Timeless

Well now that me and Amina have both lost our phones we are timeless. We wander around doing things only to suddenly find out that it's half past 5. And to be honest travelling feels a bit like that. Things feel like they're going slowly but all of a sudden you realise that the time has flown by. We have less than a week left before we return to Lautaro. Even though I'm really excited to go back and see Ruty again, it will be a bit of a bummer not to be travelling anymore. It's been so much fun! We've met so many friendly, interesting people and seen so many amazing places. I've not had a single bad day, even when I was ill.

I'm really enjoying it now when people ask me if I can speak Spanish and I can say 'yes'. It feels so good. Like all that hard work is worth it. I mean I have to add that I'm not fluent but I really can have a conversation with someone so much easier than before. And talking to people that speak Spanish and they say that I can speak really well. If I try to protest they insist. Who am I to argue with them?

Salta

We took two buses to Salta, in the North of Argentina. The second one was so nice. We were upgraded to a cama seat which was sooo nice. I should explain that in, well all the countries we've been to, they have semi-cama, cama, or cama suite seats. Usually we go for semi-cama because it's the cheapest. The cama seat was so much bigger and comfier. It was great.

Argentina is quite like Europe. Very green and open. The roads are smooth which is great after the journey from Tupiza. The houses are really pretty and don't seem like they're about to fall down.

Salta is a really pretty place. We were there for only one day. We stepped off the bus at the station and were hit by a wall of heat. It was so hot! So different to Uyuni. A really nice guy helped us find a hostel and book bus tickets. The hostel was alright. We were just really happy to arrive after the long journey. Although it was a bit horrible when I was about to take a shower and there was a huge cockroach in the shower. And then we were in the kitchen and we saw a group of ants transporting some food thing up the wall. The next day we explored a little of Salta. It's such a nice place. Really pretty. We had to take the bus at 2 so we returned to our hostel and made a huge lunch of pasta.

The highlight of the bus journey was the amazing lightening storm we drove through at night. For about 2 hours there was just constant lightening flashes and forks. But it wasn't raining at all. And we only heard one rumble of thunder. It was amazing. I always thought I'd be scared in a big lightening storm but I wasn't. It was thrilling.

Puerto Iguazu

Puerto Iguazu was even hotter than Salta and really humid. We tried to walk to find our hostel but the map we'd been given was rubbish so we got a bit lost. Ended up taking a taxi and it was practically right next to the bus station. Nice place with a pool which was so refreshing. We relaxed for a bit and then we booked a boat tour for the next day.

Took a bus the next morning to the Nacional Park where the Iguazu Falls are. It was so exciting. We went first to the Garganta del Diablo (Devils throat), where there is one huge waterfall and lots of little ones all falling at the same point. You can see right down to the bottom - or you could if they didn't throw up so much mist. We got really wet standing there.

La garganta del diablo

In the park there were so many butterflies. You'd see one and then all of a sudden there would be a big swarm that would all swarm at you at once. Big yellow ones, blue and red ones, little white ones, grey ones, blue ones... every colour you could imagine. At one point I became butterfly women when they all decided to sit on me at once.

Next we walked to upper trail where we could see some waterfalls from above. I should explain that there are around 150 waterfalls over quite a large space. We could only see some of them up close. It was really cool to see the water falling. It looked a bit like glass. We stayed pretty wet all day getting up close to the falls. We saw lots of coatis walking around the park.

After lunch (we had to try and stop the coatis stealing and eating our food) we went on a boat ride. Now when I say boat ride, I mean immense speed boat ride. It was so much fun. We drove up the river for a while, speeding up over all the rapids, and tilting to very dangerous angles. Then we saw the waterfalls which looked pretty incredible from that viewpoint. We stopped to take photos and then stow away our shoes. Then we drove really, really close to the waterfalls. We were absolutely soaking! The water was so strong. We weren't under the fall, but the mist was so strong it was moving my contact lenses that were in my eyes! I couldn't see. But it was so much fun. Amina told me she broke down, lost all faith in humanity and started praying to Allah. I was just enjoying myself. It was great.

We arrived back on dry land (well, wet land) and walked to lower trail, where we saw some waterfalls from below. Got really wet again but by this point it didn't really matter. As it was getting later some more animals started to come out. We saw a big family of toucans in a tree and flying over the falls. It was amazing. All day we'd heard some sort of insect buzzing away in the bushes and there were these funny little birds that liked to make a lot of noise. Had such an amazing time at the falls. I would tell anyone to go.

Our last morning in Iguazu we walked to 'las tres fronteras', the point where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet. Technically this is a river. So to really be there, we took a boat ride. This one much calmer than the day before. It was lovely to sail on the calm water and wave hello to Brazil. Amina was especially happy. I'm sure I've mentioned before how much she wishes she was Brazillian. Caught a great cama bus to Buenos Aires. We were constantly being given cakes and sweets and drinks. Dinner was great and the films were actually in English (with Spanish subtitles so I was still learning).

I swear Amina was happier than she looks in this photo

Buenos Aires

Arrived in Buenos Aires and took a really expensive taxi to our hostel (it's ok, Amina paid ;) ). Dumped all our bags, we seem to have collected quite an amount of stuff over our travels. We hit the city to see what was what. walked up the main road and saw the congress building. It's big. Then we walked down the main road and saw the main plaza and the casa rosada which is a really important building. It's where the President works and where all sorts of important meetings are held. We even went to a little museum about the plaza and some other thing that we couldn't quite work out what it was.

Congress

Plaza de Mayo and la casa rosada

Returned to the hostel to check-in and then it was back out to the city. We bought some food for a picnic and walked down to a big natural reserve park. We were walking for ages along this narrow path, trying to find some grass to have a picnic. We knew there was a lake there so we thought it might be nice to eat next to it. Arrived at a grassy area and saw this HUGE expanse of water in front of us. We both just thought "WOW that is a MASSIVE lake!" We were really confused. . . Then we realised that it was the Atlantic Ocean and the world started to make sense again.

I waved to you all across the Ocean

A park in the middle of the city

Had a really nice lunch looking at the birds and the "leaf insects" (ants carrying leaves, Amina refused to believe this until I showed her the ants). Spent about an hour walking out of the park because we got a bit lost. It was a really big park.

Day two in Buenos Aires we went out with two girls for the day. Marie (who we met in Iguazu. She's French) and Paulina (Mexican). We were going to go to a famous graveyard but we were on the bus and thought, why not go to the zoo? So we went to the zoo. It was really big and had loads of animals. A couple of vicuña which look much nicer out in the wild. There were lots of little animals wandering free in the zoo. The looked like a mix between rabbits, dogs and deer. Afterwards we had lunch in the Botanical Gardens nearby. There is so much to do in Buenos Aires.

We went out for dinner to a nice restaurant where we could sit outside. We had to be a table service charge (paying for the napkins etc, we thought about taking them seeing as we'd paid). Then the waiter told us that tips weren't included. Pshh we didn't want to tip him after that.

Day three in Buenos Aires, me and Amina spent the morning trying to find a museum by the bay. walked around a lot and found out it was shut. So we went to a shopping centre that's inside a big old building. Really pretty with loads of paintings on the ceiling. I tried the Argentinina ice cream, because someone had told me that it was amazing. It was pretty incredible.

Afterwards, we met up with Marie and Paulina in a really famous BA cafe called cafeteria Tortini. It's been running for over 150 years, and you can just feel the history it there. The waiters were wearing black and it was just so nice inside. And it wasn't hideously expensive like we'd thought it would be. It was pretty much the same as everywhere else we'd been.

Pointy bridge

A shopping centre with painted ceilings

Ice cream :)

Marie, Amina, me and Paulina

In the afternoon Amina, Marie and I went to la casa rosada, and walked all around it. Saw the Presidents office. It's quite cool because it's not a museum. The place is still used for all sorts of things. And it's really pretty. BA seems really European, especially in comparison to Puerto Iguazu where it seemed very much like we were in the jungle (which we were). BA is called the Paris of South America. It's really nice. There's so many pretty buildings and loads of parks and plazas to walk around. There's so much we haven't done because we haven't had the time.

This evening we went to a tango show at la cafeteria Tortini. It was so, so amazing. The dancing was incredible, the music was outstanding and the effects were really good. The timing and choreography that must have gone into it. There was a little mock cafe Tortini with the waiter singing and joking around. There would be little dances of tango that showed how cafe life was back when it was a new little cafe. Then the dances got longer and more amazing. A guy came on and started spinning some balls on a string while dancing. He was dancing so fast. It doesn't sound that amazing but it really was. It was incredible. I'm so happy we went to one. I would tell anyone to go and see one.

Now That's A Lot Of Salt

Well I know it's been a while but I've been so busy. Taken so many buses recently. I'll fill you in on Uyuni and do another blog about the rest.

Well we arrived in Uyuni after taking two buses. For some reson we stopped for a day in Potosi. Now Potosi is the highest city in the world and it is a slope. If you want to go to the main plaza you have to walk up a slope (from our hostel anyway) and it is so difficult. I got so out of breath. Basically all we did in Potosi was look for a laundrette, eat dinner and go to bed. Our hostel was horrible. We ended up going to bed at eight because there was nothing to do.

Uyuni is quite a nice little place. I'd heard from a lot of people that it's rubbish and there's nothing there. I suppose there is nothing there except hostels and pizza restaurants. We booked our tour of the salt flat, settling on a three day tour. We had to spend a day in Uyuni as it was the main day of carnival and there was nothing open. We relaxed, got water bombed and hung out with some musical Chilenos. There were so many Chilenos and Japanese people in Uyuni! Amina got majorly water bombed by one little girl, so she crept up behind her and covered her in water from her bottle. The girl looked so shocked, it was so funny. Even locals were laughing.

Our tour started on a Wednesday around midday. (Bolivian style an hour late). There were about 25 people on the tour, 6 per car. In our car was me and Amina, two French people Tiffany and Antony, a Brazilian Edson, and an Italian Alejandra. They were all really nice. Our guide Diyuni was really nice as well.

We started by going to the train graveyard. Lots of old rusty trains that we could climb around on. Amina was very happy. Saw the train line that still runs to Chile. We then moved onto a little village at the edge of the salt flat. This is where we were going to spend the night. Our hostel was made out of salt from the Salar. Had llama steak for lunch and then it was off to the salt flat.

 

I took this picture at our hostel and I love it. Does anyone know how this happens?

It was pretty amazing. Huge expanse of just white salt and a layer of water. Driving closer it looked really weird because it seemed like the land and the sky had just merged into one. We drove for a while and reached the salt pyramids. They're man-made. Apparently they attract water making the salar safer for cars. We drove on further and reached a point that had a thin layer of water covering the salar. This made some really cool reflections. It just looked so incredible. We were allowed to sit on top of the jeep while we were driving which was pretty cool. Diyuni took lots of funny photos of us. We stayed there watching the sun set and drinking tea. We had to hide in the car after a while because the sun was hidden behind some clouds and the wind picked up making it rather cold.

 

The salt pyramids

 

Can you tell where I got my inspiration for this dad?

 

I´m ontop of the world (of Bolivia)

We returned to the hostel for dinner. When it was really dark we headed back out to the edge of the salar to look at the stars. Sadly it was really cloudy so we couldn't really see anything. That didn't stop us from dancing to Michael Jackson at the edge of the biggest salt flat on the world. It was pretty weird. Some stars did end up coming out in the end and we watched lightening flashes in the distance as well.


Day two was an early start. We started driving to see some lagunas. We passed through the Valley of Rocks, which had lots of rocks in the shape of birds, animals and people. Stopped at three lagunas. The first one was really difficult to get close to because there was loads of marsh. I tried and was doing really well. Managed to get some pictures of the flamencos. Sadly on the way back I sank a little and got the really smelly mud all over my foot. The second laguna was green because of a mineral in the water.

We passed the arbol de piedra (Stone Tree) but it was really cold and hailing so we didn't hang around long. It was Edson's first time seeing hail. Crazy. I swear Amina wants to move to Brazil. The third laguna was pink because of microorganisms in the water. We stayed the night at a hostel next to the laguna. It was really nice to be able to talk to everyone else on the tour. Such a mix of people. Although for some reason there were no Chileans or Japanese people.


I'm just going to say at this point that I absolutely love my sleeping bag. Every night on the tour it was really cold but I was nice and warm and cosy. It's great.
Day three we got up even earlier to see some geysers at dawn. It was nice but really cold as we were 4800 m.a.s.l! And they weren't as impressive as the Geysers del Tatio we saw in San Pedro. We drove to some hot springs, where everyone proceeded to jump in the water to warm up. It was really hot! We had a great breakfast of pancakes and cereal before continuing to drive.

We drove to la laguna verde. We saw the same volcano we'd been able to see from our hostel in San Pedro, only the other side of it. We were right by the boarder. I kept singing the Chile song and my guide would give me these really dirty looks. Here we said goodbye to Edson and the Frenchies. They were off to San Pedro. The rest of us headed back to Uyuni. We passed the pink laguna again on the way back. On that day it was nice and sunny so we were able to see the laguna on a nice day. Really pretty. We saw loads of vicuña on the drive back.

We arrived back in Uyuni in the evening and said goodbye to Alejandra. Went out to dinner with Matilda and Andreas who are from Denmark. It was such and amazing tour. Well worth the money and time. I would recommend anyone to go with Quechua Connections who we went with. The food was great, the driving was good, and the guides knew so much.

In the eveing we took the bus to Tupiza then Villazon. It was such a bumpy road. Can't say I got too much sleep that night because this old lady sat in the isle next to me and ignored the pleas of the conductor to take a seat. She seemed very happy but she kept bumping into me all night. At one point in the middle of the night all the men were asked to get out and help fill a hole in the road with rocks, so that the bus could drive over it.

Eventually we made it to Villazon and then met the worst boarder crossing ever. We queued for about 3 and a half hours. Then we realised we were about to miss the bus we'd booked. So we pleaded to be allowed through. Eventually a guy took aour passports and came back with them stamped. We were so happy. Still missed out bus by 15 minutes but we were able to change it.

Dinosaurs and Water-bombing

Well we're in Sucre. We'd been told to prepare for a really cold, uncomfortable bus journey. So we took our sleeping bags on board and were prepared for the worst. Little did we know the worst wasn't the cold - it was the heat! It was so hot on that bus! I could hardly sleep. Thankfully we were by a window and kept that open for the whole bus journey. Luckily, someone had an adorable kitten with them and it roamed the bus for the night. Got a fright when I felt it climbing up my leg for a cuddle!

Sucre is a really nice town.  The centre is really pretty. Lots of big white buildings and lots of lovely Spanish colonial architecture. The weather has been very changable since we've been here. One day sunny, the next, rain and cloud.

The cathedral

 

We've been dining on fruit smoothies since being in Bolivia. They're really tasty and you get two big glassfulls for about 40p. In the market we bought some oil from a lady and she asked us if we wanted a bag. We said sure. She then proceeded to pour the oil from the bottle into the bag.

Carnival is on this weekend, Saturday - Tuesday, so there are lots of waterfights in the streets. We've been perfecting our 'don't you dare' look to give to the little kids that smile gleefully and squirt us anyway. It's crazy and so much fun.

On our second day here we caught a bus and went to the dinosaur museum. Here in Sucre they have the worlds largest set of dinosaur footprints, with over 150 different species of dinosaur footprints. They're on a cliff face, that used to be lower down but there was an earthquake that pushed the ground up. There were lots of dinosaur statues in the museum which we took many silly photos of.

the dinosaur footprints

It felt really good to go out and do something because it felt like we didn't really do much in La Paz. 

The next day we tried to go to a museum in the morning but they all seemed to be closed. After lunch we went out and met up with Claire who we met in San Pedro. We went to a cafe and then to la Casa de la Liberdad (Liberty House), which is where the Bolivian declaration of Independence was signed in 1825. Learned a lot about Bolivian history. Fun Fact: Bolivia has had a female president and currently have their first indigenous president.

The next day it was absolutely pouring it down with rain. We went out and were completely soaked within about two minutes. We went to a folklore museum. Saw lots of creepy masks.

We got ourselves another fruit smoothie at the market. The ladies are so friendly and the fruit choice is great.

Thursday was dia con madres. Basically a day for ladies to get drunk. We went out in the morning to get fruit and when we returned to our hostel (after getting sprayed by a hose) we found a big party underway. Ricardo (the owner) wrapped streamers around our necks, threw confetti in our hair, and then gave us lots of chicha to drink. He kept saying al seco (chug) and topping up our glasses. It was pretty weak stuff. He got really drunk. He said he wanted to dance with me after lunch, but when we returned to the living room after lunch, he was fast asleep on the couch. I think this version of Mothers day is much better than what we have back home. Mum - beware.

Happy dia con madres day

We tried to go to a castle yesterday. We took the bus and seemed to arrive at some sort of military base. The castle was shut and we weren't allowed to walk around anywhere, so we just had to get the bus back to town. We walked to the mirador (viewpoint) and saw the city.

Today is day one of carnival. I have no photos to show you because it was not safe to take my camera out into town. There was so much water everywhere. We went to watch the parade and were prime targets for the water throwers. One group actually said 'ooo gringas' and pelted us as much as they could. Locals actually moved away from us so that they wouldn't get wet. As well as throwing water, they spray foam at you so we ended up looking a bit like drowned snowmen. The parade was really cool though. Lots of dancing and masks. They were all quite dry.

We're heading to Potosi tomorrow and then Uyuni to do the salt flat. Going to get a hot chocolate now to warm up!