La Paz (27th - 30th August)

After an amazing 40 minute flight to La Paz...seeing Bolivia from the air is something spectacular, we arrived from El Alto into La Paz. The journey from El Alto into La Paz is something everyone visiting Bolivia needs to experience. The city literally looks like it is spilling onto itself from the valley it is built in. Unlike Sucre, La Paz definitely isn't a beautiful city but it certainly is an amazing one. This is what I love about South America. Every major city we've been to is so completely different to the next. After a few days of exploring the wonders of the city I booked a slot on a tour of Death Road...while Mitch booked a round of golf in the world's highest golf course. Death Road was pretty awesome...I think I was quite lucky because it was such a clear day (apparently it gets quite foggy!) but this also made it a lot more scary! The drops were way too clear to see for my liking...but definitely worth doing! Meanwhile Mitch had an awesome day golfing with his first caddie ever and hitting the green on all the Par 3's. But by about the 14th hole he was ready to collapse - the alltitude is great for hitting a good ball but not so good for trekking large distances! We both came home with smiles on our faces that evening. With an unreal craving for a curry since we've set foot on this continent we were more than delighted to find a "British/Indian Curryhouse" where we treated ourselves to some onion bhajis, naan bread, rogan josh, jalfrezi and some cold beers. It went down like a treat. After 4 glorious days in La Paz (and several weeks in high altitude) we crossed our fingers and hopped on another bus to hit the Bolivian jungle...looking forward to the heat!!
(pic 1: mitch playing golf; pic 2: sharon at the witch's market)

Trotting around Tupiza & Sunny Sucre

With no sign of electricity returning to Uyuni, we hopped on a jeep and made our way south to Tupiza...the setting for Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid...and boy was it! It truly was the backdrop for all the Western movies I painfully sat through as a child...it was breathtaking! We spent the first day wandering this little town, eating and drinking all around us. Enjoying just how cheap this country is! We didn't waste much time booking a day of horseback riding and spent a glorious day in the sunshine, trotting through canyons, past cacti and over streams (where I nearly fell off!). We had a blast. With sore bums, we enjoyed another few days in Tupiza...drinking ridiculously cheap fresh orange juice every morning and eating deep fried jalapenos stuffed with cheese (that blowed our heads off...yummmm!). Then we hopped on our first real Bolivian bus experience overnight to Sucre. And what an experience it was. 4 people to a seat, minus temperatures and squating for a pee with 20 other Bolivian women against a wall at 3am. Beautiful stuff and not one to be forgotten quickly! But it was worth it for beautiful beautiful Sucre. Sucre was like no other place in Bolivia we'd seen (or wouldn't be either). Beautiful plazas, amazing food and endless white washed buildings. Our first day there was spent biking, hiking and "boating" (or so we were told...plain and simply, it was a four foot dinghy!) in the hills and canyons around Sucre. Speeding down the worst roads we'd ever seen at ridiculous speeds...it definitely was preparation for death road! This was also our first experience of proper heat in many many months...we were happy! The rest of our days in Sucre were spent eating many many giant fruit salads, drinking many many cold beers, catching up with old friends and strolling around the beautiful streets. During this time we also decided to give ourselves one luxurious treat on our year of travelling. And that treat was a flight to La Paz...and what a treat it was! The best £40 we've ever spent.
(pic 1: Mitch on his horse in Tupiza; pic 2: Mitch & I having a rest on top of the steeple in a church in Sucre)

Our interesting journey into Bolivia

Our trip across the Salt Flats has definitely been one of those trips that will be told for years to come. What a fun filled 3 days (she says in a sarcastic tone!). We greeted our group of 2 enthusiastic Canadians and a very generous Swiss girl (who loaned us some money when the lack of electricity in the town for 2 days prevented us from getting any money for our trip) in San Pedro and headed for the Bolivian border where we would be greeted by our guide and jeep. We attempted to have breakfast at the border where the wind had picked up and it was virtually impossible to stand outside the jeep which making eating very difficult! After a few official passport malarky we were on our way to the salt flats. Our guide, Teo, seemed quite reputable so we crossed our fingers and headed through the rest of the desert. As we stopped to look at roasting hot geisers and natural pools, we began to realise that it was becoming quite hard to stand outside the jeep without protection because of the strength of the wind and the sand it was carrying that was blowing forcefully into our faces...not fun! The first day we stopped in what can only be described as a shack for lunch around 1pm and were told this was where we were staying for the night. After lunch we spent 6 hours sitting in our sleeping bags, all shaking from head to toe with the cold and staring at each other with literally nothing to do. By the time dinner time came we had nearly hit breaking point. Although, apparentl e we had the best seats in the shack - next to the heater. Heater may be an over statement because you could have sat on it and still not be able to heat your arse up! But anyway we powered through the night and were looking forward to reaching a lower altidude than 4,200 metres where we hoped it would be warmer. We were to continue the next day towards the Salt Hotel which was, shockingly enough, on the salt flats. After being told to be at the breakfast table at 6am that morning for an early start, we were still sitting around twiddling our thumbs at 8am with no sign of breakfast. By 9.30am our guide showed up and told us the storm had gotten worse and we would have to wait another hour or so before we could get a move on. We eventually did...in covoy with 6 other jeeps in case anything went wrong. Two hours in we were in deep shit in the middle of the worst sand storm in 10 years (video posted soon). How fun! We considered going straight to Uyuni and skipping the salt flats but it looked like we weren't going anywhere. We practically crawled in the jeep to the next town and were put up in another shack for the night. Except the door on this shack didn't close! With 10 bolivianos on us we decided it was time for alcohol so used our last ration to buy a couple of cans...sur' we'd be able to get money in Uyuni anyway! We awoke the next morning the beautiful sound of silence...the wind was gone. We were over the moon! So with sand in our hair, eyebrows, pockets and other places you can't imagine sand could get to with all of your clothes on, we hopped into the jeep to finally get a glimpse of the salt flats. And what a sight!! Blinding white for miles and miles all around...there are no photos in the world that does it justice. After some unimaginative photos and full bellies we were on our way to Uyuni - hot showers and hot food was all we could think about...until the biggest bombshell was dropped on us and we were informed that there was no electricity in Uyuni. We think this was the low point of our travels so far. After spending our last ten bolivianos on 2 cans of shite beer we literally had nothing. Mitch suggested selling the ipods and did not get a good response so that idea was scrapped fairly quickly. But, Teo, our guide saved the day! After making a few calls we were quickly brought to a bank that was running on a generator and managed to get a cash advance from England (at a hefty price!). And let me tell you people, that was the best shower we've ever ever had...never to be forgotten...or the numerous beers that followed. Welcome to Bolivia!!

Pachamama Bus Tour (north Chile)

After a fun filled day of visiting vineyards all over Maipu and with very sore heads we hopped on a bus back to Santiago to start our 6 day tour up to the north of Chile. We were joined by 4 others and our very strange guide, Yerson. OUr first stop was in a small fishing village where we caught our first glimpse of the Pacific ocean and later in the evening we stopped in a town called La Serena where we rested our heads for the night and after a few bottles of wine our guide felt the need to divulge his most intimate sexual fantasies...nice! The next morning we hopped back on the bus to make our way to Pinguíno de Humbold National Park. And as the name suggests, it's where we could sight some penguins that make their way from Patagonia during winter to the Chilean coast. So we hopped into the teeniest boat ever where the people on the one side of the boat had to hold up some plastic sheeting to protect us from the icy water and headed to the island where the National Park was. It was incredible. Seeing a little penguin waddle off into a cave, hundreds of sea lions perched on rocks in the middle of the ocean and dolphins swimming along side us. It was fascinating! We stopped on a small island for lunch with the most beautiful deserted beach we'd ever seen. That evening we stopped in a place called Bahia Inglesa. We stayed in a little cabin on the beach where Mitch cooked up a storm and we drank the night away with our 3 litre bottles of red wine! With very sore heads the next morning we walked the beach to clear away the cobwebs and when that didnt work we cracked open the beers and basked in the mid afternoon sun. Later that evening our guide started up the barbie and we ate like kings and queens for the night! Of course the highlight for me was finding 4 puppies underneath our cabin! The next day we started our trip into the Atacama desert - the driest desert in the world (apparently the last time it saw rain was in the 50's). We also passed through the Chilean salt flats and finished off the evening watching the flamingos take flight at sunset...amazing! The next day we arrived into San Pedro de Atacama a few miles from the Bolivian border. We spent an amazing day in the Valle de la Luna climbing through caves and canyons, listening to the Pachamama (mother earth in Quechua) talk to us and finished the day watching the sun set over the dunes in the desert. After a few days in San Pedro (where we had no electricity) we said goodbye to some great friends and hopped in a jeep for a 3 day trip to Bolivia.
(pic1: Flamingos in flight at sunset on the Atacama Desert)
(pic2: All of us in front of a huge hand structure randomly placed in the middle of the Atacama Desert)

Chilly Chile & Skiing

After an incident with a bulb of garlic and a turnip in our bag (with the threat of a $200 fine) we crossed the boarder into freezing Chile and landed in a town called Puerto Montt. If we weren't starving, smelly and exhausted we would have moved on immediately because this was without a doubt the most depressing and miserable town we'd ever seen. So we found somewhere to rest our heads for the night (and a cinema to watch Prince of Persia...there's 2 hrs of our lives we'll never get back!) and moved on early in the morning for Pucón. We had heard that there was a possibility for skiing here on the volcano which towers over the town. When we arrived it was raining and it didn't stop raining for 4 days solid so there went any hopes of snow arriving. But Pucón itself was quite charming so we hung around for a few days (of course there was no travelling allowed when England were playing...rubbishly may I add!). After walking through the town we found a reasonably priced hostel owned by a little "abuela" (grandmother) who didn't speak a word of English...so we settled there for a few days. She was definitely the most memorable host we've had - pottering around after us, wrapping us up in blankets on the couch to make sure we were warm enough. It was almost enough to make us feel homesick...well not quite! We fit in a trip to some thermal baths as well to warm up. Mitch was extremely reluctant given the minus temperatures and rain but once he saw the steam rising and felt the heat he was in heaven! After a few days of lounging and one disastrous England match we packed our bags once more and made our way north to Santiago. We checked out skiing straight away and found out the price was pretty shocking. So we decided to think about it for a few days and enjoy the city. Santiago itself is stunning...especially with the backdrop of the snowy Andes. After a few very drunken nights and a lot of research we headed east back into Argentina to Malargüe where we would commute to Las Lenas ski resort for the next few days. It would be an early start every day (with a 1 and a half hr commute) but we were dying to get on the slopes.
The first day was a bit shaky with LOTS of tumbles (on my part) and a bit of sunburn but the next few days were heaven. The snow was very different to Europe and the views stunning...we were skiing/snowboarding in the Andes...we were very happy! With very sore bums, aching limbs and big smiles on our faces we moved on back to Mendoza a week later to begin our tour of the vineyards...and we can't wait to get stuck in!
(pic1: View of Santiago; pic2: Having a rest on my snowboard with a beer)