Whoooooooooooooooooah ...

Day 108 - Tuesday 29 April 2008

















I've definitely arrived in New Zealand ...

That's me in the front right (left as you look at this!) seat plunging down the world's highest commercially rafted vertical drop in the WORLD ... it's 7 metres high and that's why you disappear into the churning water below for a few seconds before (it feels like slowly) popping up again triumphantly ... I was first of our raft up and this is my head gasping for air again (you can just about make out it's me if you do all the nearly always needed 'left click' for the big photograph!)















I thought this would prove that everything you've heard about this country is true ... it's all about the outdoors, being healthy, enjoying the fresh air (and water), stunning scenery, spectacular activities ... and I've only seen the top fraction of it ... I might be falling in love!

Yesterday I decided to jump right into the New Zealand activity thing and white water rafted the Kaituna River close to Rotorua - it's a Grade 5 rated stretch that's the highest you can commercially raft - we back paddled to a halt just before the unraftable Grade 6 stretch - but forward paddled headlong into everything else - top marks to Baz at the back of our raft in blue of this top sports photograph who's busy guiding us safely towards another drop - there were 3 big ones between 3 metres and 7 metres that soaked me every time (in cold New Zealand water that tasted - it's impossible not to swallow a bit - about as fresh as you could get!)














So I've ticked Auckland off the list (after much waiting around at both Santiago and Auckland airports that saw me take to sketching airport activities in my Moleskin for something to do!)

Auckland's a fab place that has a San Francisco vibe fused alongside the ubiquitous British flavour of New Zealand - it's called the city of sails because of the incredibly plentiful harbours around the Waitemata (east) and Manukau (west) Bays - I headed over to the quaint, quiet, paradise of Devonport - it's a stunning ferry ride commute into the city of Auckland that must be hell if you have to do it every day ... ;-)

I also got a trip up Mount Eden (we're right around the Pacific Ring of Fire here and Auckland has loads of volcanoes including Eden) and a tour of the Auckland Museum courtesy of Keith - Keith and Elizabeth are friends of Geoff and Margaret Cravens and it was a needed day back in reality - Elizabeth provided my first home cooked meal for 106 days - bless them for making em feel so welcome!

Here's a view back to Auckland from the top of yet another volcano Mount Victoria in Devonport - by the way whoever's keeping a list of Jez's favourite places you can add Devonport to Ollantaytambo in Peru and Moan in Utah, USA - that's the base for the New Zealand navy middle right and the Skytower dominating the Auckland skyline (I went up it for another top view of sea and volcanoes!)











And here I am holed up in geo-thermal Rotorua (although I'm on the 13:15 Inter City Coachlines trip striking south for Tongariro National Park)

Rotorua is full of holes in the ground that let you see the earth's core - well kind of - it's like a chemistry experiment of a town with the smell of hydrogen sulphide pervading downtown if the wind's in the right direction - the heat from these holes adds a very mysterious atmosphere in the largest site at Kuirau Park if it's pissing down with rain - which it is (well I guess I expected it of New Zealand) - the whole place feels like Isla Nublar from Jurassic Park - think steamy!











New Zealand feels like a haven after South America and I guess I shouldn't rate it too quickly - after the craziness and edginess of my last continent anywhere more developed would feel like a breath of fresh air - but I can already get a sense that this is a brilliant, safe society that's got an incredible amount of it's social house in order - but here's a few early observations:

The Maori culture is everywhere and their heritage has been preserved incredibly well (I guess ancestral American Indians would be kind of envious?) - from what I pick up a huge amount of credit has to go to the Maori people for fighting their corner - but also to the 'pakhera' (anyone else in new Zealand who isn't a Maori) for playing their part in fusing the 2 peoples together into such a great society (it's also contentious and the Treaty of Waitangi is a political hot potato!) - I also blasted through a book about Maori culture from the 1680s (pre-Europeans) - based in the mountains of the North Island it's full of paddle weapons, warring tribes, cannibalism and natural forces - I just hope it was accurate - mind you - it was recommended by a very nice man in the best second hand book shop I've visited in the world (I guess lines like that from me are getting more meaning the further around the world I get!)

I visited the town of Ohinemutu and found the usual amazingly detailed Maori wood carvings - the eyes are shells - now this is skill - and kicks ass compared to the letter opener I made using a lathe at Newent Comprehensive School!














The museums are really hands on and people get stuck into touching old Maori war canoes - in many places I've visited that stuff's strictly off limits! - and even the small town of Rotorua has an incredible museum

The backpacking industry is big, big business and the iSite Information Centres in each town all add up to making travelling so, so, so, so easy - it's no surprise that the hostels are full of youngsters (I'm the oldest here at Base in Rotorua for the first time on my journey) - and that's good - a message for all you parents out there - when your kids reach 21 send them here for a month to aid their trip to adulthood - it'll make them and you'll know they're really safe, socialising and having the best time!

The 'flat white' coffee is not drip coffee, not latte, not cappuccino - but a fusion of all 3 and a delight!

And not a New Zealand observation but a Jezervation from yesterday - I just wanted a normal coffee for a change - and couldn't remember what it would be called in the UK - it was the first trigger that I've been away so long I kind of can't remember stuff from 'home' - I guess it's because everywhere is home - I'm loving that feeling and it's justified why I wanted to come away for such a long time - I may change that comment in a few months though!

And so my journey down the North Island's about to continue and I'll leave our 'team' of rafters that smashed it's way past an abandoned, rusting hydro-electric power station, soaked up rainbow drenched waterfalls, jumped out of the raft into crystal clear waters and generally loved just a standard Monday morning here in New Zealand ...

Two down and four to go!

Day 101 - Monday 21 April 2008 (See ... over 100 days ... get in!)

Continents I mean ... have I really cracked two of them already and preparing myself for number three ... you bet ya!

Since I last blogged I've kind of been killing time - a strange feeling 'cos it's been pretty much exploring and adventuring all the way until now - but this is about the only place on my whole route that I didn't actually pick to visit - I was forced this way by all round the world tickets connnecting to New Zealand via Santiago

But that said I've hardly been sitting in my hotel room getting bored - that would be sacriligious (probably literally on this Catholic continent) - and Santiago's been a top place to hang out for a week that's flown by - speaking of which I fly out tomorrow and have just over 24 hours left of using my, at times fluent, at times terrible, Spanish!

Santiago's Metro is easily the cleanest I have ever used anywhere and, in fact, takes my prize for being the best I've ever used - it gets my top spot (for now!) ahead of Washington that is very similar and only falls behind by doing construction work and closing a line the weekend I was there in January (how many experiences ago?!) - here's my local, Universidad de Chile, station resplendent with it's murals and widescreen TV!











And so I used this baby to get to my second Cerro of Santiago (hill in Spanish) - San Cristobal- although it's the biggest so arguably 'numero uno' - it turned out to be Santiago's Parque Metropolitana so, on a Saturday, was full of the locals recreationing (maybe a made up word but author's license here please!) - to be translated as either cycling, running, or praying while taking in the splendid views of the city and the Andes - the praying bit is due to a statue of the Virgin Mary (always either her, Jesus or a cross on every South American hill) and an amazing open air concert venue for worship - complete with candle burning and a few happy clappers singing their hearts out - and clapping!

This photograph off the back of the Cerro does include a snowy peak if you click on it again and make it big - I've quickly learned that what mountains the eye can see the camera can as well - but only just and not half as cool as in real life - no skiing yet and that gondola just took you to the other side of the Parque - it was about 90 degrees (arrh - am I turning American!) so I decided I might cook in there so passed the opportunity!
















I've also done a couple of 'only OK' museos (the art and pre-Columbian history ones) - but I'm starting to get a bit concerned that I'm measuring them all against the Met in New York - I'm thinking of heading back there in a couple of years and spending a week in the biggest and best museum I have ever laid eyes on! - but hopefully that'll wear off and I'm sure the language barrier's the biggest reason I didn't think much to them - mind you it makes you realise quite how incredible the USA are at presenting artefacts!

But downtown Santiago really came alive last night when everyone with half a talent came out to play on a sunny Sunday evening - the Plaza de Armas and surrounding streets were full of talented performers that put Covent Garden to shame in their ability and variety - this robot dancer dude was my favourite!













And I think I mentioned the street art before which is especially prevalent in the Barrio Bellavista (Santiago's bohemian neighbourhood) - this is a reflection of me with my new found interest in photography - my hair's grown a bit since being on the road ...











Yesterday I also found where all the foreign money is being spent in Santiago when I visited the area surrounding the brilliantly named El Golf metro station - it could easily have been Silicon Valley in CA had the buildings gone sideways not up - and the weather here was hot, hot, hot on the weekend - but this picture was all about a phenomenon I have only just got my head round in the last week of being in South America - check out the leaves - it's Autumn here - 36 years of being conditioned to the northern hemisphere is difficult to break - I'm strolling around enjoying AUTUMNAL sunshine - that's why this will be a year to remember forever ...











And so as I'll try to do with each continent (or maybe a few countries) I'll try and summarise a few thoughts on South America - now where I say South America in the following I actually mean Peru/Bolivia/Chile - I'm certainly not suggesting the other countries are the same - I guess I'll have to come back and see - but not just yet!

South Americans don't give two stuffs about their personal space - you will be bumped into, jostled, touched (not like that!) and leant on throughout every day!

And linked to that they're very open about their feelings and the Latin American passion is right out there - you can't walk down the street without seeing people snogging (in Chile especially) - they're clearly all in love and good on them!

Now language barrier aside I don't feel like they're the friendliest group of people - let's park the language barrier issue for a minute - whenever I've let people through a gap or held a door I've not once been thanked (which I could understand in Spanish) or even smiled at - maybe I shouldn't be so Britishly polite and if I lived with political uncertainty all my life maybe I'd be the same

But I'm not really judging - how can I when all I can do in Spanish is sort out my laundry, book hotel rooms, book and ride buses, order food, pay for bottled water, say hello/goodbye and thank people - all of which I'm very proud of by the way!

This is twitchers paradise and should be on Robbie J's and Swifty's must do continents - I know ...!

School does that whole start and finsh early thing - you can't move for school kids hanging out on sunny afternoons - really sociable, really educational and really fun - go them! - and the school girls wear dresses and long socks a bit Asian-esque - which is very cool and very smart ...

And much like Europe the South American style puts us to shame - from traditional dress in the Andean highlands to everyday shirts and Farah slacks on the Chilean coast - some people in the UK are so scruffy! - maybe it's just 'cos I'm hanging out in different places but I don't see any chavy baseball caps or tracksuit bottoms here!

Everything is brilliantly run off pencil and paper! - and in Chile you get a handwritten receipt for even buying a bottle of water - genius!

Altitude burns the skin like you wouldn't believe - although I am leaving here just a shade off Bob Monkhouse's normal colour!

South America is a very controlled society - more so than the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office would have you think - I understand how brilliant a resource that is - and being forewarned has been forearmed for me - but it did also scare the pants off me a bit - although that was no reason not to come here ...

And linked to that the ID card rules - is this the UK in the future - or if Maggie Thatcher had got another term?! (if memory serves me right!) - you can't board a bus without showing your ID card or my passport (a photocopy's always good for them by the way - you can have that travel tip on me!)

Yet they're surprisingly laid back (and welcoming?!) about paying for stuff - only once have I had to pay on checking into a hotel - and you always have to ask for 'la cuenta' (you're never rushed out of a restaurant and can happily read half a Lonely Planet over a coffee!)

TV is dominated by the USA and Warner Brothers, Universal and HBO all have their own channels (in English and sub-titled in Spanish) - a joy for a British traveller this week and I've watched way too much Two and a Half Men! - I'm a bit like Charlie ... including all the hot women?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_and_a_half_men

And you can't make any statement about South America without mentioning religion - you have to admire the way South Americans are dedicated to it in the face of an increasingly commerical world - a Sunday is still a Sunday here - and I love it for that - we have just two 'selling' Saturdays for weekends but here places are shut, the streets are quiet (in the day at least) and people go and make their peace with God - I also like the way the descendants of indigenous people fuse a pre and post Conquistador belief system - they've made it their own and no one's going to tell them otherwise!

And boy am I already missing (and will continue to miss) Inca Kola - and the new 'green' me loves the way the bottles are recycled (washed and used again mind - not broken and reconstructed) - this resulted in three different phases of bottles all turning up on one restaurant table at the same time - genius! - there should be more of this - it all tasted great!











And, finally there they are - just about on the end of me armies (by the way Swifty your prize is now in the Chilean post mate) - and aren't they incredible - the Himalaya's had better get their 'looking amazing' act together - they've got some shoes to fill ...
















But not yet - not yet - it's the Southern Alps for me next - I have a 13 hour flight to smash and the International Date Line to cross which has got me thinking what actually happens to that day I miss - where does it go? - does a Champions League match scheduled for then actually take place?! - it's weird - and very , very Indy - see you in New Zealand and 'ka mate, ka mate' ...

Are you going to San ... tiago!

Day 97 - Thursday 17 April 2008

The tranquility of La Serena's Plaza de Armas ...














And La Serena liked it's European styled, stylish, sexy statues ...














Mamalluca's tools of the trade ... their smallest one!














This guy adorned the top of Cerra Santa Lucia and I think he was a local, indigenous Mapuche ...











I also adorned Cerro Santa Lucia ... me and the smog haze!














And the wonderful Hotel Plaza Londres is at about 2100 hours ... downtown Santiago!











And here I am holed up in (according to Lonely Planet) South America's least intimidating capital

How right they are compared to my experiences of Lima and La Paz (that keep you on your toes and your hand on your crown jewels) - this is a very relaxing place to stay and while away a week!

I arrived here a couple of days ago having completed a simple day on the bus from La Serena to here - La Serena did it's thing for me but in the end was just tooooo safe and tiresome - for those who might have seen the latest poll on the blog the truth was I found Iquique (and beach life in general) all of the above including a bit boring - although the Chilean girls are stunning!

I think I've hit the travel phenomenon at full tilt now and need new and regular stimuli to keep me happy! - lounging around's alright but when you travel you become a bit of an expert at it (how else do you use up time on a bus?) - lying horizontal on a beach feels like just more of the same

But I did get in the Mamalluca Observatorio visit which was just great - I never realised that the Valle de Elqui and the northern part of Chile is Observatorio Centrale for the world - the Atacama Desert clearly suits star gazing and the European Southern Observatory have many places here - in fact just around Antofagasta - where the latest James Bond movie is currently being filmed and I passed through on the bus - a rough end, old port that's doubling for Bond's Bolivia and causing some political strife 'cos Chile/Bolivia don't see eye to eye after Chile nicked Bolivia's sea linking land!

But back to Moore-ing! - Mamalluca sits at about 1200m above sea level in the foothills of the Andes and a bowl of mountains - the location's stunning and amplified when they turn all the lights out (barring a few green ones) and the moon becomes your light source - we got the chance to use a 30cm diameter telescope and saw Saturn (including it's rings), the Moon and it's craters and the Orion's knife nebula (the middle of 3 stars next to Orion's belt only the middle one's not a star it's a nebula where stars are born)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula

I also learned a whole load of new stuff including how the nerds (sorry, geniuses!) label their telescopes things like the VLT (Very Large Telescope) - I kid you not!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLT

And there was the Milky Way in all it's glory again, the Southern Cross (I'm getting an expert southern hemisphere observer which is weird) and the Magellanic Clouds - these were new to me and sit just under the Milky Way - they're irregular dwarf galaxies (cool!) that are not part of the Milky Way but in our local group of galaxies - they're named in Europe after Ferdinand Magellan who saw them during his circumnavigatiopn from 1519-1522 although ancient Middle Eastern people had clocked them for years

I just love space photography and wish my Sony Cybershot had a bit more kick to it!

http://www.eso.org/public/archives/index.html

But before I knew it I had landed in Santiago and route marched (Lonely Planet said 1 mile - my backside!) from the bus station to, maybe, the best hotel of South America - by the way I've just done a quick calculation and guessed that on this contintent alone I have slept in 19 different beds - no wonder I wake up every night about 3am with a sore back - it's been happening since Cuzco although Ibuprofen did the trick last night!

Hotel Plaza Londres could be in a quiet, cobbled back street of London and sits just between the heart of Santiago's commercial district and it's residential district - I'm not quite sure what Barrio Paris Londres does aside from provide travellers with superb, cheap accomodation (10 quid a night for a private room with cable TV, wi-fi and Mrs Miggins breakfast - bliss!)

And so I'm just chillin' here in Santiago - I spent the first day on the Metro (that is clean, efficient and a sight for sore eyes after 5 weeks in less developed areas of South America) tracking down a book store to swap my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

HARRY POTTER SPOILER ALERT! - don't read on if you don't want to know the ending! - I'm really glad I know what happened and I've finished the story - I enjoyed the last book especially 'cos it got away from the boring structure of the others (as did the Half Blood Prince to some extent) - I thought Rowling played around with some interesting concepts of life and death/the hero being an anti-hero - but eventually came up short of me really liking them 'cos in the end it's very Hollywood and twee - everyone survives, the bad guy gets killed, they couple up and all live happily ever after - I reckon her links to Warner Brothers and the movie deal influenced the writing - but fare enough I suppose - it's a kids book after all and I'd rather my godsons read a glossy version of life rather than a grittier one! - OK SPOILER OVER!

And now I'm onto Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (slim pickings in the book shop) which is just awful - it's making Spain out to have a corrupt police force and crap hospitals - which is bloody outrageous (having travelled and been treated in South America I feel I can have an opinion here!) - doesn't he know Spain makes parts of the USA look undeveloped!

I did a walking tour of Santiago yesterday and hiked up the Cerro Santa Lucia which is a rocky pinnacle that overlooks downtown and has splendid views - providing you can see past the smog which is very thick and obscures beautiful views of the Andes (we're in another bowl here!) -it's been a hermitage, convent, military bastion and now tourist/lovers haven! - everyone's snogging up there - except me sadly!

I also saw the Palacio de la Moneda that's the Presidential palace and scene of the bloody 1973 coup d'etat that saw General Pinochet get into power (and not leave for ages!) - Pinochet closed down the Palacio to the public so when it re-opened once he had been removed from power it became a new symbol for a new Chile - consequently, to visit you now have to book a month in advance! - needless to say I hadn't ...

And that leaves me feeling strange about the whole Pinochet era and needing to do some research into the subject - for he ruled as a dictator and disappeared political opponents in a style that, to me, is totally crazy in the modern world - yet when you've travelled through Peru and Bolivia you reach Chile and see better standards of living that must have been developed, at least partly, during Pinochet's time - I guess it wasn't him but Chileans as a whole who are responsible for their development and preparedness to be South America's first first-world country - I'll check it out and hope these comments aren't naive ...

Bang up to date again then late on Thursday afternoon in the swankiest internet cafe of the entire trip (USA included) - I'm in an underground labyrinth of pool halls, multiplex cinemas and restaurants - the highlands of the Andes are now, literally, miles away

I'll blog one last time from here and give my perspective on South America hoping that photos are uploadable - I've now worked out the problem isn't Firefox or Tossnet Explorer but blogspot - if you need a blog site I can't overly recommend them!

A coastal ride down the Regions ...

Day 91 - Friday 11 April 2008

A smouldering, steaming volcano having just arrived in Chile ...











The Chilean flag in Arica welcomes me to my 4th country of the trip ...














Urban beach life ...











This girl watched me line up this photograph and blatantly walked straight into the shot so I thought it was fair enough to post ...











If you hear a rumble then it's pretty clear you need to head left ...











How many days? My clothes are picking up stains they wouldn't normally own and the South American washing detergent just won't shift that slightly weird smell - I haven't jumped into looking like a Bolivian-based traveller but I'm definitely on the road ...

And quite literally because the last week's been a start/stop adventure out of Bolivia and down the weirdly set up numbered Regions of Chile (yes - you read it right - numbered - I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in that high powered Government meeting - 'so Presidente, what shall we call these Regions we've just cleverly split the country into?', 'you know what, the surf's up, just number 'em, adios'!)

From north to south the Regions are numbered 1 to 12 with the strange exception of the Region including Santiago that gets off the hook and a title of Region Metropolitana - maybe that vanilla/chocolate/strawberry ice cream originated there ...

But, as always, I've jumped ahead!

I left La Paz in Bolivia very early on Monday morning and was striking out across South America on my own - I felt a little cautious when the bus driver seemed to stop way too frequently for the first hour - I still don't know quite was he was up to - but he looked like he was helping mates shift large quantities of bog roll across Bolivia ... I guess there was a Boliviano or two to be made somewhere down the line

Nothing to worry about in the end and my second overland border crossing was nailed having traversed what was a bit like a de-militarised zone between Bolivia and Chile - strangely - it seemed that any Bolivian who even had a twinkle in their eye hopped off the bus and didn't head into Chile - and it had to be one of the most stunning de-militarised zones in the world - there was a volcano I think and I'm hoping it was team emanating from it's top - not smoke!

Mind you once you hit Chile and start descending from the Andes how things change - we were striking straight west by this point and for the northern Chilean coastal town of Arica - desert, cacti, more desert, rocks, more desert - you get the picture ...

Now people had told me that Chile was awesome (Claire Willerton's voice telling me how much she loved it is stuck in my mind) and I know what they mean! I'd say that compared to Peru and Bolivia it's like a sanitised version of South America - everything bar the dangerous edge! And if you're travelling in South America head north to south the same way as me and Chile will feel like a breath of fresh air

I say that with some caution 'cos I don't want to label what I've experienced in Peru and Bolivia as worse than here - somewhere being edgy and lacking the economy of somewhere else doesn't make it worse than somewhere more familiar - but that's just what it is - Chile is recognisable (and consequently less shocking) to a European

The brand names we know are back, the supermarkets are here and you're not haggling on street corners for bottles of water (that was fun I might add and I think in general I didn't get ripped for 'gringo' prices!)

Arica was cool for one night and had a great rock overlooking the town that proudly flew the Chilean flag reminding me where I now was!

But it was just a stop over and the next day I switched bus companies to the incredible (and I mean waaaay better than Greyhound in the USA and National Express in England) Tur Bus

Tur Bus rip up and down the Pan American highway (the road I'm attached to by an umbilical cord right now) almost hourly regardless of how near or far you're heading - I did their standard service from Arica to Iquique and then upgraded to first class for the all nighter to here in La Serena - a bed, a bed I tell you! - 7 hours kip and I'm tapping happily away here instead of in my hostal (the standard word for hotel in South America) feeling like crap!

Iquique actually retained a bit of the South American edge and my favourite things were the Georgian buildings and the presence of tsunami signs (basically, run away from the sea as fast as you can!) - in fact I woke up to a rumble one night thinking just that - only to come round and realise it was the builders renovating some of the rooms in the hostal to start the day - I left!

Although I have to mention the surf - bizarrely I think this was the first time I'd been anywhere where the surf was pretty serious - I don't think Cornwall counts when I could tackle it at 11 on a polystyrene board - I mean this stuff rumbled and you could read the Pacific Ocean coming at you from a way off shore - incredible! - oh - and have I mentioned the out of season climate that, for a week, has involved zero clouds and 25 degree temperatures - northern Chile is California for the braver traveller!

And now I'm checking out another seaside town 7 hours north west of Santiago called La Serena - this is where the Santiagoans come to play and you can tell - because it's seriously monied - today I've been in a mall that wouldn't be out of place removing a piece of stunning Kent countryside - and La Serena's also peaceful, orderly, quiet, and a very, very easy lifestyle - strangely I'm fighting the urge to dash for Santiago and a city again - the top of the Andes seem so far away already!

But I'll have at least tomorrow here as well - I spent this afternoon hanging out and reading in La Serena's Plaza de Armas - the most stunning and nicest yet in all my South American journey - but maybe that's the familiarity talking 'cos I really could be in Spain ...

Which reminds me - a word to anyone thinking of heading here (and it's certainly worth it) - learn Spanish! - I'm now really in the heart of Chile and I see no other travellers - consequently, I see no one else who speaks English - and that's great, why I'm here and my language skills are taking leaps and bounds forwards (I no longer use 'habla Ingles por favor') - but, actually, all through South America I've been really impressed by how many people (travellers not the locals!) speak great, really great, fluent Spanish - lucky buggers!

And that's enough for another day - night's closing in and I want to get something to eat in the Plaza - I've booked a potentially superb trip tomorrow night to the world class Mamalluca observatory where I plan to don a monocle, talk too quickly and join the astronomy club ... and if you didn't get that reference ... Moore (not Roger - the other one!)

A weird photographic problem involving Firefox (nah - has to be Tossnet Explorer) - I'll put them up in the future! - picture blue sky!

Pretty short but very sweet!

Day 86 - Sunday 6 April 2008

Earlier on this lazy Sunday in La Paz (the pace is notably different from the weekdays here and shops are shut!) I did a Pete Harris and double checked my bus ticket into Chile for Tuesday

Well Pete - I won't ever have a bad word to say against you in the future 'cos I'm very glad I did! The ticket in my sweaty hand that they issued just a few days ago since became invalid and the bus no longer runs on Tuesdays - welcome to South America!

So I'm off into Chile a day earlier than expected and will set foot in Arica on northern Chile's coast tomorrow afternoon - to be honest I'm looking forward to it - not 'cos I don't like La Paz (it's crazy and great) but 'cos my body feels like it's been on the receiving end of a couple of my own hockey tackles - I've been living at altitude for more than 2 weeks now and my body's craving air with more than a minimum amount of O2 in it! The bus ride down from the Andean highlands promises to be spectacular as well - fingers crossed - I'm guessing a bit though how can the scenery not be great!

But Bolivia's been a top experience - you need to be on your guard and I was overly hassled today by a young dude determined to POLISH my Nike Air running shoes (he got very short, yet polite, shrift!)

There's loads to do here around La Paz and I'd be staying longer if I hadn't just done tons of it in Peru - and because of that Bolivia seems to be full of 'proper' young travellers - you may have seen the sort - dreadlocked/manky hair, stripey tracky bottom type pants, backpacks carried on their front, beards (on the less attractive girls!) and all kidding themselves - there's plenty of hot showers and hair products here in La Paz!

But I'm leaving contented that I've visited and will be carrying on my journey overland (still no planes apart from hopping continents) - and yesterday was great!

Tiahuanaco is cool - even if (and why do they always get it right) as Lonely Planet suggest it's a bit disappointing if you've just done Peru - the ruins are still being excavated, the museum is still being finished off, the monoliths are surrounded by barbed wire and the setting isn't as spectacular as it once was!

The Tiahuanaco culture (more often spelt Tiwanaku but I'll persist with the more Spanishy version) lived right on Lake Titikaka and spanned 1000 BC to 1200 AD (remember the Inka's were only around for a couple of hundred years)

But what with ancient global warming (?!) Titikaka has now receded by 20km leaving the site sitting not next to a beautiful lake but a quiet and distinctly average, modern Tiahuanaco

It was all very worthwhile just to see the ancient monoliths that the Tiahuanacans (a guess that sounds right?) placed at the centre of their temples, aligned (along with the rest of their city) to the sun and, of course, worshipped

This one's in the museum and has to be 4m tall! You can get a sense of it's size from the steps that are your bog standard size (a weird reference for you but oh well!)

They were carved out of a solid piece of either granite or sandstone (more geology Growbag) and were inscribed with calendars, their god-figure Wiracocha, and some people even believed they were the people who initiated their culture turned to stone ... I don't















You don't have to be Stephen Hawking to work out that this next shot was taken outside (in the largest temple) and has quickly become one of my fave shots of this whole trip ... the clouds, the mountains and a high shot to miss the afore-mentioned barbed wire!

The day was really capped off when the genius of a bus driver took us to a look out point on the way back to La Paz and I saw another superlative exceeding view - I quickly learned that if you want the most spectacular panorama of the Andes it's in Bolivia not Peru - remember that if you head this way! Click on the shot to do it justice and see it in big size - just pick out peak after peak of the Cordillera Real and start saving for your visit ... and you'll see the weather's not bad here either!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordillera_Real_(Bolivia)

So today's been jigged round and I'm back into being on the move mode (no There Will Be Blood as I hoped Rich but at least I'm saving a goodie up!)

I did spend this morning at the Museo Nacional de Arte where the collection was OK and I found a couple of cool Bolivian artists (I think that's right 'cos everything was in Spanish of course)

And before indulging in a very western style 2 hours kicking back in Alexander's Coffee (the Bolivian chain of 7 chic, non-take over the world, style stores) I happened upon a very patriotic Bolivian display in La Paz's Plaza de Armas

It had all that you'd expect - brass band, soldiers, traditional dress, flags, blue sky, pigeons and a Presidential palace with quite a few bullet holes in the walls from Bolivia's past

But then I'm out of here tomorrow ... see you from country number 4!

And before I knew it I was flying solo again ...

Day 84 - Friday 4 April 2008

Well the last few weeks have been a blast!

I´ve really enjoyed exploring Peru/Bolivia with, literally, an Intrepid group of people so a huge thanks to my travel companions and Alberto our Intrepid guide who made the experience so easy (except for the Arequipan in bed leg!)

Here they all are in my favourite group shot that, as always, was composed interestingly by the photographer who, to be fair, was our crazy dune buggy driver!

From left to right: Scott (Australia), Corinna (Australia), Ash (Australia), Sarah (Australia), Jezdiana (GB), Kiki (Sweden), Carly (Australia), Steve (New Zealand) and Kat (New Zealand)

















The adventure group travel experience was, all in all, ace - but I think it´s more suited to holidaying than long term travelling - so something that I´ll definitely use in my future travels when I´m back from this crazy trip! See, thinking ahead already ...

There were things I wouldn´t have bothered doing on my own because, to be honest, I would have found them boring (I understand that weaving is an important part of Andean culture but if I have to see another demonstration next year it´ll be too soon)

And yet there were trips into the deepest parts of Peru that I would never have arranged on my own and so missed out on meeting the local, fascinating people of an incredible country (they were the highlights of the last few weeks and stand right up there alongside Machu Picchu)

All in all a really rewarding experience and it was a great decision to hit the developing world for the first time in the comfort of a group - but my brain (and body) have now adjusted to South America and I´m looking forward to heading into Chile next Tuesday and down the Pan American highway on my own for a couple of weeks to Santiago

But I´m ahead of myself and it´s time to re-cap the last week or so starting in Cuzco when, because I didn´t need to recover from the Inka Trail, I soaked up another day of Inkan ruins following Machu Picchu

The fort of Saqsaywaman sits high on a hill overlooking Cuzco and was actually designed as the head of a puma while the rest of Cuzco made up the puma´s body (more and more symbology everywhere you turn from the Inkas!)

The stonework was hugely impressive and the stones themselves dwarfed even me! In 1536 it was the sight of one of the most bitter battles between the Spanish conquistadors and the Inkas and thousands of dead littered the site after the Inka defeat attracting carrion eating condors ... gumpf! (Thanks to Lonely Planet for that short history lesson ... my plagiarism days are behind me Reg so I thought I should commend the original author!)











After another impressve bus ride in Peru to Puno it was time to explore the origin of the Inkas and island hop around Lake Titikaka for a few days - one of the Inka mythologies states that their God, Wiracocha, rose out of the lake before creating the world and walking north towards the Sacred Valley and establishing the Inkan culture from their world´s centre at Cuzco (I´m pretty sure this is close but it depends what you read ...!)

Anyway - it´s truly stunning and doesn´t do a bad line in sunsets (this one´s off the top of the peninsula at Llachon)











We all stayed the night at Llachon in the homes of different local Quechans - here´s me the morning after the night before with the very welcoming Primo, Natalia and Lourdes (Madonna fans?!) who has the glum one down to a fine art even at 6 years old! The food they prepare from their own self sustainable lifestyle was incredible - organic vegetables mainly and it was soooo delicious I coud have stayed for a while - if only they´d had internet access of course! They didn´t because they live very simply and we were in no shower and squat toilet land - not camping but getting close to that feeling - although the beds were super comfortable and made from a reed base (my room is on the right of us and I forgot to shut the door!)
















The reeds make Lake Titikaka famous and the Islas Uros are created by a hardy set of Quechans who live on these floating reed beds - they build reed boats and welcome soooo many foreign visitors ...

After we´d done Uros we hopped to Isla Amantani and Isla Taquile and enjoyed a night of dressing in a poncho and dancing with our Quechan hosts to Andean charangas, pan pipes and drums ... I say enjoyed but I was touristed out to be honest ... tourism, tourism, tourism was a constant word (or 3) around Lake Titikaka and I hope they don´t rely too much on this potentially unstable source of income

During this merry go round, and for the first time on my journey, I felt like a cog in the wheel of a developing country and I didn´t like it much ... I got semi-stuck in but was feeling pangs of becoming a traveller (not a tourist with money) again ...

Those feelings soon vanished mind you because the journey back to Puno was a delight - the weather was incredible, the pace sedentary (no fast boats here ´cos they´re just too expensive and Miles would tear his hair out at the pace me thinks!), the water was tranquil and the sky stretched on towards and over Andean peaks ... see!
















After another night in Puno (that looks like it´s falling down but is actually full of money in the form of contraband from Bolivia) we jumped on another bus and I faced my first ever overland border crossing

Having jumped the gun a bit and forgotten to get a ´salida´stamp from Peru it was all very straightforward to cross a stretch of Lake Titikaka, smile politely at the Policia Judicial and be given the key to Bolivia - I doubt it but I hope they´re all as easy as this - not even a need to pay any entry taxes/bribes! - though check out the dog running to get out of Bolivia in this shot!











And then just as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince reached it´s climax (I need to put those bad boys to bed and tick them off my To Do list!) I arrived right here in La Paz

I´m contentedly tapping away in a bohemian coffee shop (I´ve missed a good coffee over the last few weeks!) featured in my Lonely Planet and luckily enough attached to my awesome Hostal Naira

La Paz is a buzzing, cosmopolitan city that´s full of attractive Bolivian women, men in suits (it´s not the capital of Bolivia but the commerical centre) and demonstrators! - there´s been 2 demonstrations in the last 2 days but they´re away from my cozy patch of the city and I´m giving them the smart wide berth - it actually feels way safer than I expected and I hit Tiahuanaco tomorrow and soak up pre-Inkan ruins on a majestic scale - Tomb Raidery in look this one and I´ll give you the low down when I next blog - and ´cos the coffee here is great I may well be back soon ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiahuanaco