toogreytogrind

toogreytogrind.wordpress.com

2009-07-30T11:42:00.001-07:00

Gone to wordpress.

912 crew

2008-12-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

The 912 crew rip freeskating. I don't want to do slalom and I'm too grey to grind, but these guys from Paris inspire.........................

New vid from Yanik
http://www.dailymotion.com/912-PRODUCTION

Top fuel skater

2008-12-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

When I first saw the guy on skates hanging onto the back of a Hayabusa, I was amazed, also secretely thinking of asking around friends who had fast bikes to see if I could get my skates on and catch a ride. I have zero friends with Hayabusas and even less with top fuel dragsters. This guy is nuts. I would not do this, obviously this is me thinking about the environment.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=94d98MBZ9g0&feature=related
Bonkers........

Chugger, chugger, charity mugger.

2008-11-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

After returning from my journey to the sub continent I gained employment on the TCR. This one of the street mongering places of the chugger. It did come as some surprise. Yes, there are the usual sellers of fruit, god, taxi drivers, etc, just like you would find in Central and South America.

Yes off course politeness should be used, but stresses and strains of life can get the better of a man. I needed some advise on how to deal with these people. After searching the internet buscadores for some advice on how to deal with the chugger. I know a picture paints a thousand words, well if that is the case then the moving picture paints a thousand, I found these words, ok no words just actions, from Keith Hackney dealing with a chugger working for an undisclosed third party (as usual, I've spoken to a few and they always try to give the impression that they work for the charity), on behalf off Charity for Real-estate Acquisition of Propertiy Presenters (CRAPP). The credit crunch has had a huge impact on the presenters of the plethara of "buy a house to make a quick pound" programmes. Sorry, but I don't like Americanisums and didn't want to say quick buck. As a result there has been several of these well paid free riders are now on skid row and charity chugger Joe Son was doing his best to raise funds to keep these unfortunate few in the life style they have become acquainted with.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=19Dz8arDKs4
After seeing this, the message I want to get across is to give to charity, direct. Why, give money you want to give to a good cause to some middle man, and flood the streets with these chuggers putting their 8&115 in the line of fire from White Tiger Kempo masters and making the streets of London town a pain to walk to work for the rest of us.

Guess we will just get a charity chuggers for unemployed chuggers then!

Flamenco

2008-11-18T12:27:00.001-08:00

Halloween skate

2008-11-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

With the usual skating kit put a few extras like a scythe, face paint, fake blood, scrubs, we set out on the London Halloween skate 2008.

The number of skaters who had not made an effort to dress up could be counted on one hand and smiles were many. I even saw a taxi driver smiling!!!!

The scythe: I'm used to skating without anything in my hands and to have, albeit plastic, scythe in my hands...............something felt so wrong and yet so right. Maybe, it's due to all the years moutain biking, who knows. On the night it was good for giving the kids a scare.

Oktober

2008-10-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Lederne hosen das gote.

Fiesta de despedida del soltero (Craig)

2008-09-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Simon is big time pissed off for having his post lost. Blogger, improve it or loose it!

Sin salida

2008-08-20T13:01:00.001-07:00

I took this stencil in Buenos Aires and when I took it to me it was just a stencil. But every stencil has a message and stencils more than other forms of art tend to have some political message. Later I showed an argentine guy in my hostel and he told me the story behind it. There was a fire at a Rock concert resulting in lots of deaths, basically because people could not get out of the club. Having been to Argentina, I know that the fire regulations are not that strictly enforced. So it's easy to see how if there was a fire things would be very nasty.

Since starting my new job I have been reading the BBC portada during my lunch break, and today I saw this article on the portada. So the good news is looks like people are finally being made accountable for the crime.

Juicio por tragedia en Buenos Aires
Max Seitz BBC Mundo, Argentina

Quince acusados enfrentan desde este martes un juicio por su presunta responsabilidad en el incendio de la discoteca República Cromagnon a fines de 2004, una de las peores tragedias ocurridas en la ciudad de Buenos Aires.
El accidente, que sucedió durante un concierto de rock, dejó más de 190 muertos y centenares de heridos.
Los imputados son el ex gerente de la discoteca, Omar Chabán, su ex colaborador Raúl Villarreal, los ocho integrantes de la banda Callejeros -que ofrecían un recital la noche de la tragedia-, dos ex jefes policiales y tres ex funcionarios del área de fiscalización del gobierno de la ciudad de Buenos Aires.
Sobre Chabán, Villarreal y Callejeros pesan los cargos de pago de sobornos y "estrago doloso" seguido de muerte, crimen que tiene una pena máxima de 20 años de prisión.
Los ex agentes son juzgados por recibir sobornos, además de "estrago doloso". Mientras que los ex empleados del gobierno porteño están acusados de incumplimiento de los deberes de funcionario público.
Cientos de testigos
Los 15 imputados niegan las denuncias en su contra. Durante las audiencias están protegidos por vidrios blindados para evitar incidentes con los familiares de las víctimas.
Chabán es el único de los acusados que ha estado preso. Permaneció detenido durante más de dos años, pero a fines de 2007 la Justicia dispuso su excarcelación a la espera del juicio.
Está previsto que en la causa declaren unos 350 testigos, entre ellos sobrevivientes, bandas de rock, funcionarios, peritos, policías y periodistas. Se estima que el proceso durará unos siete meses.
Frente al tribunal se congregaron decenas de familiares de las víctimas, que durante años han reclamado el esclarecimiento del hecho, y simpatizantes de Callejeros, que defienden la inocencia de la banda. Por momentos se vivieron escenas de tensión.
Sin salida
La tragedia en República Cromagnon ocurrió el 31 de diciembre de 2004 cuando un espectador lanzó una bengala en el interior del local, que al chocar contra un techo de lona inflamable provocó el incendio.
La salida de emergencia de la discoteca ubicada en el barrio porteño de Once estaba clausurada, lo que dificultó la evacuación de las 3.000 personas que asistían al recital.
República Cromagnon había sido habilitada para apenas un tercio de esa cantidad de asistentes, lo que puso en evidencia irregularidades en los permisos municipales otorgados a espacios nocturnos y derivó en el cierre temporal de todos los locales de este tipo en Buenos Aires.
El incendio le costó el puesto al alcalde de la capital argentina, Aníbal Ibarra, en 2005.
Ibarra, un aliado del entonces presidente Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), fue destituido en un juicio político por mal desempeño de sus funciones, si bien la Justicia lo libró de toda responsabilidad en la tragedia.
Este funcionario de centro-izquierda se convirtió así en el primer jefe de gobierno porteño en ser removido, hecho que atribuyó a una "maniobra" de sus adversarios.
Pero sus críticos afirmaron que el incendio en República Cromagnon pudo haberse evitado si las normas básicas de seguridad se hubiesen cumplido.
Por su parte, los miembros de Callejeros han sido acusados de incentivar el uso de bengalas en sus recitales, algo que han negado.
Desde el día de la tragedia, los familiares de las víctimas se organizaron en varios grupos y emprendieron una cruzada en busca de justicia. Han realizado numerosos actos en memoria a los muertos y movilizaciones contra los presuntos responsables del accidente.
A pocos metros de lo que fuera República Cromagnon se mantiene una suerte de santuario que recuerda el incendio, con fotografías y nombres de los fallecidos, y decenas de calzados deportivos rescatados de entre los escombros.

Nota de BBCMundo.com:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7571000/7571387.stm

2008/08/19 20:35:54 GMT© BBC MMVIII

Mate

2008-08-16T09:16:00.001-07:00

It's been I guess about 6 months since I've been back from my travels and I got to reminiscing about things. I really wanted to have some Mate on Friday so I went down to Soho to buy some. I got a full kit ie yerba, a mate and bombilla for £10.95. So in pasos arg I guess about 60. For 60 pasos you could pay for a bad for the night 30 pasos, 20 pasos for one of these kits, and get a pizza and beer for less than 10.
But in London you have to pay more that’s life, you also get paid more here so 11 quid is not that much, and it was nice to get that heady high from the tea and sit in the garden mateando.
I think there’s more to it than just missing the tea.

Carnival del pueblo

2008-08-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

After being in Latin America, it was strange to see this sort of thing again in Londres. I liked it because it was people celebrating their heritage.

The food stalls were strange because I could not get out of my mind the thoughts that I had when I was in places like their counties. Thoughts like can I eat this food without it making me sick. Probably, yes.

What was strange was seeing Chifa (Chinese food) and Jamaican food. I know that they sometimes do have this type of food in some of these countries but it’s not of the country. I noticed that there were no Cuban food stalls. Even London food stall would struggle to over cook food that much.

London naked bike ride, well skate for some

2008-06-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

After riding the London naked bike ride last year, I wanted to try on skates. I'll let the pictures tell the story................................

Found a job in London

2008-06-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

Friday was a bit hectic with phoning an emailing various people regarding a job offer. But it's now all signed and sealed and I start my new job on the 4th of July. It's at the UCL trials office.

Looking for a job in London.

2008-05-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I've had 4 interviews so far, with varying degrees of compency.

The first was for a phase I unit and I didn't have enough, well any, phase I experience.

The second in Barcelona, after going to the old office address, which the agency gave me, things changed form being super early to half an hour late. The interviewers liked me but not for the job.

The third interview, I rocked it, the interview went so well that I thought that I must of had the job. Not so. After my interview they interviewed a doctor ie someone who just finished their medical training and this is a precious commodity in the field of clinical trials. Out gunned!!!!!

The last interview, was in Chorley for a job in Reading. Don't ask. This was a classic example of bad interviewers and me not knowing what to do to recover.

Future:
I've applied for some jobs in academia so cross fingers.

MRC

2008-04-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

It was good but also strange meeting up with friends from the MRC last night. Things seem very different but also very same. Lots of people have left, the structure of the unit is different, so there is a clinical operations group now.
They have a MHRA audit shortly and with lots of people leaving sounds like there is lots of work to be done. I've sent an email to see if there is any temp work there that I could do until I get a permanent job.

1st skate of the season.

2008-04-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

When I was traveling there was one thing that I did miss, that was getting out and getting some exercise. It was quite easy to hire Mountainbikes from time to time. But always the brakes would be the oposite way around to the normal way here. I see that miss 35 Litres has just been mountainbiking somewhere in the Far East. But if your not used to the brakes being a certain way I guess it's quite easy to jump on any bike and just ride. It's not too much of a job to change them around but quite often the shops just aren't interested in doing it, ie your safety.

The other sport I missed was skating. Now there was a place I found in Uruguay where you could hire inline skates but they were only for hire in the rink and the rink was tiny and the skates weren't that good. So I just got a email from Mike van erp to say that the London Wednesday night skate is starting again this week, so I'll be packing my skates and bringing them back down to London ready for Wednesday night.

==================================================

Well, back from the skate and it was a good one. Probably about 150 skaters, well that's a guess. I got to Hyde Park and got my pads and skates on, then sat there on the bench. I was just sat there thinking will I remember how to skate. I finally got up and gave it a go. The funny thing was not having skated for over 8 months, my brain seemed to know how to skate, so did my body, but it was the sensation of moving as a skater that my brain had problems with and I had a feeling of what the hell is going on.

Give us a job!

2008-04-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yet again I find myself without a job. Pessimistically I could be down about this, thinking that I'm going back to where I was before only maybe further down the ladder as I haven't worked in the field of my main career for nearly two years. Optimistically, I can remember a actors' saying "every exit leads to another entrance." or something like that, you get the idea, and I would rather go with this option. Yes, I am unemployed but what about all those doors that I could be walking through. Also talking with one agency this morning, there seems to be some jobs for CRAs with language skills. I would bite there arms off for a job like that.

Regreso a Rossendale

2008-04-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

I booked my holiday with the Jobcentre Plus (can anyone tell me what the "Plus" means) and bought my ticket with Megabus (Not a megabus but cheap and ok) and Sunday morning arrived and I got up to get ready for my journey north to find snow. Shelley was up excited about the snow, Fos the cat was puzzled, but interested by the white cold stuff.

I was still suffering with the cold over here and Sunday was really cold and oh joy I was going north! Peckham Rye was covered and people were making snow men and snow ball fighting.

I remember seeing Megabuses before and they were the double-decker basic buses. I guess that their cheapness had paid and they now have a fleet of new plusher buses like National Express. Ok the buses are not that great in the big picture after Latin America. The seats are narrow (4 across the bus), not leather, and don't recline. Your ticket doesn't included meals and drinks (whiskey). But this is England and the good thing is that the journey time was only 5 hours. Some people behind me were going to Glasgow on the same bus and said it was 11 hours and said how it was a really long journey. I thought only 11 hours that's ok, all the roads are covered in tarmach!

Usually traveling up the M66 and the Edenfield bypass I'm greated by hills on either side not on this Sunday. You could just see the hills through the almost white-out. Considering the snow and I was traveling on a Sunday I had good conections and a easy journey. After stopping off at the Super to get some cervazas I walked up to Edgeside and to my mothers to see her for the first time in over 8 months.

Culture shock in your own country

2008-04-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

There's been serveral occasions where I felt culture shock in the last few days.

One of them was when I walked into a bar with my friend and everyone was speaking English. I know this is England, so what do you expect. I was obviously expecting to hear Spanish.

Crossing the road. This is something I had to get used to again when I came back from Spain. You have a good look to the left to make sure that there is no traffic coming and then you start to cross to find that the traffic is coming from the right.

I'll update if and when there are somemore.

Bienvenidos a Blighty

2008-03-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

After not having much sleep on the night of the 23rd due to the snoring guy in the hostel, not much sleep on the flight of the 24th and the same again on the flight on the 25th, I arrived on the 26th in London surprisingly well. I was now glad that I bought the down bodywarmer in Puerto Natales, as it was cold back here.

The first shock came with a £9.20 fair from Gatwich station to East Dulwich train station. I then used up my only UK coins in a very short conversation with Shelley to say that I arrived. The machine wanted 40p more and cut short my conversation. Not something that strange here, but when you've been converting the costs in each country back to pounds you realise just how expensive England is. Craig's mother picked me up and took me over to Shelley's place.

It was great to see an old friend again after 8+ months, but it was a bit strange as well, like some sort of a dream, maybe due to the lack of sleep or from the change in environment, but things didn't seem real.

After chatting for a while, swapping some stories we went out to a cafe of a fry up. While getting stuck in to some good British food at its best, our attention got distracted by some raised voices. Some guy had come in to the cafe and wanted some instant service from the guy working there who was on the phone. Because, he didn't get instant service he was threatening the worker with violence, by saying something like, putting a 2 2 combination on him. What is this place London that someone would want to be violent to somebody else because they didn't want to wait a minute.

Welcome back to London! Welcome back to reality!

Good bye Buenos Aires

2008-03-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't get much sleep last night. Well none actually, just one hour when the big French guy who was snoring all night, went for breakfast at nine and then went back to bed at 10 and started snoring again. I did try kicking the bed but it only worked for about 30 seconds.

I'm packed and ready to go. I think.

................................................................................
On the way
................................................................................

I had decided to go with the public bus (colectivo) as it costs just $1.80 ar and taxis are about $60 ar and the bus company is $30 ar. I knew where the bus left from and I had plenty of time for the 1 and half hour journey. But! This is Semana Santa and some groups saw this as an ideal time to protest. So congreso where the bus leavse from was closed to traffic and nobody seemed to know where the buses had been redirected to. After walking around for ages I looked at my watch and decided that I needed to take a taxi. I flagged down a taxi and asked the price. On the way to the airport we talked about beef and mate. A lot of what he said about mate contradicted what other Argentines said about mate, but I guess it's a personal thing. Mate for me has enough caffine without adding coffee as well. He got me to the airport in time and for $55 ar. That is cheaper than all the taxi companies are quoting in Bs Ar.

Hispanohablante

2008-03-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, if I didn't write it one this blog I thought it, I give up spanish. Then last night I was having a conversation with a spanish guy, columbian and mexican. I said during then conversion that I made a promise to learn spanish. The mexican guy said to me, that I've done it. The conversation progressed and I found it difficult to comment but I followed it. I find it difficult to comment on polatics in english never mind in spanish.
Whatever i wrote or thought i guess i was wrong, you are what you are and if you are then do it. Yo soy hispanohablante.

Count down

2008-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

To some people it may seem strange to be counting down to coming home from a place like this. But after over 7 months on the road some normality, reality, sanity, will be nice. Also I have reunion meal to look forward to, with my mates, I get to see Lisa again after a month. So at the moment there seem more reason to be over there than over here.

I've also been thinking about what I'm going to do when I get back as far as work goes. When I came back from Spain I was unemployed for quite some time too long for my liking.

Just an observation....

2008-03-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I've noticed here in Buenos Aires is that there seems to be a lot of guys with one leg around town, young and old. Maybe this has something to do with the way people seem to drive around here. Also I did see some graffiti saying something about 'Stop the deaths of the messengers'. Like in London there are bike messengers cycling around the streets. Maybe they are ex/messengers.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
UPDATE
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I had some mate with some Argentinian girls and they said that there are a lot of war veterans from the war over Las Malvinas, some have missing limbs and others psycological problems. There is a protest in the Plaza de Mayo at the moment, by the war veterans asking for more suport from the government.

Envase

2008-03-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Envase is really quite a good think and easy to understand but at the same time difficult. So what is it. Well the supermarket or chino buys beer in bottles but also has to buy the bottle itself. So when you buy a litre of beer for $2.50 ar you will need to buy the bottle as well. Good for the environment as they don´t get put in the rubbish, because you can get your money back.

Well not really!
After you´ve put the beer where it belongs, you can go to the chino with the bottles, who don´t care where the bottles have come from and will give you less, but cash to get what ever you are buying or you can go to the super and get more beer without having to pay again for the bottles. But you need to be getting the same number of bottles as the ones you brought back.

Not all bottles are the same, some are not returnable and will say so. So if you go back to a chino or a super with 15 bottles to get 15 bottles of the same beer and they have sold out and they only have none returnable bottles you will have 15 bottles of empties and have to pay full for the other beer. Some chinos will pay for the bottles and give you some cash against the none returnables, so you wont be too out of pocket. But I don´t think this would work at the super.

Simple really!

Peña de .............

2008-03-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

After one or two Quilmes at the hostel Maritza taked us all into going to a Peña. For those who don't know what a peña is, it's a club with live music. This one was with music of the campasinos, people from the country. One good thing about going to a club like this is that we were, I think, the only turists there. The Argentinians in the club proved to be as warm and friendly as always.

It was interesting to see so many young people getting into this type of music.

Even after the music stopped we had a chat with the band, and got a few photos with them.

I can't remember what time we got back to the hostel or how we got back to the hostel, but I think it was late.

Caminante en dioses blinda

2008-03-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still at the Milonga Hostel, and today said goodbye to Judith the German girl who is one her way back to Brazil. The guys from the land down under have arrived back from their trip to Iguazú. They missed the tres fonteras mirador, they didn't go to the Brazilian side of the falls, but they did see the falls. Just! Lucky they were on a tour, and the tour got them out of bed, and on the bus to see the falls. The alarm didn't work and Quilmes were given as excuses.

Tom did say that he had a few funny looks with his shirt off, maybe due to the tattoo on his chest. He used an online translator to change the phrase into Spanish from English. Down in Oz it looked exotic, but here.......

The tattoo says "Caminante en dioses blinda". My students always had problems with the apostrophe. They would say "the house of my mother" and not "my mother's house". I guess online translators have problems as well, because "Caminante en dioses blinda" would mean that there is more than one god. Not Tom's belief nor that of the majority of Latin America.

He does see the funny side of all this and gave permission to put this on the blog.

Tigre y la delta

2008-03-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

After moving to the Hostel Milonga I´ve made a few friends; some guys from Oz Tom, Tom and Andrew, a German girl living in Brazil Judith and an Isreali girl Ayana a traveller. The Auzzie guys arrived in Buenos Aires and Andrew proptly got his bag nicked, so they´ve been waiting to get his passport and other stuff sorted out before moving on to, to, well their plan seems schetchy to say the least. Lucky being auzzies they have the backup plan, plan B, which is drink beer. Ok, this is also part of plan A as well. The did have some photos that I had a look at and they looked like they had some sponsorship from Quilmes, the national beer, for product placement.

Tom, Tom and Andrew, had to wait for the red tape so they made a move for a few days to Iguazú. The hostel seemed quite without the guys so Judith, Ayana and myself decided to do some sightseeing outside of Buenos Aires. I remember talking to some guy when we were in Iguazú who was form Buenos Aires and he said go to Tigre. So Tigre it was. I didn´t have any idea what it was going to be like, but after I would put it as a must see day trip. The town of Tigre is nice with a nice harbour section on to the river, spoilt only buy the MacD. Still MacDs are always good if you need to visit the toilet. Over by the port there is a market selling all sorts of goods, from all over. We did got to the tourist information which gave us two options of what we could do in the time we had. 1. catch a catamaran around the delta for about 1 and half hours for $40 ar or 2. get the public boat to the Tres Bocas for $14 ar ida y vuelta (there and back) and you get to get out and walk around and see where people live.

Option 2 was the best and cheapest option. With the public boat you get to see the stuff that you would from the catamaran but also get to see the small water ways of places like tres bocas. You can walk all the way around the island if you have 2 hours or more, we only had just over an hour so we went for a walk by the river. We even bought some of the local honey from a house on the way back. Honey is a welcome change to Dulce de leche, which they always serve and I´m sick of now. But the island like Buenos Aires does have its share of mosquitos, and I already had quite a few bites that were itching, and I didn´t want to get anymore. Take repelent!

It was time to go back and after catching bus 60 on the way there we went for the train on the way back to Retiro and then the Subte to the hostel. Again thinking about the prices of taking a trip here it´s cheap and this is an expensive country. Bus $1.60, Boat $14, Train $? (but cheap) and Subte $0.90. All that would possibly get you a one trip card for the London Underground if you don`t have a Oyster.

Art in Buenos Aires

2008-03-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Walking along Santa Fe I´ve seen quite a few art shops, and if you go to the San Telmo market you´ll see that there are lots of people that are wanabe artist. The other day I met up with the guys from the Sandanzas Hostel at the Buenos Aires Cultural Centre, where there was an opening of some new work, and more importantly some free champange on offer.
I got to practice my Spanish with Colleta and Urko. So that was a good start for my next two weeks here to concentrate on my Spanish. I´ve also got back into reading El codigo de Davinci.

I´m coming home. Where ever that is!

2008-03-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

I went to the Delta office today and changed my flight date to the 24th of March. It was a bit of a drag as the severs were playing up and the girl´s machine kept crashing. I didn`t know if I was doing the right thing but when I left the office I was so happy. Ok, the travel will be a killer with a 12 hour wait in Atlanta, but soon I´ll be back in Blighty. I did have lots of ideas on what to do for 3 months but after traveling for so long I just don`t have the physical nor mental energy. I´ve had enough.

After that I went to look for a new hostel. For the last two days I´ve been in Santanzas, which is nice but at $40 ar is a bit expensive. So, I´ve booked into the Melonga for a week, which is $30 ar a night. It´s in a different part of the city and is a more central position. Should be good.

Tit for Tat

2008-03-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

I´ve been having a few comments on my head wear this trip from one friend in particular. Well my sombrero that I´ve been wearing since Bolivia has been one of my best buys. Up on the Altiplano the air is so thin and the sun so strong, you need to forget about getting a tan and just cover up. A hat is great for protection in those areas. That´s what the locals do. Also it puts you in the shade and therefore it´s cool as well. So I´ve been carrying it now for several months and I´ve gotten attached to it.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires we got the "throw liquid over you and offer to clean it off" street scam tried on us. I remember reading about this street scam before we came out here and that it was common in Argentina. We were walking to our hostel, looking a bit lost and we were covered with black smelly stuff. There was a fat woman with gold teeth and a bumbag worn at the front standing next to us. She said it was the tree and offered to clean the stuff off us, if we took off our bags and rucksacks. I said to Lisa it was a scam and to keep moving. When we got to our Hostel I found that the black smelly stuff was all over my hat. I made a good effort at cleaning it but it still smelt funny. A few days later in Palermo we got smelly stuff over us again and there was another fat lady with a bum bag again. Lucky we just had on things that could be easy washed.

A few weeks later in Montevideo the hevens opened when I was trying to find somewhere to stay and my hat got wet. Now in Colonia it is dry but a bit furry with mold growing all over it. Guess I could throw it out as it was only 58 Bolivianos (3.50quid) but that wouldn`t be right. Dry clean it is.

So "Tit for Tat". Yes "Tit for´" is rhyming slang for hat but it also means to get even, and I have time to kill in Buenos Aires. Maybe....................

*********************************
Interesting site if you want to read up a bit on street scams:

http://www.jones.tc/barna/scams.html

I had read this web page and it saved me from the "Futbol" scam played on me in Madrid. I can`t find the smelly liquid one though. I read it somewhere.

SitRep

2008-03-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

I´ve left changing my flight until I´m back in Buenos Aires, but I´m still thinking of changing it. For when? I will just have to wait and see when there are available flights. There´s also the questions of what to do when I get back, for work. It wasn´t easy finding work before and then it wasn´t really in my field. The Spanish, should I quit learning Spanish? Can I quit? It´s been such a big part of my life for the last few years. If not how can I take it forward!
So far this trip has not really answered any of the questions I was hoping to answer on this trip. Far from it, it has just produced more and more questions.

Colonia parte dos

2008-03-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I´m back in colonia only this time staying at the Hostel Español. The big advantage at this hostel is that you can do your washing in one of the sinks in the court-yard. My washing was washed, drying and I went for a shower. While in the shower there was a storm and flash flood (there´s a lot of that going around at the moment), and I was back to square one.

Sunday and the sun is shining and I´m not too far from home so i should have some clean kit for tonight.
Tomorrow I´m on the slow boat to Buenos Aires at 8:30 pm so should get there for 11:30.

One thing I noticed last night was all the classic cars that were around town. Old Ford Escourts, Anglias, BMW etc. This morning there were all setting off from the centre of town. It said something about 19 capitals in hispanoamerica. I guess you can get two for the price of one with Bolivia.

Everywhere you look here people are drinking mate. I remember talking to one guy on the bus to Punto del Este and he said the Argentinian joke (Broma o chiste) is that the Uruguayans are born with a Thermos flask and a mate in hand.

Montevideo parte dos

2008-02-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Oh well, I´m back in Montevideo again and it´s wet here as well. After not getting any sleep at Red Hostel and paying $300 a night I went for a wonder around and found the Juncal Hotel (Durazno 1279 Tel 908 7997) for $300 with baño privado, double bed and cable TV. Ok so the people upstairs woke me up this morning with their shagging, but apart from that I had a good sleep so worth it over the hostel, even though I can´t cook there. I seem to remember being with a girl like that, who was very vocal when having sex, and it was, well a bit too much.

I´ve bought my ticket back to Colonia and the plan is to head for Buenos Aires from there.

There´s not much to do here as it´s so wet, looking at the news there´s been floods all over. I think I´ll have a night in and watch some TV.

Punto del Este

2008-02-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Shakira has a house here, so does Julio Iglesias. Why for the miles of sandy beaches and the sunshine. Well, my blog is called too grey to grind and at the moment the sky here is saying "too grey to go out", it´s wet and cold down here on the beach and it´s not the cheapest place to spend time. Nor the most entertaining, there´s not much, well, nothing cultural here.

There`s only two hostels in town because it´s not really that sort of place. I´m in the "1949" and I´ve been put in the room with the same loud lot from Montevideo. I thought I had escaped. Back in Montevideo I´m going to get a hotel room and hopefully a good night´s sleep.

I remember talking to a guy from Oz and he said that there´s more silicone in the girls here than in the sand. Well, after 3 cold wet and windy days here I´ve not seen any of that. I´ve had a few walks to the cold, sorry I mean old town, which is cool. There´s a rocky beach and it´s been quite atmospheric sitting and watching the waves and mateando. Yes, I´m still trying to get to grips with mate. After reading a bit about it and talking to some people, if you are drinking it by your self it is more of a meditation drink. So, that´s been me meditating by the sea, drinking some strange green tea.

Well, rather than meditating I found myself thinking about Brighton. When I was living down there on nights like this I´d go down to the sea front and watch the sea, and you´d have crazy people playing drums, and looking at the sea.

SitRep

2008-02-23T19:26:00.001-08:00

The way that I´m feeling now, I think I`ll go to the east of Uruguay and see how I feel. If I feel the same way as now, I`ll go into the Delta office in Montevideo and change my flight to a sooner one.

Montevideo

2008-02-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

Montevideo again was not really on the Radar as a must see place, although I had always planed on taking the ferry over. The ferry turned out to be expensive and it was best to go to Colonia, which again was a result. Montevideo has an old town by the port which still has it scruffy side and it`s gentrified side as well. Like Colonia it has beaches on each side and colonial buildings, some in good repair and others need repair. These building can be found side by side with 70s style blocks. So it´s a mish mash of styles. So far the feeling I get from it is a very safe city.

Red Hostel - Hostel Red, don`t believe the hype (one of the best hostels in South America), so far I`ve had hassel with them.

Colonia a Montevideo

2008-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

The trip over to Montevideo was quick, even my trips from London to Manchester are over 3 hours but this trip was only 2 and a half hours. So by Latinamerican standards very short.

Traveling without a Lonley Planet in hand was was a new experience this trip, I have travelled before without one but now after 6 months I had grown sick of the sight of the book. Not having one was not proving to be a problem. As soon as I arrived in Colonia someone gave me a map of the town and hostel advertisment. On this trip to Montevideo I was sat next to some old woman, who turned out to be an artist from Montevideo and with Russian/Polish parents. On the way she gave me all the information I needed so much so that I didn`t need a map to find the place. I had to ask a few people on the way, but all the better for practising Spanish.

I arrived at Hostel Red or Red Hostel or whatever the case is and quoted "Free Rider" and got my 10% discount. I´ve booked in for 3 nights.

Colonia

2008-02-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

One morning I was out walking around the old historic town of Colonia and saw a group of people. There was a photographer who looked professional and all his group were treating him like he was some guru. The photographer was saying to the model how beautiful she was and asking for new poses. Seeing the model reminded me of the dogs in Nicaragua. While traveling I had forgotten about the fuss about models being so thin. The dogs and cats of Nicaragua don`t have the choice. When we were there we were feeding them and the street kids. Maybe I should have said something!

Why were they shotting here. Well, with its tree lined cobbled streets and beaches on either side of the old town this has to be one of the most beautiful towns I`ve been to. You can see why the Spaniards buit it here, having town one the peninsular you can protect from the sea you cut down on land attacks and also you get a nice sea breaze through town.

Buenos Aires a Colonia Uruguay

2008-02-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I´ve booked myself onto the good ship Eladia Isabel. The slow but cheap ship to Uruguay. It´s a 3 hour journey and the fast one is 1 hour. Cost for the slow boat $83 ar I changed my mind about going to Montevideo due to the cost $212ar. Colonia sounds nice, more chilled than here, which is what I need right now.

After another bad night´s sleep or no sleep, I was leaving the Hostel Clan for Colonia to chill. I now had no Lonely Planet.....

La Hispano Americana (check the name)

2008-02-17T06:25:00.000-08:00

In a city like Buenos Aires if you´re on a budget it´s good to have the use of a kitchen. For one there is the saving money aspect and then there is saving money and having the best fresh pasta I´ve ever tasted. We went on the Sunday to San Telmo market and we stumbled upon this place just off Defensa on Estados Unidos. Sunday was a bad day to go as we had to wait for ages to be served. Inside there is a ticket machine ours was on 13 and they were serving in the high 70s, and it wasn`t fast servise. While waiting I noticed the sign that says "fecha de nacimiento hoy" refering to the pasta, ie date of birth today.

What´s on offer.
Super fresh pasta with the guy in the back making it as you wait. All different types of pasta are on offer but you need to ask if they have what you want as this stuff is sold quickly.

We went for some Empanadas, which again were the best I´ve had, and some pasta I forgot what they call it (long stringy stuff) spinich. Which I over cooked. In my defense I have never cooked fresh pasta this fresh before and really all you are doing is heating it up. There also a range of pesto and sauses. Sun dried tomatos as well to add a bit more.

The next time we went we went for raviole, which comes as placas - sheets in card boxes. Ok it´s a bit messy having to rip up all the sheets but if they have put so much care, attention, and well love into making this fantastic pasta you shouldn`t grumble about having to rip up a few sheets of pasta.

Verdict! A must try. If you are staying some where with no kitchen then you´re loosing out.

Cementario

2008-02-15T08:32:00.001-08:00

I thought that it was only Goths who got excited about cementaries, but I think the one in Buenos Aires is a must see. After traveling through some poor countries it´s crazy to see coffins housed in such a gratuitusly ostentatious way. I was used to seeing people living in mud huts and now this. Who were these people and where does their wealth come from. Some of these tombs are as big as houses others are just marble boxes.

Also there are cats here lots of cats the workmen here seem to be feeding them so I guess that´s why they stick around. That adds to the strangeness of this place.

Tattooed in Tango Town

2008-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Lisa had designed a tattoo back in Bolivia and had been trying to deside on a good place for it. Also a good place to have it done. In Buenos Aires there is a arcade on Santa Fe called Bond Street, it´s an arcade dedicated to tattoo and piercing shops, this seemed like the place to go. The artist was keeping things simple and just used what Lisa drew, only made it bigger. I had to wait outside which was bad. I was a nervous wreck and it wasn´t me getting the tattoo. The good thing was, it was quick and I didn´t have too long to suffer. Lisa got cling filmed up and we left. I had a look at the tat and one thing I didn´t realise is that they juice.

The tattoo itself has a bit of every aspect of our trip. It´s sort of a Inca man thing. What do they say a picture paints a thousand words, I´ll put a picture up of the juicy one just after and the healed one.

Later that day we had our Complejo Tango booked. As it says it is the complete tango experience you get a Tango Lesson, which was fun. The dinner was great I went for Bife de chorizo again, which was as good as ever washed down with two bottles of free red wine. The show was an all singing dancing.... you get it. After the show we jumped into a taxi and went to San Telmo to our fave bar, Seddon, for a few Quilmes Souts. So a fantastic night but maybe the wrong day to have a tattoo for one person.

SitRep

2008-02-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

I´m glad I have a blog and that I´ve been keeping it up-to-date on this trip. Now, at times it has been a pain, and sometimes I just didn´t know what to write and there were times when I didn´t have that much time. But, now I have lots to say and plenty of time, this is the most difficult post I´ve written for different reasons. After coming back to Buenos Aires and having a few packed days together Lisa has gone. We went to the airport together last night and said our goodbyes.

Why are we not going back together? (please don´t get the wrong idea that we have split up, we haven´t and I will be coming back to London) Well that´s a long story. It was always the plan to do some voluntary work at the end of the trip and to date we haven´t done any. If it wasn´t for certain things we would have gone to Pisco to help out with the earthquake clear up. I then thought I found work with Gravity Bolivia. Which turns out there wasn´t. While chatting with a girl in a Hostel in Puerto Madryn we both used the term "selfish altruism". I want to do something which means someting but I want to improve my Spanish as well.

So I now have a ticket back to London for the beginning of June, I am really tired with traveling and I have nothing to do. I know that there are plenty of great things near by which don´t involve that much travelling, but my plan is to take a few days to chill and think about what to do. I do have a few ideas on how to be productive, which I guess I´ll talk about some other time.

One of the things I want to do is to keep working on this blog. To talk about highlights of the trip lowlight as well, animals, food, money, kit post mortem and while this is not a travel blog, some travel stuff as well. In other words lots of random stuff. Obviously I´ll be keeping it updated with what I´m doing as well as the last few days with Lisa (Tango dancing, Food, Show - Cementary).

Puerto Iguazú a Buenos Aires

2008-02-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

This is probably the only bus trip I have been looking forward to. We are splashing out and going for 1st class full cama bed for the trip back.

When the bus arrived we went straight upstairs to our seats. Most people had big bags and had to put them under. Usually there is some guy taking you bag and putting it on the bus and vis a versa on the other side and they ask for tips. Not sure what you would call this job, I have seen badges saying "propinero". A tip in Spanish is "propina". There´s enough space behind your seat for a medium sized pack. This is where your seat reclines to. The foot section has two positions the sloping position like the other cama classes but also a flat bed (cama) position.

I´m not sure if I slept but it was certainly more comfortable having a flat sleeping area. There´s also Whisky for a night cap.

We arrived early, about 7:30 so we went to a cafe for a coffee and some breakfast. We sat down and started to read a menú. The waitress came over and gave us a English menú and took the Spanish one. I said I wanted the Spanish one so she left that one as well. Usually the English menu is badly translated and sometimes amusing. But this one was interesting for another reason everything was more expensive on the English menu.

American Breakfast $18 - Desayuno Americano $ 15
Jugo $ 10 - Juice $ 8.50

I know that they had a crash a few years ago and that they had a two tire system for hotels. Talking to one Argentinian who was at the falls (Brazil) he said he´d visitited England back in 2003 when there was $1.6 pasos to the pound and now it´s $ 6 pesos. I´m going to do a post on relative wealth some other time, and discuss this at more length.

Puerto Iguazú

2008-02-08T05:51:00.000-08:00

This is the main base for visiting the Iguazú falls in Argentina and also handy for visiting them from the Brazilian side as well.

Argentina:
Talking with the guy at our hostel it looked like we had the option of a tour for $50 or a bus for $4. No brainer is what I believe the term is. You need to save cash as the enterance fee is $40 for Johnny foreigner. But having said that you do get a full day to keep you busy. There is a boat trip for $60 a tenner, which we did. Shower included. Good for cooling off on a hot day.

Brazil:
I think we have gone through so many borders now that we were not really thinking about where we were going. We got on the bus to Brazil and did the exit from Argentina, there was a guy who said we needed to get of and get another bus to the falls. There were some more people going so we followed. Only on getting of the bus and seeing the advertisments did we realise that we were in Brazil and we had no reales. Lucky the bus to the falls you can use pesos.

The prices in this part of Brazil were a shock. They were about the same as pesos but there is 3 reales to the pound not 6 like pasos. So the entrance was about the same price. From the brazilian side you can see a full panaramic view of the falls but it is a smaller area and there is less to do. Unless you want to pay more.

Buenos Aires

2008-02-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

San Telmo: this is the area where we are staying, it is the home of the Feria de San Telmo (street market), tango dancing, and Desnivel, the place famed for it´s steaks.

Every Sunday from 10 at the Plaza de Dorrego, Av Defensa, AvBolivar, and Humberto there is the Feria de San Telmo. Like the markets in London and El Rastro en Madrid there´s good stuff and bad. You can still get a bargain if you are compairing the prices to London. I have my eye on a nice watch. There is the tacky side as well some tango dancers advertising get your picture with a tango dancer, to me it was more advertising there´s some easy money to be made, than advertising tango. I still want to see proper Tango and how it should be done in the home of tango.

Desnivel can be found on Av Defensa, and has a old, slightly sruffy look to it which is perfect. Just what I expected. Looked quite like a Parisian Café Bar. But people don´t come here for the look or feel of the place. The star of the show is the steak. The steak I had was cooked just as I asked for it, punto. Think of "Punto" as just done or what we would call medium to bloody or you can ask for "Jugoso" juicy, rare to you and me, it will be. Ýou won´t need to put a lot of effort in to cutting or chewing the Bife de chorizo (Sirloin steak, nothing to do with chorizos), tender. I´m going to talk more on steak and stuff later. We got there early and it was filling up quickly. If you get there at the normal eating time over here you may be waiting. But do wait.

Words

Puerto Madryn

2008-01-28T16:04:00.001-08:00

After traveling for 20 + hours we arrived in a hot Puerto Madryn. My back was giving me problems again and I just wanted to get to the hostel (Hostel Hi Patagonia), which was the other side of town. When we arrived we were told that there would be a BBQ - Parrilla that night, Lisa was ok with salad and I was fine with eating copious amounts of meat. I even managed to introduce some Americans to the delights of morcilla - black pudding. Earlier on in the day we organised our bus out to BA, our trip to the valdes peninsular for the day after, and some shopping.

Returning to the hostel at night for the parrilla we were told that the tour company would now be picking us up at 8:30 - extra hour in bed and more beer.

Península Valdés: Lisa woke up and said it´s 8, we rushed out had some breakfast and I was cleaning my teeth when the tour bus arrived. The journey seemed quick, well, I was asleep most of the way.

First stop was to see the lobo marinos - Sea Lions. Noisy little buggers they are as well. The males - los machos, are constantly fighting and making lion noises. It is like watching a comunity of individuals with their personality quirks. We did see some more wildlife at this stop a little peludo (armadillo but hairy as well) that seemed to be lost and was wandering around the cafe at the top.

Pingüinos: We had already seen but as always comical to watch. How they can climb cliffs I don`t know. Apparently this type of penguine never sees snow nor ice - they like the beach.

Elefante marinos - Elephant seals: The complet oposite form sea lions these animals were very quiet and inactive, but good to see for the size of these things.

Punta Arenas a Puerto Madryn

2008-01-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

This trip is going to be EPIC. We have a 4-5 hour bus to Rio Gallegos a 4 hour wait and then a 17 hour bus to Puerto Madryn. But it does sound good, it´s one of the Welsh speaking areas of Argentina.

Punta Arenas

2008-01-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Punta Arenas on a Sunday ie it was dead as a dead thing that was dead. While trying to find the Hostel (Hostel Betty) I spotted a restaurant called La Mercado. After checking in we went back to La Mercado to find that Sunday was Kareoke day at La Mercado and the machine was being well used. This place had more of a social club feel to it than a restaurant. I asked for the bill and the waitress asked if we wanted a free pisco sour. Why not! I´m glad I did as it was the best pisco sour I´ve had ever.

The day after it was midday before we made it out. A good job that things start late here. We booked on to the Pingüino trip, which goes at 4pm.

Ok, 8pm and we´re back from the trip to Otway to see the penguins. I did like how it was set out and there was plenty of information. This is the way to view wildlife, not in a zoo. It still felt quite intrusive, but the penguins seemed happy enough and I guess that´s what matters. It does get you thinking about evolusion though. Little torpedo like birds that swim so graceful, and waddle about on land.

Also my back has taken a turn for the worse and is now really hurting. I relaxed my lightweight ideals in Bolivia as it was looking like there wasn´t much more traveling left, and I now have more kit, which isn´t good. One more reason for traveling light.

La Ruta W

2008-01-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

Day 1
The start of the day couldn´t have been easier with the bus picking us up from our Hostel (Hospadaje Maria). But on the trip I started to not feel too good, with stomach cramps. I thought it could be the start of food poisioning but we´ve not had any such problems in either Chile and Argentina. Lisa had to carry more gear as I was finding it really too much. We finally got to the camp. After some lunch and a chile out Lisa started off to the mirador de los torres de paine. I needed some rest. After about one and half hours I started off as well. The mirador is at the top of a steep bolder field. This is one of the most interesting sections on the ruta, and with my rucksack back at the tent I could make good time.

Back at the tent we had some pasta and talked about what time we needed to get up for the following day. Looking at the distance we had covered, we had a long way to go on the second day.

Day 2 and Day 3
I was going to write about these two days but although they were not that long ago I can´t remember them too well. One thing I do remember is being in a refugio and being asked to complete a questionaire. One of the question was what was your motivation for doing the W ruta. This did have me stumped.

Day 4
This was a tough day. Not for the distance, but for the weight we were carrying, my pack was lighter now with most of the food eaten. But I had a full 45 litre pack with the mat, tent, pit and water strapped to the outside. I´m not sure on the weight but it was too much, my ankles and back were giving me some pain.

There were some interesting river crossings to spice up the slog. Followed by some steep climbs, maybe they weren´t that steep but they felt it, and I was having problems keeping with with Lisa.

Day 5
This day was a easy day, a walk up the hill at the side of the camp. We took the ferry back to get the connection with our bus. The ferry was $11,000 - 11 quid. A lot for a half hour trip but they do have you where they want you.

Puerto Natales

2008-01-21T09:20:00.001-08:00

A short 5 and half hours on the bus and we were in Puerto Natales. It only took so long due to the usual Chilian border crossing, where they look through all our stuff looking for food and meat.

Puerto Natales, quiet is probably the best word to describe this place. Most people are just here waiting to move on to the Torres de Paine area, for which we now have our tickets. Although we still need camping gear. Yes we are camping! Quiet is one word to describe Peurto Natales windy is another. Not sure how well things are going to pan out, although my back has been better maybe something to do with better quality beds.

The bites that Lisa recieved from the horse flies in El Chaltén were looking really bad. I did ask if she wanted to go to a farmacia but she was playing it cool! Back at the hostel after seeing the bits she wasn´t playing it so cool and was keen to get to the farmacia asap. Well the farmacia staff were keen that we came back at 9 to see El Medico. We came back at 9 only to discover we hadn´t changed our watches for the time difference. At 9 Chile time, I told the story to El Medico and he seemed interested that we were in El Chalten. Turns out that there are some parasites that live in cows and some had been trasmited by the horse flies (vector) to Lisa who now has them living in her face. An injection in the bum, some cream and some antibiotics came to $30,000 pasos, ie 30 quid.

El Calafate

2008-01-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

El Chaltén to El Calafate is a short bus ride, only 4 hours. That´s with the driver driving slow and a half-way stop. In Bolivia this would be a 2 and half hour trip.

We were stopping at the Marcopolo Hostel just outside town up a steep hill. Well it seemed steep to me my back was not good, again. There was a good kitchen here and more important some good food to be bought in town. El Calafate has cash points which is good as it´s expensive here. But why spend 6 quid on a steak when you can get one from the super for 60p.

One of the main attractions here is the Perito Moreno glacier. The hostel had a trip and so did lots of agencies for 90 pasos, shop around you can get 60 paso bus there and back. There is an enterance fee of 40 pasos, again steep. The glacier speaks for it´s self. There are many glaciers around this area, I can´t coment on the others but this one is worth a visit if not the 60 pasos $$$. The glacier is moving into a lake and if you just wait you can see chunks falling into the lake. Even the smallest of chunks makes lots of noise. The bus back was at 1pm so just a morning, so I think two nights for El Calafate would be enough.

$$$: I think Agrentina is one country where renting a car could be benificial. The trips are expensive, this cost would off set the cost of a car and you can cram more in doing it your self, and see more. Many a time you pass places of interest on a bus where you could stop in a car, also there are free camp sites in fantastic locations.

El Chaltén

2008-01-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

Born due to it´s location, flat land in a valley near the Cerro Chaltén which became Fitz Roy after the climbers to first climb it. Also near by is the Cerro Torre range just to give extra value for money. And you do need value for money here as things are expensive. The whole economy here revolves around climbing, trecking and moutainering.

The first day the ranges were covered with cloud, and it was cold and windy and this is summer. The day after Pachamama was pleased with us again, and we had the gift of clear weather. We went for a walk to the lake Lago Torre to see the glacier but the Cerro torre range was in the clouds. It was an easy walk of about 6 hours.

Another days walking involved going to the tres lagos and to see Fitz Roy close up. A bit more of a longer day in perfect to warm weather. One anoyance was the horse flies that were out and swarming.

I got a email from Alistair form Gravity Bolivia. Not good news he said that there will be jobs in February. Febuary 2009! I don´t know but certainly feels like I´ve been taken for a ride, no pun intended. I think keeping someone waiting on standby could be advantages for them just incase they need someone at short notice. So now for plan B, which is ........................

Bariloche a El Chaltén

2008-01-17T05:40:00.000-08:00

The next stop on the trip was El Chaltén, the newest town in Argentina. It´s located in deepest Patagonia off the famous or infamous Ruta 40. We did look before about getting down this way and there seemed to be towns so we thought that there would be no problem. It turned out that the best way down here was with a tour with the Chaltentravel tour company. The tour was a 12 hour bus journey on Ruta 40 a dirt road to Perito moreno, I have no stats but I´m guessing the suicide capital of Argentina, and the hotel was as a Brazilian put it a shit-hole. The next stage of the tour is another 12 hour plus trip dirt road as well to El Chaltén.

Easy init!

The Summer´s snow

2008-01-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

These parts of Patagonia are only open during the summer, and the high season is Jan and Feb. In other words to find accommodation is difficult and the weather is the best it gets. Today we had snow and it made the news. So it´s not that usual for this time of year but it´s certainly cold and windy down here and we´re heading south.

All this was good as it helped to clear our fuzzy heads. We met up with our Irish friend last night to have a few drinks. We met in the Wilkenny which was very quiet when we arrived at 9, but by the end of the night it was packed and people were dancing, that´s on a, a, ....... What day is it?

We went for a trip around the park llao llao, which was fantastic but the bus back was a nightmare, too crowded and holding on to the rail had given me a bad back. Not sure how bad the back is at the moment, guess I´ll have to see how it is in the morning. Not that there is much I can do as we have a two day journey to El Chalten.

Bariloche a El Chalten

2008-01-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

This trip is not so simple.
The bus leaves on odd days ie we have to travel on the 11th. There´s not that many companies offering this service and we had to book a tour. Two days of traveling with accommodation.

Bariloche - British Weather

2008-01-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

One thing that has been coming more and more noticeable down here, is that it has been staying lighter longer. In Central America 6pm and it goes dark like someone turning off the lights. Whereas, down here it´s gradual and gets dark about 10pm. I guess further down and it will be light all night. Not good for insomniacs.

Well I´m in a internet café because, well the weather is quite British today. Rain, wind, more rain. It is the lake district after all, and like rain forests it´s got to come from somewhere.

We should be meeting up with our Irish friend (from New Years) from Dublin tonight for drinks. Just drinks!

Bariloche

2008-01-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

We prebooked El Estacion Sur Hostel as it was the cheapest place in town we could find with places still available. It´s not fantastic but it´s cheap and has friendly staff. Overall impression of Bariloche is not what I expected, both San Martin and Pucon have more of a ski resort feel to them and less towny.

No body seems to want to speak to me in Spanish, maybe they want to practice their English. But it still seems to me unfair that they get to practice their English and there´s no resiprocity. Maybe it´s just that my back is now hurting with I guess a knot due to carrying my bag or the long bus journeys.

Another thing I´m getting sick of is LP on a shoe string, again La Andina, on Elflein 95 is not in. This place is where the locals go for some cheap food, it`s not fantastic but certainly worth the money, which the more and more I think of it LP on a shoe string is not. I´m getting sick of the sight of it.

San Martín de los andes - Argentina

2008-01-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

We´d had some good times in Chile but Argentina was back on the books, we remembered it as so much cheaper than Chile. Probably one of the most beautiful border crossings, gravel tracks snake through, woods of monkey puzzle trees, at the bases of snow capped peaks.

San Martín is expensive and difficult to find accomodation. You guessed it we hadn´t booked and all cheap hostels were as I was told "completo, completo, completo...". Also, all the prices for food and hostels I remember from the north of Argentina were very inflated. It certainly looks like a nice place to spend some time but if you are traveling on a budget you need to book ahead to get somewhere cheap. We paid up for two nights and got our ticket out of here. The other thing I forgot about the hostels in Argentina is that they have "Wet Rooms". Lisa says that they are trendy and all the rage. You have a shower and the whole of the bathroom floods. A 5 minute shower leads to 15 minutes of pushing water arounds with a squeedgy thing trying to get it dry. You then get changed walk in to the bathroom and get your socks wet.

With the cold I still have I don´t really feel like doing any of the many sports and activities that are on offer.

Thing that take my fancy:

Mountain boarding: Think snowboard with wheels and dirt tracks.

Fly fishing: After my success with fishing for pyranahs I think it´s time to move on to something a bit more choosey about it´s food.

On the subject of food the Lonley Planet on a shoe string guide seems to have a different idea of what is cheap. Pizza Cala av San Martin 1129 never got a mention but it was one of the only budget (but good food and cheap drink) places in town.

Pucón - Volcan Villarrica

2008-01-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Well with New Years and the weather we´ve been waiting a few days to climb Volcan Villarrica. While we were waiting the near by Volcan Llaima made the BBC news by erupting. Just to remind us that climbing volcanos is different to mountains. But that is a comfortable distance away and the area was evacuated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7167639.stm

Volcan Villarrica is the main backdrop for ski town, and visible on most advertisments around town etc. But Claudio the owner of the Backpackers Hostel, where we were staying, was keen for us to see it close up. Maybe also owning the tour company as well had something to do with it. I wasn´t feeling too good with catching a cold from Lisa but it was a go.

An early morning rise and we set off at 4am in a minivan. We had done other sunrise tours and they are painful but worth it. With this climb more so, you are walking in the dark up a slog which could be done with the ski lift if it was working. You can eventually see the valley getting brighter and the outline shadow of the volcano with with the trail of smoke. At this time you can´t see the top "el cumbre", just the snow field. After passing a ridge el cumbre came into view, and seemed close but it was much further than it seemed. The walking was not that hard, just a bit boring. I certainly done a lot more difficult climbs. But that´s not the point as this is a volcano and they almost seem to have personalities are their activity affects the local weather system. The snow and ice was coming to an end the oposite to moutains. Also it was getting hotter and some of the rock was not rock but dust covered ice.

El cumbre has the usual coating of sulphur, but on other volcanos I´d not been able to see the crator. Well I´ve seen crators but not the "hole" I´m sure there is a name for it. One thing I was not ready for was the noise. There was constant crashing and banging coming from the hole. A little bit closer inspection and you could see bits of red. It was very difficult to get a photo but I got one with a bit of red ash. I was as close as I felt safe but not comfortable, there are odd clouds of fumes that make you choke.

Getting down was quicker and more fun. We were all issued with a nappie made of cordura to protect the hire kit. There are ruts worn into the ice with peoples bums. You get the idea. Some of the nappies have Gaffa tape on as a repair. This type of repair makes the nappie more waterproof and faster. So fast that you end up bouncing out of the ruts and on to the ice.

The snow and ice eventually comes to an end and it´s a slog back down to the ski station and the mini bus back to the hostel. It felt like a full day and about 6pm certainly not 1pm, but with the exercise done for the day some guit free food and beer was on order.

As always volcanos have proved to be very interesting, mistical, scary places to visit and I think I´ve said in other posts, they are a "have to do" on a trip like this.

Feliz año nuevo

2008-01-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

We came down to Pucon to celabrate the new year and are staying in the Backpackers Hostel. We had drinks and a meal in the hostel with some of the guys, a couple from Belfast and a single guy from Dublin. We went to the beach just before 12 to see the fireworks and to see in the new year with a 2 litre carton of gato negro vino tinto.

After talking to some locals, we were told that the place to be was Mamas and Tapas. While in Mamas and Tapas the guy from Dublin asked me and Lisa if we wanted a threesome.

New Years day was far from productive. We still haven´t done anything here.

Feliz Navidad

2007-12-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad to all, even the noisy Israelies in the next dorm.

We've got our tickets booked for Pucon and the hostel booked there. I'm still struggling with the rapid speed of the Spanish.

Santiago

2007-12-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Navidad en Santiago.
We are stopping at the Casa Roja Hostel as we wanted a bit more of a party time for Christmas. So far it's been good and we've met a good bunch of people. Our dorm is not that noisy so that's probably one factor.

One North London guy we met said he had problems telling people that he was English and that they didn't believe him, and that he had to say he was Indian. I guess they don't know that the UK is very multi-cultural here in chile.

We tried to buy some ciproflaxina from one farmacia and we were told that we would need a percription from a doctor. I was shocked and pissed off! But thinking back I thought it was iresponsible to sell it over the counter in all the other countries we've visited. I'm not sure which is right now bacteria can cross borders.

La Serena

2007-12-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

After surviving on Bolivian food for a month a trip to the sea sounded fantastic. I would be able to eat ceviche again and would have to choose what type of fish I wanted to eat. Here we are La Serena a sea side town and sea food is, is, well not really abundent, and not that good, the rest of the food is not that good either. They have the food, for example you go to the supermarket and there`s loads of sea food and cheap as well. It´s just that it doesn´t get to the streets and if it does then it´s over cooked.

You´re not even safe eating a pizza. We had a walk down to the sea front and went to La Mia Pizza, which is listed in Lonely Planet. Both our pizzas were substandard and had English prices. I now have another type of food I´m off eating.

There´s also Pikies here as well. "My friend, give me money."

Antofagasta - terremoto

2007-12-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

Antofagasta was surprisingly nice, Lonely Planet paints a bad picture of the place but it has a nice Plaza to hang out in. Albeit if you don`t mind a bit of hassel from Pikies. These gypsy women were begging for money for their babies and WOW how many babies did they have. Birth control was obviously a foreign concept for them. Well for all of Antofagasta, you can`t walk down any street without there being at least one pregnant woman knocking about. Also, these gypsy women far from looked like they were Hank Marvin.

The night we were leaving, well the morning about 5 in the morning. Lisa jumped into bed with me and was holding me and shaking me. Well I thought that she was shaking me, then she said "There´s an earthquake."

Me: "oh yeh, there`s an earthquake." The whole room was shaking for another 10 seconds or so and then stopped and I went back to sleep.

The quake knocked out the electricity for our block, it was talked about on the local radio station. In the morning when the receptionist commented about it and said it was a five.

Thinking back it was all a bit sureal and I was so tired, it was like a dream. I was still tired in the morning when we left for our 12 hour journey to La Serena which turned into a 13 hour trip.

San Pedro

2007-12-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

San Pedro was a shock I was used to my 50p lunches over in Bolivia but in San Pedro it would be more like 5 pounds or 5000 pesos. We moved hostels to Eden the cheapest place we could find and are making good use of the kitchen.

Valle de la luna: Maybe it´s because I´ve seen so much of this type of scenary and it´s become the norm, that I wasn´t blown away with this place.

Quebrada del Diablo: A nice bit of single track mountain biking. Very sandy and slippy, which kept the speed down but some nice but not fantastic riding.

Next stop: Antofagasta is a coastal town so ceviche should be back on the menu.

Salta a San Pedro de Atacama

2007-12-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

It was time to say goodbye to Salta, so instead of cooking we headed out for a meal at the Irish Bar. I went for steak again, and it arrived pulsing with life, or jugoso how they call it here. We washed down our meals with a few Salta Negras, Guiness substitute. Then we crashed out early due to our early rise the next day.

Sunday morning, we were walking to the bus station at about 6am and the crowds were leaving the clubs. We arrived ready as we possibly could be for our 9 hour journey to San Pedro. The trip was smooth and quite relaxed.

Arriving at San Pedro I had no dollers to change, Argentinian pesos which I want to keep, and Bolivianos which I changed. 110 Bolivianos, enough for a room a nice meal and a piss up. In San Pedro you money dosen`t quite as far, when my 110 was changed up it came out as 5500 pasos. Most places are advertising a meal as 7000-8000, ie 7-8 quid. Considering San Pedro has a reputation as a Hippy Hangout, ........ What do I want to say? Well I always though The Hippy Way was to get away from the money rat race.

How to fit in.

2007-12-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

This is something I`ve read on travel advise pages and blogsites. All the Latin American countries I´ve vistied up to Argentina the answer would be that you can`t. Well not if you look like me. On the whole in countries like Bolivia, the people ever don`t care about you being there or will comment maybe on your size, or you will hear gringo, but it`s never nasty. I guess, I didn`t really mind being different, and being looked at as something different.

Arriving in Argentina, you can blend in. yes there are still some indigenous looking people, I guess because we are still quite north. But It´s nice to be able to walk down the street and not stand out.

Salta

2007-12-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

Jump, jump, everybody jump, jump......

We left the Belgrano, the name of our hostel. I never thought about the guerra de las malvinas up until now, how do the Argentinians feel about the British?

The trip down to Salta was strange, well it was normal, that`s why it was strange. There was trarmac on the roads, white and yellow lines, railings to stop the bus from leaving the road. We have grown too used to the roads in Bolivia, which have dust and rocks, ruts, and crosses with flowers.

Also we had a nice little break for about 1 and half hours, while the police checked the bus and baggage for that product that Bolivia is so famous or infamous for. We all had to get in lines with our bags and get our passports out. Another thing that we have got used to is the security guards in bolivia are like little boys with guns. This Argentinian guard had a easten european surname and was about 6´6´´ but he took one look at my British passport and must have thought "not worth it."

Arriving at Salta was like, well arriving at some European City, we´ve not had this kind of standard since New York. The prices are more as well, more or less the same prices as in Bolivia only there are 6 pesos to the pound and 16 Bolivianos to the pound.

Food, the food is also different the steak I had last night, even Lisa a vegy said that looks like the best steak you´ve had this trip, including America. I said "No, it`s the best steak I´ve had, ever." Not just that perfectly cooked as well. About 2.60 pounds so relativily expensive, but not for the quality.

La Quiaca - Argentina

2007-12-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Crossing the border of other countries, like Perú to Bolivia there´s not much difference apart from the cost of things in Bolivia. Bolivia is cheap, maybe one reason why we spent so much time here. Well that is a small reason the main reason was it`s gorgeous.

Hight: At the border crossing I saw something that I haven`t seen for a while tall people on the Argentinian side. Maybe I can blend in a bit more here!

Spanish: Up until now I`ve been getting the gist of 99-100% of the spanish, even if I didn`t know all the vocab. Things started changing in the South of Bolivia where the R at the begining of a word and RR in a word are pronounced like Z, not a spanish "th" but like an English Z. So a Fox instead of being a Zorro is pronounced ZoZo. Over the border is different altogether I`ve heard all the peculiarities of spanish in one sentence and understood nowt. I was trying to chill with the different vocab in each country but Argentina is mad. I reminds me of a Nigerian work collegue in London who went for a job and he passed everything apart from they didn`t understand him, he lost the job. Also Lisa notices that they are talking faster more like the speed of the Spanish, so far the Latin American has been slow. But maybe this is just because it`s a border town and Argentinian Spanish is easier!

Cost: We went for the cheapest hostel listed in LP and it was too expensive $85 A. We got somewhere for $50, we would need to adapt.

Tupiza a la fontera

2007-12-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

We were only planning a short stop here and we stayed 4 days, I`m not sure why this town is sleepy. The plan was to leave for the border, where there is an imagration office. I did notice that our 30 day pass for Bolivia was almost out and they just love to extract more money out of you for extra days.

I`d been in contact with Gravity Bolivia regarding working with them as a Mountain Bike Guide, but thinks were still not clear. It may be that we need to go back to La Paz, but we still needed to get a new stamp.

One good thing about doing the trip to the border from here is that you can take the train. With so many bad bus journeys it`s nice to have a change, even if it is a bad train journey. As it turned out it was a good train journey, when we finally left. The time changed from 9 am to 1pm.

La fontera: El rio villazón
Villazón - Bolivia
La Quiaca - Argentina
The original plan was to get a stamp for 90 days and stay in Bolivia but this crossing is free and Lonely Planet says that there is more facilities on the Argentina side. Don`t believe it! Yes, we crossed over to La Quiaca and there`s no ATM nor a bank that will change traveler cheques. I can`t get in touch with Gravity so we`re leaving for Salta tomorrow. There`s no sense in staying in a dead end frontera town. No offence La Quiaca but you leave Villazón with it`s colours and shops to La Quiaca which looks like it was something a few years ago but now it`s dead.

Tupiza

2007-12-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

Tupiza has fantastic landscapes, this is cowboy country. Butch Casidy and the Sundance Kid setted down here to retire form all that bank robbing. Apparently one was named after the prison where he spent some time, the Sundance Prison, and the other was a Butcher. Not sure which was which, but there you go. There was a robbery at the local mine 99 years ago where all the miners wages were taken, but they never found who did it. Not Rocket Science me thinks!!! There is a Butch and Sundance tour but with little interest in it, it is very expensive I think just the tow of us would be 75pounds each for two days.

There is a Triathalon (Bike, 4x4 and horse) trip where you can see the sites, so we went for that.

Bike: an easy enough section of riding apart from the dogs and buses. There was one bus that was going so fast that I swear that it was sliding around the corner and went into a single track tunnel, sounding its horn just as it went in. We tried to get through the tunnel as quick as possible.

4x4 part 1: This was just a easy drive back to town to saddle up.

Horse: Now for the first hour I was enjoying it, I was trying to move with the horse. We were going up quebrada de inca. I just wasn`t taking in the views due to the pain, no matter how I tried to move with the horse I was getting bumped about. On the way back there seemed to be hundreds of dogs all having a go at our horses. I was glad to get of.

4x4 part 2: This was a drive up a quebrada and beyond, the drive was fantastic with iron coloured rocks and lead coloured rocks. The track was erroded with rain and very norrow in sections.

Potosí a Tupiza

2007-12-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

We had our bus ticket booked with OGLOBO for Tupiza for 8:00am. On arriving at the station and asking several times where the bus leaves from, and were told platform 8 or 11. At 8 en punto, i started to worry and went to the OGLOBO office I was given tickets for Trans Norte (an other company) and was taken to their office. I went to get Lisa and we waited. We finally borded the bus from the Imperial company and left for tupiza at 10am. Already I had enought but never mined only 6 hours to go.

The journey is along the pan-american highway. I know some of you will be picturing a highway as tarmack, railings and such like, but re-picture it as dust, rocks, mud and ruts.

Sucre

2007-11-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

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

Cerro rico - el dia despues

2007-11-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

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 - Cerro Rico

2007-11-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-24T11:09:00.001-08:00

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

Rurrenabque

2007-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

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.

The world´s most dangerous road.

2007-11-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

La Paz

2007-11-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

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.

Copacabana - Bolivia

2007-11-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

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.

Puno - Perú

2007-11-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

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.

San Pedro

2007-11-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

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.

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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 - Chachani - Soroche

2007-11-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

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.

Un abrigo encontrado

2007-10-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

After getting back from the Colca Canyon we went down to the bus station to get my jacket. It was there. Back from its trip to Lima. Even my hat was in the pocket. The only thing is they stapled a label onto it. So now my waterproof jacket is going to leak!

Colca Canyon

2007-10-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Colca Canyon is famous for its condors. There´s pictures of them everywhere here. But to see one in real life is something else. Even at a distance they are massive. But it wouldn´t be until the last day when we´d see any.

First we were going to walk down to the canyon and back up. This gives you a real perspective on the grand scale of things here. We walked through some villages one with a population of 85 and the other of 180. It´s remarkable how so many people live in such a remote place.

Un abrigo perdido

2007-10-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was in the terrapuerto again today to try and locate my jacket. They did some phoning around for me and tracked it down some where. I said that I was doing the Colca Canyon tomorrow and I would check up with them when I get back. I´ve got a Waterproof poncho to take to the canyon just in case of rain. But if I want to do El Misti then I´ll need something better than a 3 quid poncho. Well at least I got to practice a bit of Spanish.

Arequipa

2007-10-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

After a 8 hour trip 1st class again. We arrived at 11:00pm. During the trip we had a game of BINGO and I won a bottle of Pisco. As usual there were taxi drivers waiting, and as before I asked someone in the station what was the normal price. After the taxi drivers refused to take us for the going rate we went to the street and got a taxi for the going rate of s/ 4. Wereas Nasca has the giant sand dune overlooking the town Arequipa has the volcano El Misti.

Nasca lines

2007-10-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

This was the other day, but I´m writing it up now. I didn´t think we`d get a good view of the lines, with being in such a small plane and with the light being so bright. And even worse photos. And I was right. But what a trip! It was the first time I`d been in a cessna and I wasn`t disapointed. We were in the back to seats sort off siting on the floor of the plane. You have to look hard to see the figures, but you can see them ok. If you want photos best to buy them I think, mine were either partial figures or so bright you can`t see what they are.

Nasca - Walk On Inn

2007-10-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

This was a reccommended place to stay by LP. So we had our plan to stay here to avoid the hawkers at the station. I was so preoccupied about the hawkers that I forgot my jacket. I only realised this today when I was packing to leave. We had a free taxi to the hostel by the Hostel and we didn´t pay nor leave any of our details until today. Nice, friendly place to stay with a TV, DVD, breakfast for s/5, swimming pool (to chill). We booked all our trips through here including the flight over the lines. Which was $45 ie the going rate with out the ripoff taxes I´ve heard people being stung with. When realising I´d left my jacket on the bus to chill out in the bus station in Lima, I asked at the desk and I got a "leave it with me". 10-20 minutes later I got called and said where I was going. Hopefully I will be reunited with my jacket in arequipa within a few days.

Nazca - nasca

2007-10-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

After leaving Cusco we had our 1st class bus journey. Even 1st class 14 hours through twisting roads is a lot and not ideal for sleep. So, was the extra "Lady Godiva" worth it? My knees didnt hurt so I guess yes. Arriving at Nasca we had decided on a place to stay and we walked on in to The Walk On Inn. Free taxi from the station and at s 45 a good price although we still haven´t paid.

Mirador
You can go to the mirador by a tour for only $7 per person or you can take the bus for s/ 2 there and s/ 2 back. It´s probably more hassle to book the tour. Ok it does cost s/ 1 more to climb the steel mirador to see the first view of the lines and glifs. You can see the frog and the tree and some lines. I can remember reading Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken, in my teens. Interesting book but complete BS. On the subject, god I´m getting old. Well as a result I was bracing myself for the enormity of these things, but........ Well they are a lot smaller than I thought they would be. Ok they are not tiny, but tomorrow well be going up in a plane to see these from the air, will we be able to see them? The enormity is the question why and how. Are they paths? I think they´re too narrow.

Cementerio de chauchilla
Bone yard of the nasca people to you and me. An interesting day out if a bit strange. It was cheaper for us to do it as a trip but if you have a group of four could be better to take a taxi. The rest of the trip includes a visit of the ceramics workshop which was quite interesting and then a trip to a gold processing workshop, not so interesting and some very strong hints on tips.

The small percetage

2007-10-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

In my last post I called an American guy staying in the hostel a hippy. Neil please don´t take offence to that name, you´re great, as are all the americans I´ve met on this trip. With one exception. Tonight we had the misfortune of meeting some guy from South Carolina. Or, how should I say a FUCKING RACIST BASTARD.
Up until this point the editor ie me has pro hibited the use of foul language but on this occasion, what the fuck. Anyone who thinks that it´s ok to bomb children in England in the name of Ireland, when they have never been there, and their only conection is a distant relative, is an cunt.

So far this has been a chilled out hostel but this changes things.

THE ABOVE: That was what I wrote last night. So to explain. We´ve been staying in the hostel Casa de la gringa, which has been chilled, well very chilled. But people have been coming and going. So when there are new people in the common area it´s usually nice to get to know them, you certainly assume that they are actually staying here. As it turns out this group of Americans were not even staying here. The rest seemed ok, it was just the guy from South Carolina who was the problem. He was saying that he was half Irish half Italian, he didn´t say what generation. Just one of the problems I had with him was that he was a IRA sympathiser. He stated that it is a war. Well, Shopping Centers are not military targets, they áre terrorist. I could go on but I wont.

You see people like this on TV, but I never thought that I would actually meet one of them. A few nights ago there were some guys here from Northern Ireland. They were great guys out for the CRACK. It would be interesting to have had them their to hear what was going on. Of all the places I´ve been so far, by this one experience, I would be more scared going to the American South than Latin America. One question I wish I asked him is "did you vote for Bush?" Then again maybe we can just assume that he did. If this is indicative of what a Bush voter is like then America is a very scary place.

Cusco - Casa de la gringa

2007-10-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

This is the longest time we`ve stayed in one place. It`s a chilled out place with quite a few people who have been here quite a few weeks and months in some cases. They also have two cats, Angle and Pedro. Angle has been finding it´s way into our room the last few nights, usually just stopping for a few hours. It was always a mystery how he got into the room as we always had the door closed. This morning I work up with a scratching at my chest. The cat had managed to get into bed, and I do mean under the covers, and was sleeping next to me. He must have been dreaming about mice or something and needed something to scratch at and I was the nearest thing. Another night of bad sleep.

We were talking to one of the guys at the hostel, a mature hippy guy from Detroit and a veteran of many a trip to latin america and a verteran of many a TRIP. He`s been staying here for few months.

"he`s getting in throught the window, maaaan!

Thanks to his knowledge and experience we sleep well.

If only I had the advantage of that sort of knowledge. On that subject he did say we should try the San Perdo Trip.

So more on San Pedro next time

Purpose

2007-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

The theists would have us believe that we need a purpose to be on the face of the earth and that that purpose is to worship god. Whatever that god maybe. Although I may not believe that we have a predefinded purpose of worshiping something supernatural or beyond our perception, depending on what religion you like the best or grew up with, I do now want a purpose for this trip. Ok, I did have my goals and ideas for this trip, so those would be my purpose. But it´s now looking like those are changing. Some of the things I´ve done on this trip, that weren´t on the original plan, have been some of the highlights. So maybe it´s best to not have a plan. Well no have a plan you need one, just be flexible with it. Stopping in Cusco for over a week was not on the plan but I needed it, for time to relax and think. Now I am relaxing and thinking, I think maybe I´m thinking too much. What am I doing now and what will I do when I get back?

One of the goal of the trip was to see fantastic things that I´ve never seen before. Yes, I have done that and I am all the time. The next stop is Nazca to see the lines but I´m not liking the thought of getting on another bus. I never thought that the first time when I saw pictures of these lines back when I was a kid that I´d be able to see them for real. Moreover they are very fragile things and it is very much see them now before it is too late. So why do I seem to be more looking forward to a Sunday Roast at the Real McCoy Cusco. I would under normal circumstances be rushing to see them, but, well, as I´ve said before I personally need to travel at a slow pace.

I did have other goals, but they at the moment they are to be left on simmer. So maybe these goals are the purpose. More on those in future posts.

Profession

2007-10-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

I´ve got used to the idea that there is no such thing as a job for life. It is difficult but possible to change profession. Over here I think that things are different, there is more a job for life culture. Every time you check into a hotel or hostel over here you have to give your profession. So many people over here have given up their jobs and maybe even their professions in view to making a life change. Just for the record I´m including myself in that group. So should you be honest and put down some title of a job you´re trying to get away from or lie. Well I´ve been putting writer for my profession. Not that I think I am one nor have a burning desire to be one. But it keeps people happy, and gives me a fresh start. No need to think about what I used to do and to be able to think i n the future.

Cree Indian Prophecy

2007-10-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

Normality for a week in Cusco

2007-10-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

I´m at about the 2 and a half month stage into this trip and I need some time to chill. I just want one week where I know what day it is, to have a weekend to get pissed and to do some mountainbiking. Yes I know that I could easy be in London traveling 1 hour each way to work and doing the 9 to 5. So some may think it strange that I want some routine. I know I`ve seen some fantastic things along the way and I´ve got even more to look forward to. But you need to be able to take it all in.
Yesterday we went to the Real McCoy bar in cusco. At s/ 25 for a roast dinner it´s expensive for a budget traveler, when you can get a three course dinner with drink for s/ 10. But it was Sunday afternoon a day off and I needed a treat, and a roasty. Ok, so it was roast alpaca. But it was still nice to have a big meal. We should still be here next Sunday so same again next Sunday.
During the week to fill the time, I want to do some Spanish study. Which I´ve not had time to lately. I´ve not been improving and it´s getting me down. Well I don´t feel as though I´ve imporved. At one stage in the next few months we´re going to do some volunteer work. For me hopefully using Spanish.
Still I´m feeling happy as I know that it´s Monday. Firstly I know the day and secondly it´s the start of the week, to relax a bit and to have a weekend

Machupicchu - camino inka

2007-10-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say about both of these that hasn´t already been said. Machupicchu is now one of the wonders of the modern world and camino inka has long been one of the classic walks of the world. And rightly so, for both, as they are fantastic. But, if you want a step-by-step talk through of the walk then you need to look else where, maybe on a travel blog. Although this maybe looking more and more like a travel blog it isn´t by my intention.

So here´s my comments:

When we arrived at Machupicchu there was hordes of turists from agua calientes, ie all those who didn´t to the camino. Maybe a good idea would be to allow the walkers who get up at 4am to get there for early morning to have a few hours and then to let in all the rest. The 4 day walk is like a pilgrimage to machupicchu the royal city of the Inkas, and all you can hear is some obnoxious loud American talking, well, almost shouting. Maybe I need to justify what I just said. On this trip and others I´ve met Americans and they´ve been top people but there are a certain percentage, who are obnoxious. The same can be said of the British abroad and other nationalities. So please don´t be offended if you one of the former group as it´s been a pleasure to meet you.

If I had gone for the easier route I would have missed out, and not had a respect for what the inkas had created. I don´t think that people who may not be able to complete the trek should miss out but I think the people who do do it, should get the experience they were expecting. I think it is possible to have a balance.

Talking to one of our guides we found out that there has been a lot of changes with the agencies. He said 5 years ago they didn´t supply guides with tents and they had to go and find a cave to sleep in for the night. They now do provide a tent, albeit a two man tent for as many as three. But, the shock is the porters who 5 years ago didn´t have a limit on what they could carry. Apparently often carrying 40kg+. They now have a maximum of 20kg. But it´s hard to believe that the packs they carry, I would guess are at least 120 litres, are lighter than that. After they´ve had the "weigh in" they certainly are open two taking on more for a price. And who can blame them, with a wage for a day of s/20 to 25, they are working for survival not for profit. Also their days are long, the cook was providing food at 6am and carrying a gas canister big enough for the 4 days and for 15 people, along with the rest of the tooks of his trade, setting everything up for lunch and again at the evening camp for dinner. Thanks, Jose Maria (that´s his nickname I´ve forgot is real name). How many English twenty one year olds could russle up a 3 course dinner for 15 people, and good food at that, on a mountain.

The agency gave an indication that you should tip upto s/40 for the porters we gave 60. I don´t know what other goups gave, but we wanted to give more for this group who work so hard for so little.

So what have I learned from this is, maybe we should be asking agencies about the native people who will be working on this kind of trip and how they will be treated, and not just thinking about how will I be treated.

Cusco/cuzco

2007-10-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Arriving at Cusco leaves you breathless. Walk too fast and you`re panting for air. The locol cure for altitude sickness is chewing coca leaves or drinking them as a tea. My intention was always to buy some warm clothing here. Seemed the logical thing to do. You don´t need warm kit in Central America and the Alpaca wool clothes here are cheap. I got one of those silly hats for a pound (s/7).

I really want to spend a bit of time here. it´s a good base to do some mountain biking and to see the Amazon. I´ve got tired of all the travel I just want to know what day it is and to have a week with a weekend. Yes, it´s good to chill, but I like to keep productive and I feel as though I´m not at the moment. Two weeks consentrating on my Spanish wood be good, and getting pissed at the weekends.

I need to pack for tomorrow the start of the trip to do el camino inca. I´m not sure what to expect now. Most of the travel blogs I´ve read make it sound ok, people here make it sound hard going, but they would they want you to buy loads of stuff.

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912 crew

Top fuel skater

Chugger, chugger, charity mugger.

Flamenco

Halloween skate

Oktober

Fiesta de despedida del soltero (Craig)

Sin salida

Mate

Carnival del pueblo

London naked bike ride, well skate for some

Found a job in London

Looking for a job in London.

MRC

1st skate of the season.

Give us a job!

Regreso a Rossendale

Culture shock in your own country

Bienvenidos a Blighty

Good bye Buenos Aires

Hispanohablante

Count down

Just an observation....

Envase

Peña de .............

Caminante en dioses blinda

Tigre y la delta

Art in Buenos Aires

I´m coming home. Where ever that is!

Tit for Tat

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Colonia parte dos

Montevideo parte dos

Punto del Este

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Montevideo

Colonia a Montevideo

Colonia

Buenos Aires a Colonia Uruguay

La Hispano Americana (check the name)

Cementario

Tattooed in Tango Town

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Puerto Iguazú a Buenos Aires

Puerto Iguazú

Buenos Aires

Puerto Madryn

Punta Arenas a Puerto Madryn

Punta Arenas

La Ruta W

Puerto Natales

El Calafate

El Chaltén

Bariloche a El Chaltén

The Summer´s snow

Bariloche a El Chalten

Bariloche - British Weather

Bariloche

San Martín de los andes - Argentina

Pucón - Volcan Villarrica

Feliz año nuevo

Feliz Navidad

Santiago

La Serena

Antofagasta - terremoto

San Pedro

Salta a San Pedro de Atacama

How to fit in.

Salta

La Quiaca - Argentina

Tupiza a la fontera

Tupiza

Potosí a Tupiza

Sucre

Cerro rico - el dia despues

Potosí - Cerro Rico

Salar Uyuni

Rurrenabque

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