9 - 13 October 2008: Bolivia - Tupiza to Uyuni

Another bus journey and another border crossing. We were expecting to have to hang around at the Bolivian border for the best part of the day as the trains aren`t very regular, but luckilly we managed to jump straight on a bus to Tupiza, out next destination.

Tupiza is a gorgeous little town that reminds me of the wild west! It`s surrounded by mountains and red rock and has a lovely laid back atmosphere. Our hotel was lovely - private room, hot showers and ridiculously cheap! One day in and I love Bolivia already!

From Tupiza we went on a 4 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni (the largest salt plain in the world). Words cannot describe what an amazing time I had. Our group was excellent - Rach, Kat and I along with Vesna and Jure, a crazy couple from Slovenia - our guide, Julio, and cook/surrogate Bolivian mummy, Berna, were absolutely brilliant and everyday was more beautiful and more breathtaking than the last. Bolivia has such an amazing landscape, it`s a completely different world from anything I have ever seen or anywhere I have ever been.

On day 1 we visited the Quebrada de Palala, a natural rock formation, and drove through beautiful mountains. We stopped at a small gold mining village in the middle of nowhere called Nazarenito, where 9 families live. We spent our first night 4260m above sea level... Being at such high altitude is bizarre... you get out of breath so quickly and can literally feel the oxygen getting thinner. It`s also FREEZING!!!! We wore every item of clothing in our bags, snuggled into slepping bags with about 4 blankets on top and had a swig of rum to warm us from inside! The stars were incredible, although we could only stay outside and brave the cold for about 20sec at a time!

Day 2 included a visit to a ghost town, some absolutlely stunning lagoons with hundreds of flamingos, hot springs and geysers. We reached our highest altitude - 5000m - and got quite light headed at times. South Americans swear by coca leaves to help with altitude sickness so we were all chewing away... they don`t taste particularly great (kind of like feet in fact) and make your mouth go numb but they supposedly help open up your capillaries so more oxygen can get around your body. God knows if that`s true!

Sitting in the hot springs was fantastic... sitting in a bikini in 35C water high up in the mountains looking out at stunning landscapes... wow!

On day 3 we saw even more impressive lagoons, more flamingos and visited a semi-active volcanoe. We drove through constantly changing landscapes and spent the night at a hotel made entirely from salt (which we had to lick of course!). After dinner (which was always amazing, we ate soooo much!) some local boys put on a show for us. Dressed in traditional dress they played the panpipes (VERY badly bless them!) and got us up dancing. They informed us they knew 22 songs... all of which I`m pretty convinced were identicle!! But however bad they were this was finally my chance to learn the traditional Bolivian dance. To be honest there`s not much to it... basically stepping backwards and forwards and swinging your arms around! You don`t really need a degree to master it!!

Day 4 was the final day... we got up super early to watch the sunrise from the salt desert and I can honestly say it was the most beautiful site ever. Freezing but beautiful! We visited a cactus island in the middle of the desert and spent time messing around on the salt plain taking silly photos! Having already visited a salt desert in Argentina I wasn`t expecting to be hugely impressed but I was completely blown away... the Salar de Uyuni is HUGE!!! 12,000km2... you can just see gleaming white for as far as the eye can see in every direction. Incredible!

We reached our final destination, the town of Uyuni, in the early afternoon, absolutely desperate for a shower (there was no running water in the desert and we all stank!!). Rach had hurt her ankle during the trip so we were pretty anxious to get to a hospital so, after a hot shower, we got an overnight bus to La Paz. Hell!!!! The worst bus journey so far. It was so bumpy we were practically being thrown from our seats, there was no toilet and the bus hardly ever stopped so we were too scared to drink anything. We were told food and drink would be included so hadn`t had dinner but it wasn`t, and we had a group of drunk Bolivian men sitting near us who spent the entire journey leering at Kat and Rachel and `accidently` sitting on Rach. It was horrible and freezing cold and we arrived in La Paz absolutely exhausted.

7 - 9 October 2008: Argentina (a very brief visit!)

The Argentinian buses are great! Comfy seats, friendly staff and you get dinner (albeit a cheese and ham sandwich accompanied with a cheese and ham sandwich and then, you guessed it, a cheese and ham sandwich to follow - bizarre!) We arrived in Salta and were reunited with Rach. It was so great to see her again. Salta itself is a lovely city and seemed really safe and friendly (a welcome change from Paraguay!).

We went on a spectacular day trip `to the clouds`. We visited gorges, small mountain villages, ghost towns, craft markets, saw beautiful views of the 7 Colour Mountains (stunning!) and visited the Salinhas Grandes salt plains. It was an incredibly long day with a lot of sitting in the back of a mini bus but was definately worth it. Unfortunately we only spent a couple of days in Argentina but it`s definately somewhere I`d like to return to to see it properly.

Next stop Bolivia...

1 - 6 October 2008: Iguaçu Falls and random trips to Paraguay... bye bye Brazil!

Ok... first of all I want to apologise for the huge delay in updating the blog. For one reason or another (being in the desert with no electricity, computers working no faster than a snail in Bolivia, being too tired to string a sentence together etc etc) I haven`t been able to spend much time on a computer but after a 4 day hike on the Inca trail I`m having a lazy day and have set up camp in an internet cafe!

So here we go...

Iguaçu Falls is incredible!! Wow! In fact I`m not sure I can describe it in words. You can`t appreciate the enormity of the falls until you`re there, feeling the spray and hearing the roar of the water. It`s deafening! The falls consist of 275 waterfalls spreading over Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We spent time on both the Brazilian and Argentinian side of the Falls and they really are indescribable. As well as the falls the wildlife and surrounding jungle is gorgeous. Just take a look at the video, although that doesn`t even do it justice!



Sadly it was after visiting Iguacu Falls that Melissa left us and headed home :-(. We wanted to send her off in style and have a relaxing last day together so had a lovely day of sunbathing and swimming in the hostel pool planned, only to wake up to terrential rain. And I mean terrential! I`ve never seen anything like it! After taking a wander around Foz do Iguaçu (the town) we found shelter in a bar and dried off whilst enjoying a beer or few. We got chatting to some local Brazilian guys (Fernando, Roberto and Douglas (what a typical Brazilian name???!)) who, when I asked then for some advice about where to go in the evening, decided to take us under their wing and show us how the locals party! I can most definately say it was one of the more random nights of my life!

After sampling pineapple caipirinhas (most definately the most disgusting drink I`ve ever had misfortune to put in my mouth) and going to an all-you-can-eat restaurant with a showcase of South American dance and music (crazy women dancing with pots on their heads, glitzy costumes and far too many naked bum cheeks for dinner time...) we found ourselves clasping our passports and crossing the border into Paraguay for a night of clubbing! The club was awful and full of 15 year olds but we had a great time all the same and at about 3am, just when I thought the night couldn`t get any stranger, the worlds worst U2 tribute band came on stage! We think they were singing in English but can`t be sure! After a drunken border crossing back into Brazil we finally rolled in at about 4.30am, giving us just enough time to get a couple of hours sleep before having to pack, check out and move on to the next destination... we had an emotional goodbye and Melissa headed to Sao Paulo to catch her flight home, whilst Kat and I took another trip into Paraguay. Sobre this time!

I can`t believe our month in Brazil is already over. I`ve finally got the hang of Portuguese and now we`re going to have to change to Spanish! ahhh! Brazil really has been fantastic... it`s like a hundred different countries in one and no 2 places are the same. The people are friendly, the atmosphere is buzzing and - thankfully - we haven`t witnessed any of the horror stories you so often hear about.

We had never planned to stay in Paraguay, it was just the quickest route to from Brazil to Salta in Argentina, however we hadn`t expected to hate it quite so much! We arrived in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, at about 11pm, tired and keen to book our onward bus to Argentina. The people at the bus station were horrible and completely unhelpful and for a little while we thought we might be stuck in Paraguay forever as no-one could (or would) give us any information about how to get out of the god forsaken place. We decided to check into a hotel opposite the bus station and try again in the morning. The `Royal Hotel` was a treat... pretty much a prison cell containing 2 concrete slabs with duvets on and, rather weirdly, 2 bathrooms. One with wires hanging out of the walls where bathroom fittings should have been and one with, surprisingly, hot running water! Yippee!!!

Needless to stay we got out of Paraguay as quickly as possible. After a hectic couple of days on numerous buses, border crossings, delays and wrong tickets we finally arrived in Argentina in one piece! Phew!!!

25 - 30 September 2008: Campo Grande / Pantanal Jungle Stay

We arrived in Campo Grande tired, smelly and hungry! After trailing the streets for somewhere to eat (Brazilian's eat their main meal at lunchtime so not many restaurants are open in the evening) we found ourselves in a stange little place with dirty table cloths and no menu... the waiter (or should I say random man that came to our table) reeled off lots of words, none of which we understood except for "beefy", so we smiled and nodded at that and waited to see what would appear. The next thing we know numerous plates turned up piled high with salad, rice, chips, beans and beef with fried eggs on top. And all for about £2.50 each!

From Campo Grande we set off on a 4 day trek to the Pantanal (Huge wetland half the size of France!). We stayed in a 'rustic' jungle lodge where the water out of the tap was brown, showers were a cold drizzle, mice lived on the roof and were so noisy I swear they spent the nights wrestling with each other, and we shared our room with frogs, spiders and cockroaches. It was great!! We spent our time here going on boat trips, trekking through the jungle, going on a jeep safari, piranha fishing (and eating our catch for lunch!), alligator spotting, tubing down the river, horse riding and just generally getting close to nature! In fact we got a bit too close to alligators for my liking... I wouldn't even have needed to stretch my arm out to touch them!! The wildlife and biodiversity here is simply stunning. Seeing monkeys, armadillos, capybaras, alligators, caimens, macaws, toucans, giant otters and an amazing variety of colourful birds was a daily treat!

Our guide, Pipino (born and bred in the Pantanal), was slightly strange but very impressive with the animals.... he was like Dr Dolittle, making crazy noises and literally speaking to the animals! The noise made by the howler monkeys was incredible. SO loud! Not quite so impressive when they woke us up at 4am though!

Our last night in the Pantanal was definately one that I will never ever forget. A group of us were enjoying a beer round the campfire by the side of the river when Pipino and his cousin, Marcello, decided it would be a good idea to go swimming (in the same river that we'd spent the day piranha fishing and alligator spotting in!). Not to be beaten by the locals Kat and I followed suit... Splashing around in the dark with no idea what animals were around was amazing! Later, whilst drying out by the campfire the most incredible storm started. We could see it long before we could hear or feel it. The lightning was incredible and lit up not only the sky but everything. Every few minutes it was so bright that you would've sworn it was daytime. Then the wind came, almost knocking us over and sending the campfire flying, and then came the rain. Huge, heavy drops that soaked us through within a few seconds. Rather than retire to the rickety skack we were staying in I decided to enjoy the fresh air and dance in the rain. Unforgettable.

I really can't put in words what an incredible time I had and I think it's safe to say the Pantanal is one experience that will stay with me forever.