Mmmm Salty!

Hello and welcome to the latest blog update in my South American odyssey.

I am currently sitting, writing away in my hostel in Potosi in Southern Bolivia. Potosi itself has a number of claims to fame; firstly it is the highest city in the world (4060m) and secondly it used to once be the most important city in the entire of the Americas. This is because Potosi was built on the site of a huge silver mine which effectively bankrolled the Spanish empire. The mine was in fact so large that it is still used today to mine silver, tin and zinc among other minerals. However where the mine was once worked by South American slaves for the benefit of the Spanish empire, it is now owned by a cooperative of the workers.

That is not to say that conditions are much better. This morning I did a tour of the mine and frankly i'm amazed that anyone can last a day in there let alone 30 years. Some of the shafts literally require that you crawl through them, which was fine for me as I don't suffer from claustrophobia, however a couple of the other guys on the tour did and they really struggled. Anyway the conditions in the mines itself are so bad that 40 men die a year in the mine , either from carbon monoxide, or cave-ins and that is excluding the number that die every year from lung problems such as silicosis (the average life expectancy of a miner is 30-40 depending on whether they enterec the mine at 10 or 20).

Cave-ins are not uncommon, due largely to the way in which they mine: the miner drills into the rock, shoves in a stick of dynamite and then runs. For this reason the miners market in the city sells all kinds of things such as various explosives, fuses and dynamite. My guide advised that i purchased some dynamite as a gift for the miners, telling me thery would would give me a demonstration. I kind of expected dynamite to be expensive, but a stick of dynamite, a fuse and some ammonia nitrate to increase the explosion cost less than $3 US. However you need not worry because they have place an age restriction to buy the dynamite, you have to be at least 9! The explosion itself was great, but there was attached a warning: 'don't try this at home'. Apparently about 6 months back, some English tourist bought some extra dynamite to try and set off there own explosion, however instead got drunk and accidentally blwe up a hostel in Uyuni (see below). The result was that they ended up having to pay $10,000 US to repair the hostel and $12000 US to get out of jail!

The experience was a slightly humbling one, I was frankly amazed that people would work in such conditions out of choice. But this is because there is no other work. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and it shows. It has its feet firmly planted in the 3rd world. For example the country only has 1 paved highway, all the others consist of dirt roads (which made for an interesting 6 hour bus ride from Uyuni to Potosi). I have not seen poverty in this scale since Venezuela.

Anyway aside from that, I got to Bolivia 3 days ago. I arrived in Uyuni in the South of the country following a frankly awe-inspiring trip across the Atacama Desert and the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Plains). The sights were amazing; red, white and green lakes full of Flamingoes, boiling geysers, volcanoes and of course the Uyuni Salt plain which stretches as far as the eyes can see. This was certainly a good way to travel from Chile to Bolivia and is without a doubt one of the most amazing things I have done in my trip so far.

Anyway I best be off, there are people waiting to use the computers, a loading all these photos has taken quite some time.

I'll update you all again soon.

Phil

Brown Water Rafting

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest post on my blog.

The last 10 days or so since I last posted has been rather hectic and that seems to be the way this trip will remain, at least for the next couple of months while i'm in South America.

I am currently in San Pedro de Atacama, a village sitting in the middle of (apparently) the dryest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. The village itself is nice enough, but it's sole purpose is as a tourist destination and is thus prone to the usual problems that you encounter when that is the case - i.e. expensive and too many tour operators trying to get you to do their 'unique' tour. The desert itself once used to be a key source of income for Chile due to its valuable nitrate reserves and the presence of saltpeter (used for gunpowder), but as the technolgies that used these resources became obsolete, so did the resources and that has resulted in the desert being scattered with 'ghost towns'. San Pedro however remained. It survived due to the fact that it is situated just north of the San Pedro salt flat and is a good central place to see the desert sights. It is also a good jumping off point for excursions into Bolivia to see the much larger Uyuni Salt flats, which is what I am here to do.

San Pedro aside, since my last post I have spent time in Valparaiso in Chile and Salta and Mendoza in Argentina. Valparaiso was by far my favorite city of the trip so far. It is a beautiful city with a slightly bohemian feel that has outstanding views, architecture and character. It is not a European city in South America like Santiago (which was still great), but a truly South American experience. The city has a slight edge to it, but in many ways that benefits it, in that it means that the city itself is not swamped by tourists. It's neighbour town Vina Del Mar is home to all the beautiful beaches and 5 star hotels, but looks more like Miami than a Chilean city, and if I wanted to head to a nice beach, Vina Del Mar was only a 10 minute bus journey away.

Next stop was Mendoza, which was nice enough, but if like me you didn't want to do wine tours it's a bit boring, so I headed on to Salta. Salta is a pleasant town in Northern Argentina, with a beautiful cathedral. But what people come to Salta to do is to see the beautiful surrounding countryside and take part in the many adventure activities available. My main reason for being in Salta was to do some white water rafting in a place which was suitable for beginners in order to get some experience so that i can do some of the more extreme runs later. The rafting itself was really good fun, but due to heavy rainfall the two days prior to going, the rivers had a lot of mud washed into them so were brown (see photo) so it wasn't really 'white' water rafting. It was a great experience and i'm looking forward to doing something a little more challenging.

Anyway i'm of to do some desert hiking and will update you all on my progress soon.

Phil

From arms dealers to snow capped Andean peaks. A typical week travelling in South America.

Hello all!

When last I posted I was just about to leave my relaxed poolside hostel in Puerto Iguazu to head into Paraguay. Since then i've had a fairly entertaining time with a few interesting moments.

My trip to Paraguay was fairly brief, I spent two nights in Encarnacion which is one of the larger cities and a good base to visit the Jesuit ruins about an hours journey north in Trinidad. I realised that Paraguay was a little different from Argentina when within a minute of getting of the bus I was approached by somebody with a gun (not going to lie i was a little worried). Fortunately he didn't want to use it on me, but wanted to sell it to me. I told him that i didn't need a gun in my best Spanish ('gracias, pero no lo neccesito una armar', oh yes), however this only spurred him on so instead tried to sell me bigger guns and told me he could get me an AK47, not sure how i'd go about getting that back over the border but that's not really relevant. Anyway I told him no thank you and quickly headed to my hotel, then the next day I headed to Trinidad. Apparently the Jesuit ruins there are one of the least visited world heritage sites. I can believe this. I was at the site for an hour and i was the only person there. I also did not meet a single foreigner in the entire of Paraguay, so if you want a local experience it might not be a bad place to0 head.

Following this I spent a few days in Cordoba in central Argentina, nice town but not an essential stop for travellers. It might have been better in term time however as there are a number of universities in town, so it would probably give thew town's nightlife a much-needed shot in the arm. That's not to say the town is dead, just considering it's size, not particularly lively. After that I took a bus over the Andes into Chile, on what was a pretty amazing bus journey (see photo) and arrived in Santiago. Santiago is a great city; great parks, great buildings and great nights out. The picture postcard mountain setting can't really be appreciated because the combination of heat and the smog makes the large mountains practically invisible, but that is not enough to spoil a great place.

I am now in Valapraiso which is considered the cultural capital of Chile. I'm staying here for a few days and then heading back into Argentina. I'm planning on spending a few days in Mendoza (wine county!) before heading north.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Iguazu: Great for waterfalls, rubbish for Wildlife

Hello everyone to the latest update of my travel blog. I am currently writing this from the beautiful town of Puerto Iguazu in Argentina. The town sits on the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and as you have probably guessed from the name is located next to the spectacular Iguazu Falls.

Since I last posted I spent a few more days in Buenos Aires partying the night away in the most enjoyable city I have visited since I arrived in South America. I also occasionally ventured out during the day taking in the Botanical gardens in Palermo and the amazing Recoleta Cemetary, a vast town of mausoleums in the heart of one of Buenos Aires' most upmarket areas. This is home to Argentina's deceased rich and famous (including the likes of Evita).

I then bit the bullet and took the 20 hour bus journey to Puerto Iguazu which was suprisingly painless. Partially because I took a sleeper bus so that I was asleep for half of the jouney and also partially due to the fact that going on a bus in Argentina is a bit like flying first class.

My first impressions of Puerto Iguazu were very good, primarily because my hostel looks less like a hostel and more like a holiday resort. The large hostel has a great bar and its own pool which is great as it's 35 degrees celcius here and humid. This makes a pleasant change from some of the places i've been staying in of late, one particular favorite was the dingy hotel I stayed in on my last night in Montevideo which had cockroaches roaming around and no running water.

Anyway aside from chilling at the hostel pool I spent yesterday walking around Iguazu National Park, taking in the spectacular Iguazu Falls from a number of angles. I decided to walk around the park instead of taking the trains with their huge queue's, this was great as i feel I saw a lot more scenery. I do however regret doing the nature walk at the end of the day. Away from the falls, i thought this would be an opportunity to see some of the wildlife, particularly because there were signs everywhere telling you to watch out for snakes and jaguars (apparently a park rangers child was killed by a jaguar a few years back in the park). On the entire 7 km hike all i saw was something that looked like the result of session between a possum and a badger and a few ants. Oh well you can't win them all.

Tomorrow I leave Iguazu with a heavey heart and head into Paraguay where i'm heading to see some Jesuit ruins near Encarnacion, then onto Cordoba a University (party) town in the heart of Argentina.

I'll speak to you all soon
Phil

From Laid Back to Ladyboys

Hello and welcome to the next instalment of my blog. I am currently recovering from a rather large night out in Buenos Aires.

It was a great night out, but very unusual. I had drinks with people at the hostel before we decided to head out to a club night called Studio 69 at Roxy. This was where it got unusual; as you walk in the door your eyes are drawn to the huge stage in the centre where at first it appears there are men and women dancing in costumes. The club has a very bohemian atmosphere and a Moulin Rouge theme to it, which is all fine and not to out of the ordinary. However, it is upon approaching the stage that you begin to notice something, it is not scantilly clad men and women dancing on the stage, but men and ladyboys. What makes this all the more out of the ordinary, is the fact that this is not some tourist attraction like in somewhere like Thailand, or a gay night, it is one of the most popular nights in Buenos Aires for all young people and it was a great laugh.

Anyway ladyboys aside, since my last post I have not really taken part in much strenuos activity, in fact I have been taking it very easy. After spending a couple of nights in Montevideo, which was pleasant but very sleepy, I decided to head to Punta Del Diablo (The Devil`s Beach). I had been attracted by rumours of endless sandy beaches, great surf, great food and no tourists. All of this was true except for the 'no tourists' tag. Punta Del Diablo used to be a sleepy fishing village only a couple of years ago, however off the back of its reputation as such it has attracted many tourists. Where it used to be a fishing village with a few places to stay, it is now a tourist destination with a few boats. However it is certainly not overrun. There is only one hostel in the town with about 20 beds or so and this is where most of the international backpackers go to, the rest of the tourists are in fact Argentine or Uruguayan`s on holiday staying in one of the many cottages for rent.

I loved it and can see why it attracts so many visitors from it`s own and neighbouring countries. It has an amazing charm about it, largely as a result of it´s rugged looks. All the streets are dirt roads and it is based on a point on the coast surrounded by 4 beaches. Because of this at least one beach will always have pretty good surfing conditions, which I took advantage of, or at least attempted to. It is safe to say I am not the best surfer. To be honest this is probably partly due to the fact that aside from 2 months in Australia 4 years ago and a handful of other occassions I have never really surfed. The result was that I had good fun, got up a few times, but in the end had to give up because I had the biggest wipe out i´ve ever had when a wave i was on collapsed on me.

I ended up spending the bulk of my time in Uruguay there, unfortunately I accidentally deleted the photos on my camera, so you`ll have to deal with photos off the internet.

I then headed to Colonia, which came highly reccomended but I can´t see why. Don´t get me wrong it has a nice enough centre, but there is nothing to do there and I would have felt that it was a waste of time and money if I hadn´t had to take the ferry to Buenos Aires from there anyway.

In conclusion, I loved Uruguay. It was my favourite place on the trip so far. It is spectacularly laid back and that is part of its charm, however the result was that at times I got a little bored and for the first time felt that I could have done with a travel buddy to chat with (it didn´t help that nowhere sold English language books). I get the impression that Uruguay is a good addition to a trip to Argentina as opposed to a trip in its own right.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Jesus is Watching

Hello everybody, I am glad to say that the Rio Carnival is over and I am alive and well with only a little bit of self-inflicted liver punishment to show for it.

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Montevideo (Uruguay) following a 10 day stretch in Rio where I partied in the favellas (see previous blog), partied on the street at Carnival Bloccos, partied at the Sambodrome whilst watching all the parading samba schools and partied in numerous Rio nightclubs and Carioca bars. There seems to be a bit of a running theme here...

In fairness I also took trips up Sugarloaf, spent time on Copacabana beach and visited Jesus.

Apparently Jesus was some Jewish carpenter who could do magic tricks. Don´t ask me why the people of Rio decided to build a big statue of him atop a mountain, but to each their own, I would have built a statue of Churchill... or Gazza.

No but jokes aside, the power of this statue does not really translate into pictures. Firstly it is huge and looms over Rio, often and rather apropriately amongst the clouds high up in the mountains and on a clear day can be seen from almost anywhere in Rio. Secondly and something that you do not realise until you go up there, it is in the most awkward spot to get to in the world and would have been ridiculously difficult to build.

Rio was great, but I am glad to be in Urugauy now. Firstly Brazil is expensive, Rio is expensive for Brazil and Rio in the Carnival is just ridiculous. Put it this way, the Rio Carninal is not for budget travellers. Drinks are not that cheap and public transport is expensive. Taxi drivers know that the only way you can get home is if you use them and thus know they can charge through the roof. Even buses in the day are not cheap when you use a few, which will inevitably happen as you cannot walk anywhere as a foreigner.

Put it this way, in Rio it is fairly safe to walk around specific suburbs, however due to the mountainous setting all the suburbs a linked by tunnels. If you walk through the tunnels you get mugged, not might, you will get mugged (this happened to numerous people in my hostel).

Also everyone clicks onto the fact that tourists need to do certain things around Carnival and thus up the price. For example I was intending to catch a bus to Montevideo from Rio as opposed to flying. This would have taken 48 hours instead of 3, but would have been 5 times cheaper (buses are expensive in Brazil). However because the buses put up there prices and the airlines didn´t it worked out as only $40 cheaper to take the bus and once added costs such as Brazilian accomodation and food had been incorporated it would have been about the same.

Oh well, it had to be done and it was great. 10 days was a bit to long in Rio, a week would have been enough, but it was great. Anyway I´ve gone on far too long, so i´ll speak to you all soon. I´m off to go surfing in Uruguay.

Phil