Weeks 51 to 53
6 July to 28 July
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MATTHEW FOR 20 JULY
Went to see the San Pedro prison which is right in the centre of La Paz. It is a working prison where the in mates have to pay for their accommodation by working in the prison! Depending on the wealth of the prisoner depends on what they have. Apparently some have enormous flat screen TVs and rooms that are more like posh apartments!!
We booked ourselves on the Huyani Potosi trek, a trek to the summit of 6088m snowcapped mountain. On the first day we were taken by truck to the base camp at 4,500m. We then hiked for 1 hour to the foot of the glacier where we were given ice climbing lessons. Darryl really enjoyed this but Christine found hanging off a wall of ice pretty scary!!! That night was spent at the base camp to aclimatise but unfortunately Christine awoke with a terrible pain in her head and it was decided it was best she stay at the base camp whilst Darryl continued with the trek.
Whilst Christine sat by the open fire and read her book Darryl trekked to the second camp where the whole group of trekkers had to sleep like sardines in a tiny, very cold refugio. By the time the trekkers reached this camp many of them were starting to suffer from altitude sickness. Up at 1.30am to climb to the summit for the sunrise. The walking was not easy across the ice, also hampered by having to wear ice boots and crampons! At some points we had to climb with ice axes over huge crevaces. The views at the top when the sun came up were spectacular. The last part of the trek was a very narrow ridge with a huge drop on each side SCARY! 2 people from the group did not make it to the summit but a couple from the Netherlands, Emile and D not only made it to the top but Emile proposed to D (and on return to La Paz discovered that what he thought was altitude sickness was in fact salmonela!). Back in La Paz we bought party hats and balloons and celebrated the engagement.
From La Paz caught the overnight bus to Potosi, a silver mining town which used to be very affluent before the silver started to run out. The mines are still working and we went on a tour into one of the mines. Before the tour starts you are encouraged to buy gifts for the miners as they work for a co-operative so they have to buy all their own equipment and only make as much money as the minerals/silver they mine. We were given protective clothing and hard hats to wear into the mine and it was just as well. As you enter the mine shafts they are very wet as they spray water to keep down the dust and some of the shafts are extremely small. We went deep into the mine and the air became very thin. As it was a Friday the miners have a drink to start the weekend and a few of them were pretty drunk (whilst still in the mine!!!). We were shown a silver vein that the miners were following in the hope of mining a good amount of silver. We heard a few dynamite explosions whilst we were in the mine. It was a pretty scary experience and it was certainly a relief to get out!
Another night bus from Potosi to Tupiza. However, the bus arrived in Tupiza at 4.00am and nowhere was open so we did as the locals do and slept at the bus station (which had not indoor waiting room and it was pretty cold outside!). Tupiza was a pretty little town where we went horse riding into the countryside which was extremely pretty with some amazing rock formations. Christine’s horse, Puna, had mind of her own and kept running off ahead and then jumped a small river which was pretty scary.
From Tupiza we booked a 4 day trip to the Uyuni salt flats. We had not realised that we would only actually see the salt flats on the last day. The first 3 days of the trip were cross country in a 4x4 and it was extremely bumpy. The scenery was spectacular from beautiful lakes full of flamingoes, active volcanos, hot geysers to a wonderful thermal spa in the middle of the desert. We stayed in hostels in little villages and in one village the local children challenged us to a game of basketball. They were very good, but they cheated a lot!!. At night it got down to minus 20 degrees! One hostel had beds that were made of concrete and another had beds made from salt! We got up at 5.00am on the last day in order to arrive at the salt flats for sunrise, and what a spectacular site that was. The salt flats are just miles and miles of whiteness (12000 km sq) but look absolutely beautiful when the sun comes up and makes them glow pink. In the middle of all the whiteness there was what looked like an island and when we arrived there it was, but covered in cacti, some of which were over 1000 years old. This area was once covered in water which explained why the “island” looked like coral.
Another night journey from Uyuni to the Argentina border, but this time on a train. We had to go in first class as all the other seats were taken. It cost us twice as much and we were in the back two seats, the only ones in the whole carriage which did not recline! However, in the morning we did get breakfast in the very posh food carriage. At the border we got off the train and walked into Argentina. From here we caught another night bus to Salta in the north of Argentina. Another early arrival but this time we found a man selling hot coffee from flasks on his bike which was very welcome. Salta is a beautiful town with lots of lovely buildings including an enormous pink cathedral. We met up with some English lads we had met in Uyuni and went for dinner with them at a restaurant which is famous for its steak which you can cut with a spoon. The steak was amazing, it is just melted in your mouth, but you got 500grms each which was a little excessive (almost half a cow!).
Whilst in Salta we decided to go paragliding, and what an amazing experience. We were driven to the top of the mountain, strapped to a man and parachute and just ran off the edge! Sounds mad but it felt great. We were up in the air for what felt like ages and had great views down over the town. The man asked us whilst we were up in the air if we would like “more adrenaline”, Christine refused but Darryl went for it and got to fly the glider himself! Sadly, whilst Christine was up in the air she saw a motorbike accident on the racetrack below. We hope the chap was ok, he was taken away in an ambulance. As Argentina is famous for its parillas (bbq grills) we decided to treat ourselves to one and got meat overload! There was steak, lamb, sausages, ribs, kidneys, chicken, black pudding and that was just the small grill!
Salta has lots of old Eurpean cars such as Citreon 2CVs and very old shaped Ford Escorts. We saw a very old Mercedes parked at the side of the road and Darryl noticed it had a leak underneath and pointed at it. The owner saw him and came to have a look and then decided to become our guide for the afternoon. He was a sweet old chap and took us to the local park where there were some markets and live music playing and bought us some local cakes to try.
Next stop Cafayate, a wine growing region a little further south. We immediately liked it here, it had a lovely feel to it. It was a small town and we checked into a homestay which had three dogs who were so cute, they would run up to you and sit on your foot so you could not get away and then roll over for a tummy rub. Everywhere was in walking distance which was good when we went on our own little tour of the wineries and did some wine tasting, it tasted good so we tasted some more, and some more! We even found some red wine ice-cream which was great! Whilst here it was the anniversary of the day we left England (21 July 2007) so we decided to go out and celebrate. We found a lovely restaurant with some local musicans playing and had a great evening (and some more wine!).
Still heading south our next stop was Tafi del Valle, a pretty little village set on a river. This was just a stop to break up the bus journeys and we were only here for a few hours, so we bought some wine (!!!!) and some cheese and had a picnic by the river. Later caught the bus on to Cordoba, but with a short top in Tucamen. We decided to go for a bite to eat and found a funny little restaurant where you bought an enormous hot dog (about a foot long) but then you topped it off with choices from about 30 different things including mashed potato, lentils, salad, rice, beans etc etc! What a great idea!
Cordoba is the cultural capital of South America but on first sight we were not very impressed but the more we explored the more we liked it. We found lots of lovely plazas surrounded by beautiful churches, one called Cappuchino which is very similar to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. We found that one of the local theatres was showing the ballet of Carmen and we managed to get tickets for the bargain price of 3 pound each, and it was a great performance.
From Cordoba we headed even further south to Rosario which is known as little Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful city set along a huge river. When we arrived it was a lovely hot sunny day and we took a long stroll along the river bank and saw the monument where the first Argentine flat was raised when they gained independence. You could get a lift to the top of the monument for great views over the city and the river. Darryl booked himself on a skydive whilst in Rosario (Christine did not fancy it!). On the day it was a little cloudy but ok. After a short training session in the hanger Darryl was taken up to 9000 feet in a tiny plane which took about 20 minutes. The drill was, when the door opens dangle your legs outside, put your chin up, hold on to your harness and away you go! The free fall was amazing and then the parachute opened and it went very quiet. Darryl had a go at steering the parachute before coming in safely to land. It was a great experience just a shame it did not last longer.
Back