Travel update!

Hi sports fans

 

Bolivia wrap up, check out the blog www.coveyfan.blogspot.com for detail report, but I am leaving Cochabamba, the city of friendly people, great cheap food(gotta love the fruit salad), beautiful plazas and good memories...

 

1. La Paz and the Death Road... 65 km of pure adrenaline and was a great way to start my journey

2. The Salt Flats of Uyuni and my group... you guys made the trip!

3. The Zinc Mines of Potosi... makes you appreciate your deskbound job...

4. The beautiful town of Sucre, Spanish lessons and beautiful views, good company and excellent red wine... cycling to the Seven Waterfalls, cooking Bolivian and hanging out at El Mirador all afternoon when we should have been practising the past tense...

5. The bustling town of Cochabamba, hanging out with cheerful Brits and sexy Aussies, coming to grips with the Conidtional and Subjunctive tenses and avoiding kids throwing water balloons at ya... yep, Carnival is coming...

 

I won`t miss the roads but will miss the views, I could stay here a while longer because it is so friendly and cheap, but my flight to Brazil... and the dangers of the Amazon... awaits!

 

Take care folks...

--
Pieter

www.coveyfan.blogspot.com

The length of the journey doesn't matter... it is only the first step that is difficult!

Spanish classes and good times...

SUCRE!

The delightful city of Sucre was to be my next stop on my Bolivian explorations... I have had a week in high comfort (bumped into some Irish folks that I had climbed a volcano with in Guatemala in the same room in Potosi - how small is the world... and they recomended an awesome hostel in Sucre) in a clean spacious room with private bathroom and cable telly, plus fresh towels. Almost like taking a holiday from backpacking, and only $7 a night... and Sucre is a beautiful clean city full of churches and pristine white buildings surrounded by green hills, with friendly locals and a vibrant social life...

SPANISH CLASSES!

I headed straight to private Spanish Teacher Monica Rocha, who was not only an awesome and flexible teacher, accomodating me over the weekend and even on Sunday night at 17h30, allowing me to join English birds Katie and Emma on a MTB trip into the countryside... in three days of lessons I learned more than in a week in Guatemala. For social reasons (Salsa lessons, Bolivian cooking classes, etc) I switched on Monday for a further 3 lessons at the school in town, Emma and I shared talkative teacher Orlando, who proceeded to educate us on both the local academic point of view on socialist president Uvo Morales and his intended reforms, we did some Comprehension homework on the matter of cloning (in Spanish) and had some great conversations... I think the Spanish progressed here as well, but Monica still rocks.

HOLIDAY FROM MY HOLIDAY!

So in between Spanish classes, Spanish homework, ridiculously cheap restaurants with fantastic views and some surprisingly good Bolivian red, along with feeding my telly habit for a bit, I have had a great time. Met some great people, but mostly had fun shooting the breeze with Emma and Katie. Having concluded classes on Wednesday, however, plus on the same day having heard that I have been reemployed for the summer in the States (YES!), thereby solidifying my travel schedule and allowing me to once again start focusing on specifics except ifs and maybes, it was time to move on...

MOVING ON TO COCHABAMBA!

The roadblocks to Cochabamba have been lifted! Hometown of Top Man Morales, disenfranchised farmers hotspot, with a vibrant nightlife and Spanish studying opportunities, is where I find myself since 4h30 this morning. Hopefully the Prez and the local Prefect have sorted out their differences, allowing gringos like us to enjoy the scenery in peace... Emma and I will be checking out the town until she leaves on Sunday, while I have to choose between staying here for an extra week or starting a laborious jungle boat trip up to Manaus Brazil. I intend to meet MY BOY Chris the Lakewalker there on 4 Feb, maybe I will take more time here to polish the Spanish and fly instead... only time will tell!

POTOSI ZINC MINES
After THE marathon bus ride from Uyuni on some really dodge Bolivian dirt roads, we finally arrived in Potosi, a nice little town famous for its Zinc Mine inside the local volcano.

In due course, I donned the overalls and miners lamp, and proceeded to descended deep into the bowels of Bolivia. Not for claustrophobics, the tour was wriggling down and up small holes, really bad smells and experiencing just what a terrible working environment the 15,000 plus miners have down here.

Along the way we got hoisted up three levels in a miners pulley, had some 95% proof with some of the miners deep down there and lit up a cigarette for their local devil god to ensure we get out of there in one piece. All round a fun time, but was glad to get out...

Am now in Sucre lapping up the Spanish again, my teacher is awesome, the town is cool and I have cable in my room, so I get to feed my TV addiction as well... will stick around for a bit, but Brazil is starting to beckon...

--
Pieter

www.coveyfan.blogspot.com

The length of the journey doesn't matter... it is only the first step that is difficult!

Southern Bolivia - The Salt Flats of Uyuni...

After a lazy couple of days hanging out in La Paz, I finally kicked into travel gear again and got me the overnight bus to remote Uyuni in the south of Bolivia. This one-horse town is mostly known for its access to the southern Highlands and the incomparable salt plains that stretches for 120 square kms...

The Tourist Bus was not crowded, and I met an interesting and entertainingly opinionated Irishman called Casey. My kind of people, his informed opinions would range from the state of the union in Ireland to the absolute blast Chavez is having in Venezuela stirring the pot in South and Central America...

Entonces, I hopped on the same tour as Casey upon next day arrival in Uyuni (why waste time) and we were off in a Landcruiser for some high altitude adventuring. The group consisted of Casey, Paul and Caroline from Oz, Emma from England, Lilianna from Columbia and myself... and of course our cook Augostina (she rocks,we ate like kings) and our chilled out guide Leo.

So over the next few days we saw amazing salt plains, vast lagoons populated by Pink Flamingos at altitudes of up to 4900m, we swam in hot springs, saw natural geysers erupt, and overlanded across some of the most beautifully remote high plains in the world.

Accommodations were basic and temperatures dropped to under freezing point, but we were well prepared and with some rum, good pasta and playing a lot of Shithead (the card game that just keeps on coming) we braved the elements succesfully.

We dropped off half our crew on day 3 on the Chilean border... and this border post was something out of an Afghanistan movie, what a treat. Although I sorely missed the "nature of good versus evil" and "Who is the Evil Empire" discussions once we had offloaded Casey, the all-day journey back to Uyuni was thorougly entertaining.

We gave three soldiers a lift, the van broke down at least 3 times and we encountered a blockade initiated by some pissed off Villagers (this is quite common in Bolivia). They were objecting to the Tour companies not going through their town and therefore losing out on tourist money, so they swept up to the neighbouring town and put a bunch of big rocks in the road.

A big debate ensued between the tour drivers and the disgruntled Villagers, with either amused or irritated passengers snapping away pics or attempting to join in the debate (no not me). In a model for peaceful mediation which your man George W could do well to have a look at, they resolved the whole thing in less than an hour, signed some kind of petition and the rocks were cleared... and we were off!

Engine repairs and replacing flat tires notwithstanding, we were back in Uyuni by 8 last night. Missed our bus to get out of here but that`s cool, as we took the day to just chill out, blog and read a bit.

Tomorrow I head back north to go check out the Salt Mines of Potosi, but this experience has been one of the best so far. Amazing remote nature, good company, good food and good times. Who could ask for more...?

LA PAZ BOLIVIA
The World´s most dangerous road...

It used to be called the world´s most dangerous road, and the death toll annually from trucks and buses sliding off the 300 foot cliffs numbered more than a 100 annually. These days, there is virtually no traffic as they had finally opened a bigger and better road to cover that pass, leaving the descent from the mountains from about 4400m down to the valley at about 1000m exclusively for the use of adrenaline junkey backpackers...

Our motley crew with the help of foulmouthed guide Erin consisted of myself, a duo from Holland, some English folks and a couple of yanks, plus an entertaining Canadian-Emirate dude who has traveled more than me.

The weather was plain awful... rain all the way down, slippery wet roads and mist, mostly obscuring the amazing views to be had as you go down. This theoretically meant we would go slightly slower for safety... fat chance! On my nifty dual suspension bike, I stuck close to the guide as we hurtled down at speeds of about 40km-h or more...

Despite getting soaked to my bones, I had a thoroughly entertaining day. The mists cleared up eventually affording some stunning views, and we had a great buffet lunch to end off the adventure... then on the bus for the 3 hour trip back to La Paz!

The bus ride back was almost as exciting as the bike ride itself... our driver playing chicken with various oncoming trucks, buses and pedestrians and us wooping an hollering slightly nervous support from the back...

Dead tired by the end of the day, a fitting end was hunkering down under a blanket in front of the telly and getting stuck in a evil governments discussion with some Australians which turned into a morality debate on the nature of good and evil... tomorrow I will chill out, take stock and figure out my next moves. Spanish school or the salt plains... depends which roads are open, the Bolivians are always bloody striking...

CUZCO!

Our young adventurer is back on the road! After a last night laying down some deep issues... you guessed it, Fico and I did not talk about world peace but rather about how to resolve our various complicated love lives while having some nostalgic wings and beer, I got up at 4 to get the 6 flight to Cuzco in the Andes, home of the Incas, and one of my favourite cities in the world.

I hung around for the day sorting myself out, after speaking to the folks realizing I need a visa for Bolivia, booked an evening bus to Puno to get said visa, went and popped in to say hi to our tour operator in town and ran into my tentmate from the trek up north Matheas and his girl, we duly got stuck into some good local food for dinner before I got on the bus...

7 hours later I got to Puno (bloody freezing), got me a room for the morning and caught some z´s. In no time flat I had been to the consulate, procured a visa and was on my way to Bolivia. 3 hours later I crossed the border, hopped on another bus and on my way to La Paz... this city is awesome, I didn´t even stop for a shower before booking my next day ¨Death Road¨Cycle trip...

Dinner with some lovely English and Irish folks ensured before I tucked in in anticipation for my next big adventure...

ES LO QUE ES - dice el amor

(Erich Fried)

¿Lo que es?

Es una tontería - Dice la razón

Es lo que es - Dice el amor

Es una desgracia - Dice el cálculo

No es nada sino dolor - Dice el temor

No tiene perspectivas - Dice el entendimiento

Es lo que es - Dice el amor

Es ridículo - Dice el orgullo

Es insensato - Dice la precaución

Es imposible - Dice la experiencia

Es lo que es - Dice el amor

SANTA CRUZ TREK - PERU

So according to plan, I fulfilled my goal of freezing my eversweet nuts off in the middle of the Andes over New Year... in fact, the year 2007 swung by without as much as a not from our little group of six adventurers, seeing as we were all hiding in our sleeping bags in the subzero temperatures... first day was a breeze, except for the rain over the last hour as we got to our campsite at 3700m, no sweat, but damn cold! I was armed to the teeth though... check out the sexy orange jacket, the mits and the Huaraz beeny... I also had my brand new Nike hiking boots, very comfy and the only genuine item in my armada... and Ayelet`s jacket was invaluable as well!
The next day, however, we started a freaking oddyssey... incessant drizzling rain, total fatigue almost from the word go and freezin cold winds made the climb to the Punta Union Pass at 4750m a helluva challenge... It took me all of 9 hours to make it to camp, I will tell you it was a hard slog. At one point I had lost the trail, visibility was zero and I only had a dim idea of where I was heading to the pass up above... catcalls to the others went unreplied, so I manfully scrambled up some huge rocks, and suddenly the cliffs loomed in front of me. Almost tripping up over my poncho, cursing the gods and starting to feel nervous, I soldiered on... I spotted the trail to my right, and when I got to the top, it was the best feeling EVER! Mattheas, my tentmate from Quebec, was up there as well, and we celebrated our victory over the Andes with a shot of Pisco. The other side of the pass was clear of clouds and rain and a beautiful valley with crystal clear lagoons greeted us... and our camp was down there somewhere!

The third day was a relatively easy slog... 19kms down the valley to the end, we decided to skip day 4 and do the whole slog on day 3, that allowed us to go hit the hot springs today.

The Santa Cruz trek is by no means the toughest trek I had ever done, but day 2 is a doozy and was pretty scary. The Trek company turned out to be not so dodge after all, although our guide Geronimo... yeah, that should´ve warned us... was not world class (we never saw the guy!!!), we were a nice bunch from Canada, Germany, Holland and Peru, and the hike was both challenging and pleasant.

The time in the mountains was a great way to enter the new year... I journalled like a maniac, spent lots of time rehashing some stuff in my mind and it has been the most introspection I have done since my hippy time in Guatemala, bringing home that the mountains do feed my soul. Right now I am happily tired, my bus back to Lima is at 10h30 tonight, the few days here in the mountains have done me the world of good, and I suspect I will be back.

Just a footnote as well... I have googled this back at fico`s place, and my tentbuddy Matheas pointed me in the right direction... there used to be a comic series on TV which I had LOVED as a kid, about a child who goes in search of the city of gold and his father. All I remember is the golden condor... the series was even more popular in Canada though, and is called the Mysterious Cities of Gold... check out the website http://www.mysteriouscitiesofgold.com/seriesinformation.html so it was kinda cool reconnecting with the kid inside as I walked down the valleys and mountains depicted in the show...

The melancholy has not quite left me, but I can feel myself turning the corner... watch out Bolivia!