Summing up - souvenirs

I have not shown my souvenirs since Colombian times. In fact, I do not have that much to show. I think souvenir shopping in Peru built a great immune system against shopping anywhere else. Bolivian stalls even though cheaper did not make my heart jump. I have seen it all in Peru. I have spent days bargaining for it all in Cuzco.

These is alpaca hat (chullo) and matching socks, woolen socks and mittens.



Silver in Peru is cheap and quite pretty, but the eye gets tired after a week of the same designs...

From left to right - my precious chacana (or Inca cross), which I guess can be considered the most important symbol of Inca culture', jewelry with coca leaves (hojo de coca), and a carved alpaca (or lama? or camel?) from stone.



In Bolivia I just bought a handmade belt that I am using as my camera strap.



The theme in Brazil was the Brazilian flag. I got myself Havaianas flip flops with a tiny Brazilian, sarong of the Brazilian flag's colors and a Gilson Martins' ipod case with Christ the Redeemer.

Summing up - budgets

Bolivia - 21 days

Airfare

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Fees

Internet

Souvenirs

Other

Total

$64

$69

$76

$144

$329

$5

$27

$6

$53

773

$3

$3

$4

$7

$16

$0

$1

$0

$3

$37

Bolivia turned out to be really cheap, dirt cheap in fact. My average accommodation costs are slightly screwed by dividing the total amount spent by 21 nights, whereas some nights (6 to be precise) were included in tour prices. Adjusted costs per night were $4.6.

For $329 spent on activities I got a 3-day jungle trip, 3 days in Pampas, 3 day Uyuni tour and a mine tour. Not bad at all.

Also appears I spent a lot of hours on internet :)


Chile - 2 days

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Internet

Souvenirs

Total

$20

$49

$33

$59

$3

$1

$166

$10

$25

$16

$30

$1

$1

$83

I only spent two night in San Pedro de Atacama and I did not feel it was THAT expensive. Dorms for $10/night, food - $8-$10 per menu. Three short tours costs me $59, again reasonable for Chile. A $50 bus ride to Salta (Argentina) hiked the daily average up to $83.


Brazil - 19 days

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Visa

Internet

Souvenirs

Other

Total

$273

$387

$273

$145

$20

$2

$37

$74

$1,211

$14

$20

$14

$8

$1

$0

$2

$4

$64

Even if a $64 average does not scream an EXPENSIVE country, I can assure you Brazil was the most expensive country I visited. On $64 a day I was lying on the beach, cooking at night for the first time on the trip, and trying to cut costs in all the ways possible. Obviously hostels are expensive - $14/night, or rather $17/night adjusted to 3 nights slept on buses. $145 spent on activities do not buy you much - just entrances to Sugar Loaf and Corcovado and a 3-hour boat ride. The killer category was transportation - I spent a whooping $387 ob busing within the country. I took a bus from the Bolivian border to Campo Grande, on to Sao Paulo, on to Rio, on to Foz de Iguacu. Expensive!

And I am out of the cold!

Starting with Sucre (the prettiest town in Bolivia - flickr set) I consider myself to be out of the cold. Done! Basta! No more thermal underwear! No more too-many-layers-to-count. No more praying for hot showers. No more sleeping under 4 blankets (and sometimes even a -9C sleeping bag). No more alpaca socks, gloves and hat. Welcome to sunblock, repellent and heat! I am going down in altitude (means warmer) and closer to equator. I am happy!

From Uyuni (Bolivia) to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) - part 2

We woke up at 5:30 am. Actually, our driver slept through, we were supposed to leave at 5:30 am. I woke everybody up and we left at 6:15 am. As I realized later, the later, the better. Any earlier we would have frozen alive at geisers at 5065 m a.s.l.

Geiser basin Sol de Mañana, quite a crazy sight. No rails, walk till you fall into the boiling mud. An ugly smell and smoke is right into your face.






The next stop is at hot springs by the most beautiful lake ever - hot water breathing through the ice...




Driving by Piedras de Dali (Dali´s Stones)


Final stop at Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon) with a perfect reflection of Volcan Llicancabur.



At 10:30 am I was left on the border with Chile for a connection bus to San Pedro de Atacama. Hippie bus long forgotten on the border:



Chile! We were descending from 4400 m to 2200 m in a brand new bus on a brand new road through desert that stretched as far as the eye could see. I felt the landscape started to resemble slightly the southwest US. Next stop is San Pedro de Atacama for 2 days.

The full set of Uyuni trip is here.

From Uyuni (Bolivia) to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) - part 1

Before I planned my route in South America, I knew I had to visit the Salar de Uyuni. Those landscapes from the southwest corner in Bolivia seemed to be out of this world.

x

I arrived to Uyuni by train at 2:20 am and at 3 am I was already under four blankets, freezing without a hint of sleep. At 9:00 am the next morning I bought a tour leaving at 10:30 am, ecstatic about my efficiency and perfect timing.

Day 1.

The first stop was at the cemetery of trains (Cementerio de Trenes), 3 km south of the town.

Colchani, a town on the edge of Salar de Uyuni with a few salt processing factories.

We are entering Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat at 3,650 m above the sea level.




Isla de Pescado with cactus in the middle of salt desert:





Sunset in the middle of Salar de Uyuni:

Spending the night at amazing salt hotel on the border of the salt flats. Walls, beds, tables, chairs are made of salt. Quite crazy!

Day 2.

We left the Salar, driving towards San Juan through gorgeous desert on very bumpy road. We see vicunas and a few bushes. Otherwise, it is absolutely dead.

At 11 am we arrived to Volcan Iruputuncu that is still active. We are at 4000 m above the sea level and I start feeling the altitude effects.



I feel like we are passing the prettiest landscapes without stopping. If it were up to me, we would have made the same distance in a week, but with thousands of pictures versus only hundreds!

At lunch time we arrived to Laguna Cañapa - gorgeous lake at 4150 m a.s.l. Some drivers of jeeps are feeding foxes. Not very eco-friendly.



Hedionda Lagoon, blue water, flamingo, windy!




We are still climbing up - Desert of Siloli at 4800 m, thin area, windy, cristal clear skies.



The next stop is at stone forest - Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree)



Finally, the highlight of day 2 - Laguna Colorada. The water is purple from the minerals. Crazy!

My perfect trip into Las Pampas

[there are 122 pictures in the Pampas set. please take a look!]

Starting from chocolate croissant delivered to the doors of our tour company by a French baker (there was also an American guy selling banana-nut bread and granola bars) I was in love with my trip to Las Pampas (wetlands).

We were 7 in a large jeep heading for 3 hours to Santa Rosa de Yacuma where a boat was awaiting us. The road was the worst I´ve seen so far and I loved it! The scenery and basic villages is exactly how I imagined my trip to be in South America. Only now in Bolivia I found it! I felt the movie Motorcycle´s Diaries could have been filmed here yesterday. Wetlands started to dominate the landscape and I could not stare enough at very green everything with a few trees. I felt I was driving through Africa where I´ve never been before. Too many movies...

Before heading to the river we had lunch in Santa Rose. That day Bolivians were celebrating Mother´s Day and the restaurant was packed with families with kids. Also there was a black monkey - the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life! It was moving between branches using its tail as the fifth arm. Once I saw the monkey got close to the back buildings, I gave up my soup and grabbed my camera. I reached for the monkey and it jumped on my head. I extended my arm to take a picture of us two, but the monkey stick its head into the lens. Perfect size - 67 mm. So there was - I was playing-fighting with the monkey, kids were surrounding me, jumping to touch the monkey, others wanted to see pictures and at the same time monkey was jumping on my head. Given the loud band in the background it most probably looked like a circus performance. I cannot stop smiling looking at my pictures.

Las Pampas

Animals everywhere. Absolutely amazing. Alligators, tons of birds, turtles, monkeys, dolphins, capybaras, the river and funky trees with crazy roots above the ground - you just have to open your eyes and take it in. I always felt we were going to fast. I just wanted to float in the river and watch every colorful bird for a couple of minutes. One of the birds (name?) would jump into the water (and under), fish, get out, spread the wings for them to dry.

A chichilo monkey jumped into our boat and stole a banana. Then it could not decide what to do - whether to eat the banana or jump to the tree that was slowing getting away. Pure monkey jumped too late (who would give up banana???), fell into the water, but somehow managed to get to the bush.

After unpacking and a welcome tea, we headed to see the sunset and then return to the lodge in the dark. We were searching for the eyes of alligators with our torches. The light reflects in their red-orangy eyes. But this is not the best part. Floating in the boat with lights off, staring into the dark, listening to the pampas sounds under bright starry skies was overwhelming. This place is breathtaking.

Day 2

I woke at sunrise, took a cold shower and jumped into a hammock until breakfast. I would have never thought I would find such peace of mind here just by listening to birds and watching the river. I could totally see myself staying here for a week, taking slow boat rides, napping in a hammock.

But the program did not allow us doing nothing. We were told to put on rubber boots and get ready for "anaconda walk". We went to actual pampas to search for snakes. They don´t call it wetlands for nothing - there was hardly any dry soil. We were soaking in the mud. I even managed to fall on my butt, thankful I put my camera away 3 seconds ago. The hike through swaps with flowers was worth the dirt and heat! But we also found one anaconda. The guide said it was 7-8 years old, male, about 2 meter long.

When walking back to the river we were crossing little ponds instead of walking around. A lot of fun - walking in the rubber boots full of water.

After lunch we finally got our long awaited siesta - 2 hours in a hammock. Later another beautiful boat ride.

The next morning we went swimming with pink dolphins and piranhas fishing.

After lunch we went back to Rurrenabaque. The same night the weather changed - temperature cooled down from 30C to 16C. It rained and our flight got cancelled (runway is not paved...). I could not be happier. Rurrenabaque is such a cute place between the jungle and pampas!

Now I am back in La Paz, wearing everything I have and still cold.

Boat trip through the jungle

After extensive tour shopping and bargaining in La Paz, I decided to go first to the jungle and las pampas (lowlands). I also decided to get to Rurrenabaque by boat. That way I could visit shortly the Madidi National Park and hike in the Bolivian jungle. I bought the tour at 7 pm on Friday. At 5:30 am the next morning I was picked up at my hostel.

The first 2.5 hour drive was amazing. At high altitude we were close to the mountains to enjoy the stunning rock formations. After breakfast in Coroico we were driving on unpaved gravel road at maximum speed of 40 km/h. Sometimes the road was so narrow only one car at a time could pass. You wonder how buses make it here. The dust from the road has changed the color of plants and trees from green to grey. In the front seat of four-wheel drive I felt I was in for a real adventure.


Our lunch stop was in the town called Guanay where we were watching the acrobatic movements of colorful parrots.


In the afternoon we were finally on the boat, going up on Mapiri river in a dugout canoe. We are 15, two guides and a chef. The first camp site met us with the tropical rain, which was the highlight of the day for me.





the morning after
On Day 2 we visited a small town of Mayaya, which I felt was still unspoiled by tourists (there was only one tour company in La Paz organizing the river trip). In a group of 6 people we went up the village to wander around simple stores. I liked reactions of people. They were smiling, teenagers were curious, kids were shy. Some stores still sell and buy gold. We were told this region was hit by the largest gold rush 35 years ago. The banks of the river saw some 50,000 gold hunters, which today is very hard to imagine. To this day there are people working on the river. They say it takes 14-16 hours of hard work in the water to get 1 gram of gold.

At lunch we visited no-name community where we played with some kid´s monkey. Kids´ attention was stolen by a polaroid camera of a French girl. I think all kids of the village got a personal photograph. The eldest kid of 12 years old was curiously looking through any picture British guys had in their diaries.



Later we did a 3-hour hike into the jungle. Ajo tree (ajo is garlic in Spanish) gave a beautiful smell through the forest. At the small pond we were piranha fishing. At night we did a night walk through the jungle to listen to the sounds of birds and insects. Quite interesting.

On Day 3 we did a walk through Madidi National Park. We saw a couple of gigantic trees, and one of them I climbed - a hanging root reminded me my school sport activities. Somehow I was disappointed - the rainforest was not thick enough, huge enough, exotic enough.

The rest of the day we were on the boat, making our way up to Rurrenabaque.



By 6 pm we arrived to the jungle town of Rurrenabaque, a very quite and relaxing warm place. The next morning I was leaving for Las Pampas tour.

The tour set on flickr.

Copacabana & Isla del Sol

Copacabana is a very cute town, touristy only along the main street leading to the docks. Since I missed the morning boat to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) - I forgot about the time difference between Peru and Bolivia, I had a chance to walk around simple streets of Copacabana accompanied by two homeless dogs.

In the afternoon I headed to Isla del Sol, where according to Inca legends the sun was born. Climb steep Inca stairs from the tiny port to the top of the island (4000 m) left me breathless. I could tell immediately I was hiking in high altitude.

The rest of the day I spent walking through the southern part of the island, enjoying the views from both west and east. I was after a very specific sight - I saw snow peaks in the sunset´s pink light when I was driving to Bolivia the night before.







The morning cristal clear views:


At 1:30 pm I boarded a bus to La Paz. Even by that bus ride I could tell I liked Bolivia the most so far. Look at these mountains (shot from the bus window):




Many more pictures on flickr.

La Paz

Today I am tour shopping all day. It is quite tiring and confusing. I can go by boat to the jungle&pampas. I can fly and do pampas or/and jungle trip. Then there are interesting hikes not too far away from La Paz and, of course, I could climb Huayna Potosi (6088 m). They said it is the easiest peak to conquer for an average human being without significant training. But it is a really hard job at very high altitude. The last day you are mountain climbing in the snow with axes and the equipment I have never seen in my life. Just for comparison reasons, the highest mountain in the North America is Mount McKinley (6,194m), Africa - Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m), Mount Elbrus (5,642 m)– highest in Caucasus, and Europe - Mont Blanc (4,810 m). 3 day/2nights trip sounds ehhhhh challenging. I am seriously thinking of doing it. Can I do it?