La Paz - Ed why is my face tingling?

After our frankly Crocodile Dundee like escapades in the rain forest it was good to get back to civilisation in La Paz (which means the Peace if you ever enter the pub quiz at the Wild Rover on Sundays).   The city seen from any height is amazing but especially on your way in from the airport, it is set at over 3500 metres in a bowl-like impression at the top of a mountain.  The city centre is at the bottom of the bowl with all the poorer, ramshackle houses clinging to the slopes all around some on almost impossible slopes.

We stayed at the Wild Rover Hostel, an Irish themed hostel with a nice bar and lovely food (the shepard's pie in particular was a group favourite).  The timing couldn't be better as we were probably in the best venue in South America to watch the now infamous Irish V
France playoffs.  Fortunately the Bolivian national team also wear green so Trick and Mark could show off their allegiance to all.

  

Kevin Eddie took it a step further and bought tricolour facepaints.  The woman in the stall assured him that they would be safe on skin and our still rather limited spanish prevented us from understanding all the warning labels FOR USE OF CLOTH ONLY.

The slight tingling felt just after application gradually gave way to a sharp stinging pain.  Random other guests at the hostel were still sporting burn marks on their faces a week later but noone ever twigged on to who had bought them so we got away with it.

The hostel has a great idea in running a tab at the bar for all your food and drink based on your bed number.  You then settle up when you check out.  They have a safety net in the "Wall of Fame" where your name goes up once you reach 1,000 Bolivianos and you must clear your tab.  Mark and I won the race to the wall with style.

We did a day trip out of Cusco to mountain bike down the "Death Road" a 70 km length of track falling over 3,500 metres towards sea level.  After hearing about the experiences of some of our friends from last year and the amount of people wandering around the hostel with casts of their legs we decided to spring for all the safety gear (full face helmet with elbow and knee pads).

Kevin Eddie decided to test these out early by taking one of the first corners too fast and ending up head down, legs up in a ditch.  Fortunately his ego was bruised more than anything else.

The first section is on a tarmac road before you veer onto a dirt track for the real exciting bit.  The scenary is really cool but usually we were concentrating on not falling off on the slippery gravel and tight corners so there wasn't much chance to enjoy it.

The road is really narrow flanked on one side by a rock face and a sheer drop on the other.  Wiith the pace we were going to was easy to see how some people have died on the road.  The most tragic story we heard was of a guide last year who was taking a photo of his group and took a step back into thin air and went over the side.  Fortunately everyone in our group made it back ok, even the two French lads who we had to some resist nudging over for the whole day.

Back in La Paz we walked up to check out San Pedro prison.  Anyone who has read the book Marching Powder by Rusty Young will have heard of this crazy place.  The book tells the story of an English drug trafficker (Thomas) who ends up in San Pedro.  The prison system itself is unique in that the prisoners must rent their own cells and wealthy inmates can live quite well inside.  All prisoners families usually live with them inside and leave every day to go to work or school.  Inside the prisoners run shops, restaurants and even have cocaine factories.  Thomas ended up running tours of the prison for passing backpackers.  He was later released but the tours contined until authorities shut them down last year due to the corruption and bribery involved.  There are rumours of tours still being conducted but we didn't search very hard to get in.  Conor almost got in trouble just for taking this photo.

The book is being made into a film at the moment with Brad Pitt producing and Don Cheadle the main star.  When that comes out I'm guessing the whole prison will finally be shut down.

Goodbye Carlos my itchy friend

Its the final countdown! Over the last month I have found true friendship in the last place I thought of looking, slightly above my upper lip. Carlos granted me the bravery to feed crocs and swim in piranha infested waters.

In return I carried Carlos for four days to witness the splendor of Machu Picchu, that extra 4 grams really tested me climbing up to Dead Woman's Pass

In a few days we have to part ways (cue "Goodbye my Lover" song with a black and white montage of our best moments together). He has been the wise, slightly ginger friend I've always wanted but all good things must come to pass. There are more embarrassing photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121397&id=505868088&l=175d5b3997

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed so far towards Movember and the fight against Prostate cancer. If anyone else has a few quid to spare please visit http://ie.movember.com/mospace/142697/.

Piranhas, Alligators, Cayman and a Wild Rover

After literally having a blast in Potosi we decided to head North to La Paz, Bolivia's capital and for the trivia buffs out there, the highest capital city in the world. Nearly every Irish person that comes to La Paz stays in a hostel called the Wild Rover. This is an Irish owned hostel with seriously comfortable beds, 24 hour hot water (a luxury in South America) and most importantly a bar menu featuring Shepherd's Pie, Roast Chicken and Pork Chops! We only stayed for one night however before we headed off to the Amazon but we were to return soon enough. The flight to the Amazon was one of the more interesting journeys on our trip. It wasn't exactly an Airbus A380......

About five minutes before landing the two pilots started cracking up laughing (we could all see and hear this because there was no door to the cockpit) which confused the 19 passengers on board even more. We did eventually land safely in a field at Rurrenabaque Airport. The duty free in said airport left a little to be desired however
We had booked a 3 day Pampas tour which was to involve a few boat rides, a few walks and a lot of flora and fauna. We had an entertaining 3 hour jeep journey to the river from Rurrenabaque which wouldn't have been quite so interesting had it not been for the fact that I had to switch places with a guide who was in another bus. Nothing strange there you might say except for the fact that instead of squeezing into the jeep with the rest of the lads, he jumped onto the roof and hung on for an hour and a half with the driver averaging about 80 km/h on little more than a dirt track. Our long boat had a Dutch couple, the five of us and a lad called Paul from Bishopstown. We were expecting a lot of animals in fairness but nothing prepared us for the barrage that followed. Literally around the first corner we saw a load of these lads just lounging about.Then we saw some Capybaras (largest rodents in the world)
Throw in a few of these little guys

some eagles, turtles and pink river dolphins and you had a fairly interesting three hour boat ride! Our base for the night also happened to have the local bar and football pitch. The heat didn't help the gringo performance and the blisters after playing barefoot weren't exactly helpful with the piranhas in the river afterwards. That night after dinner we headed back out onto the river to go hunting caiman (a bigger, meaner version of an alligator). Unfortunately or maybe fortunately we didn't find any but we did come across some baby alligators who were out for a midnight dip. Mick obviously didn't have enough for dinner......

The following morning we were up early on an Anaconda hunt (not every day you get to say that). This involved wading through chest high grass and swamps searching for a creature that, if large enough, could swallow you whole. Makes perfect sense! About 20 minutes in we stopped about 100m from a small lake where an alligator was looking for some breakfast. Mick stepped up to take a photo and on his return he managed to annoy an Anaconda Cobra (there are two types........this was the bite you before it eats you one) who took a swipe at him before darting off into the bush. Our two guides dived in after it however and soon after managed to capture it. This time it was Darragh's turn to be hungry. Why is everyone trying to eat live animals??

We continued on the hunt for the fabled Constrictor Anaconda but to no avail. The nearest we came was a couple of shed skins and a dead 2m specimen most probably left by an eagle. After lunch we went for a swim in the same river as the said alligators, piranhas, caiman and anacondas. The guardian angels were definitely working overtime that day. We decided to round off the afternoon with a spot of piranha fishing. Basically you get a hook attached to a line and some raw meat as bait. You then drop the line into the water and try to yank the piranha out as it devours the meat. They very rarely bite the hook so you invariably end up with piranhas literally flying through the air into the boat. Anyone not wearing shoes got quite nervous with all the flesh eating fish flapping around the boat. We did prove quite adept at catching the little monsters though

That night we retired to bed after removing countless insects and even a few frogs from our beds in anticipation of a fantastic 5 am morning call for the impending sunrise. The somewhat anti-climactic sunrise prepared us for quite an eventful last day however. With our bags stowed away we set off back up the river to get our jeep back to Rurrenabaque. We made a stop along the way though to give a lad called Pedro some lunch.

In fairness he was quite a nice lad and didn't mind when we got in for a swim

We then sped back to base camp not before taking in the myriad of creatures along the way once again. Our 6 o' clock flight back to La Paz with Air Amaszonas was uneventful apart from the take off, looking out the window and seeing a mountain peak next to you and of course the landing. In all seriousness though, the trip couldn't possibly have gone better and it was definitely one of the highlights of our voyage so far.

A very strange country

Entering Bolivia, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were on a different planet. There really is a world of difference in the 100m that separate the lovely roads of Argentina with the gravel tracks of Bolivia. Having endured a 2 hour wait at the border thanks to Conor "The Fugitive" Hickey, we hopped on a bus to Tupiza. Not much of note here apart from being the spot where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were killed. Found the handiest hostel of the trip so far, 100 yards from the bus station with a lovely 5 bed room just inside the door. We booked a trip to leave the following day out to the wild west of Bolivia and got tucked into some Pizza. For some unknown reason, about 90% of the restaurants here are Pizzarias. Not much to do, so we were up bright and early the following morning to get on a jeep out of the place.

The tour was good fun. 5 of us, along with our driver Fernando and chef Elle headed off for a very bumpy ride as part of a convoy of about 5 jeeps. Plenty of strange scenery and some very bizarre landscape. We headed up the Andes and got to what I imagine the moon to look like. Bit of a mixed bag of sights really. We were taken to plenty of lagoons to see a lot of flamingos. There's a lot of geotheremal activity here again, so we saw a lot of active volcanoes, geysers and hot springs (our only wash of the trip). We stayed in a hotel made of salt which was a first. We stopped at the famous "rock tree" for a few photos and then spent about an hour playing with our cameras on the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni). We met some guys who were cycling from Alaska to Argentina and also met Siobhan, a Glasgow lass who's been hanging around for the past 3 weeks now. Photos are probably the only way to really explain the trip so here ye go....

Arriving in Uyuni we quickly discovered there wasn't much to do (except for the "Extreme Fun Pub" which seemed to be a good place to kill a few hours) so we decided to get an overnight bus to Sucre (after another Pizza). Very bumpy ride, the windows were open the whole night which at 4,000m above sea level was quite cold. We landed in Sucre and fell into the first hostel we could find. We spent 2 nights here. Lovely little city. It's Bolivia's capital but most of the government is now based in La Paz. Typical spanish style spot with a square in the center and narrow streets. The government are pretty strict here about planning permission. All buildings have to be repainted once a year, and neon signs are not allowed. We had a look around La Casa de la Libertad (House of Freedom) which was about all there was to do here really.

Our next stop was Potizi, the worlds highest city. We did a quick visit here, landed at midday and left again at 9pm that day. At 4,200 meters above sea level, you really do feel the altitude. The walk from the bus station to the city was about 30 minutes uphill and was a big struggle. We ended up losing Eddie on the walk somehow, despite being about a foot taller than the locals. The whole town is based on tin and silver mining, and we were there to have a look down the mines. Having got suited up we bought some Coca Leaves which the miners seems addicted to, and some dynamite which the locals would use to blow up the mountain. We headed off to Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) where we spent about 2 hours underground. It was a very weird experience. Fun to be down there, but the life and work is very tough. These guys spend about 10 hours a day underground, hammering a nail into the rocks, then putting dynamite into the hole and blowing it up. The repeat this process a few times a day. Each hole takes about 3-5 hours to hammer the nail.Very tough life. We headed outside then to play with the dynamite ourselves. After you light the dynamite it takes 80 seconds to blow, so we lit it, passed it around, then put it in a field and boom. We had a look around the process plant then and headed back to the bus station to find Ed and head off to La Paz.

Fiji Blog and Movember

So the seniors delivered and came out with the most exciting piece of literature of this young century, check out the fiji blog at http://hereforthemuseums.blogspot.com/2009/09/fiji-time.html

In other news, for the month of November (or Movember) I will be joining the many thousands of stupid Irish lads who are putting away the razor and growing a moustache. Its to help raise awareness and funds for men's health - specifically prostate cancer.

I've adopted Tom Selleck (from his Three Men and a Baby period) as my moustache idol and will hope to look vaguely like the below at the end of the month.

This is how the tache (or Carlos as Conor has christened it) is coming along after one week. I think in Bolivia only the president is allowed grow a moustache so I've been getting funny looks all week

As you could guess the abuse I am getting off the lads is pretty serious so please, please, please make it count for something by donating to my Mo, you can either:

* Click this link http://ie.movember.com/mospace/142697/ and donate online using your credit card or debit card
* Write a cheque payable to Irish Cancer Society referencing my Registration Number 142697 and mailing it to: Movember - Irish Cancer Society, 43/45 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4

Movember is now in its second year here in Ireland and, the first year already saw some great results working alongside The Irish Cancer Society. Check out further details at: http://ie.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

I'll try and put up more pictures during the month so you can see how Carlos gets on (unless the Bolivians lock me up first)

End of Argentina - Hey why is everyone else wearing ponchos?

The timeline of this one is a bit weird because Anne Marie and I visited Iguazu before the lads did but at least you are getting two stories for the price of one. Iguazu Falls is at the very North east of Argentina and makes up the border with Brazil. The falls themselves are amazing, 275 individual cascades the highest being 80metres. When the river is high (

and on our visit it definitely was) 100 million litres of water plummets over the edge

per second.

We all stayed in Puerto Iguazu on the Argentina side which is a nice enough place but purely serves as a place to get a late dinner and sleep, everyone spends all day out at the falls. We did the classic trip which is to spend one day at the Argentine side and one day popping across the border to do the Brazil side. There was more Passport trouble for Trick but I reckon you’re bored of hearing about that at this stage.

On the Argentine side we headed for the Parque Nacional Iquazu. This has an upper trail which takes you along metal walkways over the first few waterfalls. You are just three feet away from the edge of the falls so the noise and views are incredible.

The lower trail brings you down into the forest and then you find yourself walking under and sometimes almost into the falls. It is very wet but great fun and the opportunities for cheesy photos are endless.

Anne Marie and I signed up for a 4x4 drive followed by a boat trip around the falls. Avoid the 4x4 trip as it is just a ride on the back of a trailer but the boat trip was brilliant. When we got on it was slightly worrying that everyone else was wearing wet gear or ponchos and we soon found out why. The boat goes right up to and under the torrents of water from the falls and everyone gets soaked, great fun though.

The second day we jumped over the border to Brazil and headed up for their national park. The highlight here was definitely the Devil’s Throat which is a U shaped waterfall and the most impressive of the lot. Once again catwalks take you right to the edge of the waterfall and everybody gets soaked from the spray.

Looking back now at the pictures and videos it seems rather tame, it is really hard to capture how jaw droopingly stunning this place is. It was kind of off our intended route but the diversion was definitely well worth it.

After saying goodbye to Anne Marie in Buenos Aires I got another overnight bus to rendezvous with the lads in Salta. The buses in Argentina are way better than anything I’ve experienced, they have really comfortable seats that recline almost into beds and usually more food than you can handle. They show movies but they are either usually terrible or in Spanish but bringing your own bottle of vino tinto with you makes the whole thing more enjoyable. Although Conor may have a different opinion – on the 23 hour journey from Iguazu to Salta, his seat was double booked so he had to sit up front with the drivers. Not as comfortable unfortunately.

Salta was just meant to be a stopover point before crossing into Bolivia but it turned out to be a really cool city. It revolves around classic Spanish style square filled with restaurants and cafes. It was built by the Spanish as a stop off spot between the cities of Sucre (Bolivia) and Buenos Aires and their influence is quite noticeable. The two noteworthy sights are probably the cable car to the top of Cerro San Bernardo and the Museo de Argueologia de Alta Montana.

The museum holds the mummified remains of child sacrifices that were discovered by a National Geographic sponsored team. Basically, the locals worshiped the mountains (The Andes are the second highest mountain range in the world) so each year they would abandon a local on top of a mountain as a “present” to the gods of the mountain. Obviously the child would starve/freeze to death, but back in the day it was quite an honour to be selected. The temperatures on top of the mountain preserved these bodies perfectly and 500 years later (1999) were discovered and bought down to a museum. A lot of people think it’s wrong to have them in a museum, but there they are. Photos were not allowed but this was the one on view the day we were there – http://lastdaysoftheincas.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/lightning-girl.jpg

They take siestas in Salta really seriously. Everything is shut between 1 and 5 and on Sundays practically nothing is open. Not a place I’d recommend if you want anything rushed.