachani is one of the most accessable peaks at over 6000m well 6075m. So it would be a real achivement for the book, but with a real possibility of soroche. I´ve already been up to 4200m on the camino inca, but 5000 or 6000 was an unknown. After 3 hours of drit roads in a Toyota land cruiser we arrived at the end of the road. From there we had a 2 hour walk to base camp. I was ok at first but then the head aches started, and the dissyness. After dinner I promptly pucked it up. It was getting windy and very cold. With all my clothes on and in my pit (sleeping bag) I was shivering. A combination of cold, pucking, and headaches kept me awake all night well until the guide came to wake us up. He saw the frozen piles of puck outside my carpa and asked if I was ok. I said I still wanted to do it. After breakfast we were ready for the off. Well I talked to the guide to say I was not feeling too good. He said try for the first col and to see how I felt. Walking across the flat gound of the base camp was a challenge, I was so dissy I couldn´t walk in a strainght line. When it got rocky, I was gulping for air. It wasn´t going to happen, back to the carpa to CHILL.