Dynamite and Deserts

Hi everyone and Happy Christmas. I am now in San Pedro (Chile) having spent the last week traveling through Bolivia from La Paz. On the way I visited the mines in Potosi, exploded dynamite, crossed salt flats in a jeep and celebrated Christmas in the desert!! Read all about it here:

Potosi

After buying some last minute Christmas presents in La Paz we took the overnight bus to the city of Potosi. Potosi is the worlds highest city at over 4000 meters and its history is rooted in silver mining. Today the mines are much smaller but in its day the city was the richest in South America and was the second most populous in the world. After checking into the hostel we went for a tour of the mines. First stop was to kit ourselves out with miners boots, clothes, helmet and head torch and then off to the miners market. Here we bought presents to give the miners (coca leaves, soft drinks etc.) and I also bought a stick of dynamite!! It is openly available for anyone to buy and we were allowed to detonate it (under our guides supervision) at the mines.

After visiting the processing plant where the raw mined material is extracted (today this includes silver and zinc) we headed into the mines. It was not a pleasant experience - hot, smelly, dangerous and very claustrophobic. We descended down 4 levels (the mine has 17) which involved us crawling on hands and knees at times. We eventually reached one of the faces where two miners were working:



The whole experience was very humbling to see the conditions in which the they have to work. The miners know the mines are dangerous and even put up shrines to the devil as they believe they are entering his domain! We made our way back out having to avoid the constant flow of mining trains whizzing inches from our feet:



After leaving the mine we had the opportunity to let off some dynamite. This involved inserting the detonator fuse into the dynamite, packing it into ammonium nitrate (this makes the bang bigger!!), lighting the fuse and running!


Dynamite and fuse in one hand, ammonium nitrate in the other!!!


The crater after the bang!!

Uyuni

The next day we took the bus to the town of Uyuni in the desert. Uyuni would be the starting off point for our jeep trip across the Bolivian salt flats and desert to the Chilean border. The journey to Uyuni took about six hours and the landscape changed dramatically from high Andes to desert landscape. We arrived in Uyuni about 5:30pm and after checking into the hostel we all headed into the desert to the train cemetery. This is a graveyard for old trains that have been dumped. It was great fun climbing over all these old steam trains and also seeing the sun set across the desert.


Everyone aboard!!



Desert Jeep Trip

The next day we rose early to pack all of our kit onto three Toyota Land Cruisers, which would be our transport for three days across the desert. Day one of the jeep trip took us out onto the Salar de Uyuni or salt flats. It is a strange landscape - bright white, perfectly flat and incredibly beautiful. Here are some shots I took on the flats:









After lunch we got back into the jeeps and headed off the flats towards our hostel for the night. The hostel was in a small village in desert but was really comfortable and a great place to relax after a dusty day in the jeep.

The next day (Christmas Eve) we set off at 7:30am for the next leg of the trip. We had left the flats now and were heading south across the desert. It was hot, bumpy and very dusty in the jeeps - a real tribute to Japanese engineering that these vehicles didn't fall to pieces!! The landscape here is dominated by volcanic mountains which gives all the land a reddish/browny colour. Our first stop was at a view point where we could see one of the volcanoes still smoking. We then stopped for lunch at a lake which was populated by flamingos!

Active volcano behind us!!

Flamingos on the lake

The afternoon involved more dust and bumps as we drove to our hostel for the night on lake colorado. Along the way we saw lakes of different colours - red, blue and green all containing flamingos. The colour of the lakes is due to the minerals and algae within them and creates stunning views. We also stopped at some rocks in the desert that have been carved by the wind over the years into strange shapes:

Christmas Day and we all got up at 5am for an early start to complete the trip to the Chilean border. It was a bit of a strange way to spend Christmas Day but great fun as we all wished each other Happy Christmas in the desert. Our first stop was to some geysers and thermal vents, we then stopped for a brief paddle in some thermal springs before arriving at Laguna Verde (Green Lake) for lunch. The colour of the lake was stunning and it was the perfect way to end the jeep trip.


Putting my head into one of the geysers

James and Mike relax in the hot springs - complete with santa hats!!!

Lake Verde on Christmas morning - fantastic

Chile

We crossed the border into Chile and I was immediately struck that this was a more wealthy country as we were treated to tarmac roads!!! With a new stamp in the passport we made our way to San Pedro in the Atacama desert. This was to be our base for 2 nights before heading south to Santiago. San Pedro has a real frontier "desert town" feel to it. At 7pm we all gathered for the grand opening of the "Secret Santa" presents. We had a fantastic time and after opening the gifts we headed into town for food and drink.

A Santa hat - just what I've always wanted

Boxing Day started a bit later than usual after the events from the night before!! In the evening a group of us rented mountain bikes and headed into the desert to see the sunset in the Luna Valley. This is where NASA tested some of its luna vehicles and is an incredible desert landscape.

On my way out to the Luna Valley

View from the top of the dune over the Luna Valley

That's all for now folks. Next stop on my trip is to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Have a great New Year and come back soon to read all about my adventures in Santiago and our New Year celebrations!!

Choro Trail and Jungle Trip

Hi everyone,

I am now back from a fantastic ten days spent trekking the Choro Trail and visiting the Bolivian jungle.

Choro Trail

The Choro Trail is a four day trek which starts at about 4600meters and descends to about 1500meters. The landscape and climate change dramatically on the trail from high Andes cold to the Yungus warm and tropical. We started the trail at La Cumbre, about one hour from La Paz, and the first day can only be described as wet. We were greeted by freezing cold and snow when we got off the bus, not the best start we were hoping for. Here is a shot of me at the start of the trail:



The first hour was pretty hard going in the freezing conditions, however once we made it over the pass we began to descend and the cold and snow just turned to rain. We arrived in camp by 4pm by which time the rain had stopped and we set to making dinner and and drying out. Day two again started wet and it was pretty miserable putting on damp clothes and striking camp in the pouring rain. However by mid morning it had cleared up and the sun came out. The lunch stop looked more like a Chinese laundry as we all dried our clothes.

The terrain was pretty hard as it was slippy under foot and all downhill, so progress was slow. The scenery was really beautiful as we descended the valley following the river. We eventually stopped at 5pm and made camp for the night. Day three started fine and clear and we set off across one of the many rope brides for our final campsite of the trail. Day three was probably the hardest day with more uphill and a greater distance to cover. We arrived in camp (run by an old Japanese man!) at about 5pm.

On the trail

Everyone crosses the rope bridge

Me crossing one of the rope bridges

Day four was very short and all downhill. We arrived in the town of Chairo by about 10am. The picture below is me at the end of trail, quite a contrast in climate from the picture at the start!!!

We managed to secure the services of a local truck driver to take us to the town of Coroico which was to be our base for the night before heading for the jungle. It was great fun traveling in the back of the truck although we did feel a bit like cattle:

The town of Coroico is set in the Yungas region and was a great place to relax after the trail. The weather was hot so we all hit the hotel pool to chill out and prepare for the mammoth sixteen hour bus journey into the jungle!!

The Jungle

The bus journey to the town of Rurrenabaque was as bad as it sounds. Sixteen hours on the bus along winding and very rough Bolivian roads - not recommended!! The picture below was taken from the bus window, the road can be seen on the right with a sheer drop down to the river!!

We eventually arrived in Rurrenabaque at 10:30pm. We checked into the hotel and prepared for our four days of jungle living. We would be spending two nights in a camp in the jungle and a third night at a camp the "Pampas" region. Both of which are in the Amazon basin. We left town at 9am and boarded speed boats for the three hour trip up river to the camp.

Boarding the boats

Our bedroom in the jungle!!

The first thing to say about the jungle is if you are not keen on bugs then avoid at all cost. The place is teeming with them so you have to watch everything you touch to make sure it is not about to bite you!! After arriving at the campsite and having a great lunch we went for an afternoon walk. It was fascinating looking at all the plants and trees many of which are used for modern medicine. We even got to play Tarzan as our guide made a great rope swing from some vines. We arrived back in camp at 5pm and after dinner tucked ourselves into the mossie nets for the night.

One of the many butterflies

After a pretty good nights sleep we all set off for mornings jungle walk. It was hard work in the heat and the terrain was tough at times hacking our way through the undergrowth. We did get to see some "Howler" monkeys which make the most incredible sound, similar to a jet engine I thought. The afternoon was free to relax so some of us went for a dip in the local river:

I think we were cleaner before going in!!

In the evening we went for a night walk along the river bank in search of caiman (small crocodiles) and other jungle beasties. We were not disappointed as it was not long before the guide was pulling out the creatures from the river banks:

Caiman

Toads

The next morning we left the campsite to travel to the "Pampas". This is still in the Amazon basin but contains more grassland rather than the dense jungle. The journey was pretty harsh with a three hour jeep ride and a two hour boat ride. The worst bit about this area though is the mosquitoes - millions of them. We all had to cover up and the air was thick with insect repellent. We arrived at the campsite by lunchtime and after a quick bite to eat we all headed out in boats to explore:

Pedro the crocodile in the camp!!

Relaxing at the camp

I thought the wildlife here was much better than the jungle. We saw Chuchillo monkeys, parrots, mackaws, turtles, crocodiles and even pink dolphins!! The dolphins are native to the area and have a pink colour to their skin, really amazing to see. There was even time for some evening fishing, our guide caught piranha and yours truly caught a catfish:

We spent the morning of our final day on the river again before heading back to Rurrenabaque for the night. In the morning we took a one hour flight back to La Paz, much better than more torture on the bus. The jungle was a fantastic experience with the most amazing wildlife - highly recommended (if you don't mind the insects!).

I am in La Paz at the moment, over the next week we head south to the towns of Potosi and Uyuni - where we will be visiting silver mines and deserts!! My next report will be in about a weeks time when we cross the border into Chile. Happy Christmas and stay tuned for more adventure..................

Cusco to La Paz (Bolivia)

Greetings from La Paz in Bolivia. Since my last posting I have travelled from Cusco via Lake Titicaca to my current location here in La Paz. Here is a map (courtesy of Lonely Planet) of my travels so far from Lima to La Paz (red line indicates the route):



Cusco to Puno

We left Cusco for the last time on Saturday 4th December. It was sad to say goodbye after the time we have spent here but deep down I was glad to be moving on. The bus from Cusco to Puno took six hours and we were transported in real luxury - "Royal Class". So much so that Mike took it upon himself to use the oportunity for a wash on the bus!!:



The journey was also interesting as soon after leaving Cusco the scenery changed from the Andean mountain scape to the Altiplano - which is a large expans of flat land formely part of Lake Titicaca. It was a refreshing change from the mountain scenery we have been used to. The altitude is still high with Puno at approximetely 3600 meters. We arrived in Puno at 4pm and after checking into the hostel we hit the town.

On Sunday we left the hostel at 9am for a boat trip on Lake Titicaca to visit the famous floating reed islands - Los Uros. There are approximetely 40 floating reed villages each one containing about ten families. It was quite touristy but fascinating to see how people live in this environment. Each village sits on a reed base which is anchored to the lake bed to prevent from drifting off. Here are some pictures of the floating villages and a reed boat we took:


Floating island


Reed boat


Relaxing on the reed boat

Puno to Copacabana (Bolivia)

We left Puno at 7:30am on the bus to Copacabana (not the famous Brazil beach). The journey took us around Lake Titicaca to the border between Peru and Bolivia. After the usual officialdom at the border (two of our group had overstayed their visas!) we arrived in Copacabana. It was a good feeling to be in another country and have a new stamp in the passport. Everything is so cheap here, 1 Boliviano is about 6p. A beer and hambuger set me back just 1 pound!!

Copacabana is small town on Lake Titicaca with a real seaside feel to it. After checking into the hostel we took a boat trip out to Isla Del Sol - which is an island on Lake Titicaca reputed to be the birthplace of the first Inca leader. The boat journey was quite long but the weather was beautiful so it was nice to be out on the water.


Copacabana


Copacaban Cathederal


Taking the boat to Isla Del Sol - the island is ahead of us

We arrived back in Copacabana in time for sunset and a group of us climbed a nearby hill for some amazing views of the sunset over the lake:





Copacabana to La Paz

We had a free morning to relax in Copacabana before catching the 1:30pm bus to La Paz. The weather was great so I just went to the waterfront to chill out for the morning. The bus ride to La Paz took about 4 hours including crossing part of Lake Titicaca. The scenery changed from the shores of the Lake to snow capped mountains. We arrived in La Paz at 5pm and had fantastic views of the city:


Our first view of La Paz

La Paz

La Paz was a bit of a shock from the places we have been used to in the past few weeks. It felt good though to be back in a city with all the hussle and bussle that involves. I even had post waiting for me at the central post office (thanks Sara!!). There is much to explore here including the famous Witches Market selling all manner of potions and spells. After checking into the hostel we went out for dinner and then onto the Sol y Luna bar for cocktails late into the night.

On Wednesday I spent the morning going to the supermarket getting provisions for the three day Choro trek we will be starting on Friday. It is amazing how similar supermarkets are to back home, I could have been in the local Tesco!! A group of us also booked up for a full days mountain biking on Thursday. In the afternoon I visited the Coca Museum which is dedicated to the coca plant . This includes everthing from the plant´s history to cocaine production and its uses for medicine. It was really interesting and well done. I also spent the afternoon having a wander around the local streets and the Witches market.

On Thursday a group of us went mountain biking in the Andes. We decided against the "Most Dangerous Road In The World" route in favour of a trail called "The Zonga Valley". This route starts at 4600 meters and drops to around 1500 meters. The entire route is down hill on a gravel road so it was pretty easy riding. It was fascinating to see how the scenery changed from high Andes cold and cloud to a warm high vegation area. It was a great ride although we could have done with better bikes to avoid sore the bottoms. Here are some photos of the day:

Preparing for the off


Me on the trail


Our lunch spot by a waterfall


The end of the trail

In the evening we all prepared for the next adventure!! Over the next ten days we are treking the "Choro Trail" and then going to the Amazon basin to trek in the jungle!! I will send my next update out when I return back to La Paz. Stay tuned for more .................