Right this is going to be condensed to see how much i can fit in, although summarising is not my specialty...
Ok So our second day in Beajoulai we had a picnic lunch which was fun but a bit cold, then we spent the afternoon playing backyard cricket, had to teach the canadians how to play. That evening we had ribs for dinner and they were delicious and then spent the evening eating chocolate and playing cards, it was fairly relaxing day.
Day 5 Drove to Nice. We stopped in Avignon for lunch, the palace the other pope used to live. Apparently there used to be 2. We had McDonalds, a traditional french cuisine. arrived in Nice, did our washing, went to the bar, had dinner, drove to Monaco, the 2 smallest country in the world, Fun fact: only 7 people are accepted to become a citizen of Monaco each year. they have to be millionaire and preferrably famous. Also Monaco has a 0% crime rate. We went to the Grand Casino which is the super famous super classy casino, it cost 10 euros just to get in. the cars outside the casino were super impressive. I bought a cocktail for 15euros, equivalant of 30nz dollars which is ridiculous!! Headed back to Nice where we spent the evening playing pool, i was partnered with a guy named Savio from our tour and and we did quite well.
Day 6
Took the train into central Nice and had a relaxing day, walked up a hill to a chateau and had a good view over Nice, walked alongside the beach and saw many topless women, walked down a hill and a cannon fired and then massive sirens sounded and we thought a war was about to start. Ate lunch in a cute little side street, had gelato, walked through a few shops, sat on the beach, built small towers of rocks and then smashed them down again, did some more shopping then trained back to the campsite. Chelsea and I dyed each others hair, then we went to bed.
Day 7
Headed to Florence, stopped at a purfumery and learnt about different types of purfumes then I bought some. Headed to Pisa to see the leaning tower, took photos of us pushing it over and saw the cathedral too. Bought some lemon gelato. Arrived in Florence that day. That evening we went to karaoke, there was a crap DJ who wouldn't let us sing the songs we wanted to sing and kept taking over to sing songs himself. Bought a litre of kiwifruit daquiri which tasted pretty average and spent the rest of the eveing dancing. Rodney and I wanted to sing you outta know by alanis morisette and the DJ made us sing I kissed a girl, by Katie Perry and i am not a fan of that song. Nonetheless it was a fun night.
Day 8
Full day in Florence, started at Leonardo's Leather store and our guide was hilarious, taught us how to recognise fake leather. Then wandered around admiring statues, did a walking tour and saw Ponte Vecchio Bridge which was beautiful. Walked to the Duomo Basilica and did the 500approx step walk to the top of the dome. Amazing view of teracotta roofs and green hills that surround the city. Had lunch, wandered the markets, bought a ring then headed back to camp. Got dressed up, did our group photo overlooking florence, found a restaurant for dinner and then went to the Space electronic disco. It was a really nice club, spent the evening drinking and dancing, formed a massive circle of our tour group and each took turns at dancing in the middle.
So this is very summarised and i'm still over 10 days behind but its a start!
19 May, 2009
18 May, 2009
Apology
Hey guys just a quick note to say sorry for my lack of blogs, things have been soo busy that i haven't had time and not many of our campsites have internet. The ones that do tend to charge 5euros an hours so its fairly expensive. However I am keeping track of my activities in my diary so i will write a summarised blog as soon as i get some decent internet time. Rest assured i am having an incredible time, I've met some fantastic people and i am loving Europe, its so beautiful!!
05 May, 2009
Contiki begins...
So I'm on day 4 of my contiki and I already have a cold. But its been fantastic so far.
Day one we left at 8am from london and took the bus to the white cliffs of Dover where we boarded the ferry to France. It was a big driving day but that afternoon we arrived in Paris. That evening we were greeted by he contiki staff who gave us sparkling wine and escargo to try then we had a delicious dinner of lamb souvalakis. That evening we got a night tour of Paris to see the main tourist spots so we could decide what we wanted to do the next day. Paris is stunning, definately the most beautiful city i have ever seen the buildings are so old and so impressive.
So after the bus tour we got started drinking and had a good night getting to know everyone, played a few drinking games and had a wee boogie. headed to bed about 2am.
Our full day in paris began as all tours of Paris should-at the Eiffel tower. The tower is so impressive. We weren't the first to arrive and everywhere you looked directly under to structure were people in lines. We found the end of a line and waited around 30mins to get to the front. we took the stairs to the first and second floors and the esculator for the final section, the view was beautiful and we could spot heaps of other famous landmarks from there. We then took the metro to Notre Dame which is such an amazing church, its soo big and the details on the building are so intricate and beautiful.The church took 180years to be built which is ridiculous, thats means the people that started the building would never have seen it completed. From here we got crepes for lunch then did some shopping and i bought some new shoes. We still had 2 hours before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went to the Louvre and it was free because we are under 26 which was a bonus. We managed to see the Mona Lisa which was less than impressive, Venus de Milo which was quite cool and Napoleon's apartment which was soo extravagent. Thas all we had time to do in 2 hours because the louvre is so massive that its takes a long time to get from place to place. They say that if you spent 1 minute looking at each painting in the Lourve it would take you 9 months to finish.
From here we met up with our group, got changed in the coach and went out for dinner in a fancy area of Paris on a hill with a nice church and a gorgeous lookout, i don't remember the names of them right now. It was a 3 course meal with wine but i wasn't overly impressed with it. After dinner some people went to a caberet show but we wanted to see Arc de Triumph and the eiffel tower at night so we spent the evening wandering around the city. The Eiffel tower looks amazing when they light it up at night and it sparkles every 30mins or so. It was beautiful. I didn't want to leave Paris because i felt there was so much more to see.
Yesterday we spent the majority of the day driving, making small stops along the way including to see a famous chateau (again i don't remember the name, i'm not good with french words) and then we arrived at our Chateau owned by the Contiki company. We are staying in the Beaujolai wine region and its awesome to be able to stay in a chateau and it has a swimming pool! After we settled in we went on a wine tasting tour, where we were taught how to appreciate and understand good wine. It was really interesting although i still don't exactly enjoy wine.
Last night was the first big party night and the theme was tight and bright.Underneath the Chateau is a basement that they have nicknamed the cave and its an underground bar. It was a great night, we got to know everyone a bit better, most people had quite a few drinks and we did alot of dancing.
Today was just a chillout day. They packed us picnic lunches in a basket and we could walk up a hill to get a nice view of the region and have our picnic. It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't such a cold day but the lunch was really good, french bread sticks with ham, brie and tomato, then fruit and a Mars bar. And this afternoon we've just been playing cards at the chateau and catching up on some sleep.
Day one we left at 8am from london and took the bus to the white cliffs of Dover where we boarded the ferry to France. It was a big driving day but that afternoon we arrived in Paris. That evening we were greeted by he contiki staff who gave us sparkling wine and escargo to try then we had a delicious dinner of lamb souvalakis. That evening we got a night tour of Paris to see the main tourist spots so we could decide what we wanted to do the next day. Paris is stunning, definately the most beautiful city i have ever seen the buildings are so old and so impressive.
So after the bus tour we got started drinking and had a good night getting to know everyone, played a few drinking games and had a wee boogie. headed to bed about 2am.
Our full day in paris began as all tours of Paris should-at the Eiffel tower. The tower is so impressive. We weren't the first to arrive and everywhere you looked directly under to structure were people in lines. We found the end of a line and waited around 30mins to get to the front. we took the stairs to the first and second floors and the esculator for the final section, the view was beautiful and we could spot heaps of other famous landmarks from there. We then took the metro to Notre Dame which is such an amazing church, its soo big and the details on the building are so intricate and beautiful.The church took 180years to be built which is ridiculous, thats means the people that started the building would never have seen it completed. From here we got crepes for lunch then did some shopping and i bought some new shoes. We still had 2 hours before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went to the Louvre and it was free because we are under 26 which was a bonus. We managed to see the Mona Lisa which was less than impressive, Venus de Milo which was quite cool and Napoleon's apartment which was soo extravagent. Thas all we had time to do in 2 hours because the louvre is so massive that its takes a long time to get from place to place. They say that if you spent 1 minute looking at each painting in the Lourve it would take you 9 months to finish.
From here we met up with our group, got changed in the coach and went out for dinner in a fancy area of Paris on a hill with a nice church and a gorgeous lookout, i don't remember the names of them right now. It was a 3 course meal with wine but i wasn't overly impressed with it. After dinner some people went to a caberet show but we wanted to see Arc de Triumph and the eiffel tower at night so we spent the evening wandering around the city. The Eiffel tower looks amazing when they light it up at night and it sparkles every 30mins or so. It was beautiful. I didn't want to leave Paris because i felt there was so much more to see.
Yesterday we spent the majority of the day driving, making small stops along the way including to see a famous chateau (again i don't remember the name, i'm not good with french words) and then we arrived at our Chateau owned by the Contiki company. We are staying in the Beaujolai wine region and its awesome to be able to stay in a chateau and it has a swimming pool! After we settled in we went on a wine tasting tour, where we were taught how to appreciate and understand good wine. It was really interesting although i still don't exactly enjoy wine.
Last night was the first big party night and the theme was tight and bright.Underneath the Chateau is a basement that they have nicknamed the cave and its an underground bar. It was a great night, we got to know everyone a bit better, most people had quite a few drinks and we did alot of dancing.
Today was just a chillout day. They packed us picnic lunches in a basket and we could walk up a hill to get a nice view of the region and have our picnic. It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't such a cold day but the lunch was really good, french bread sticks with ham, brie and tomato, then fruit and a Mars bar. And this afternoon we've just been playing cards at the chateau and catching up on some sleep.
30 April, 2009
Final South America post and London
So its been a week since my last blog, things have been pretty busy! I'm borrowing Craig's laptop which is a nice change from paying for the internet.
So the last night in San Pedro we went star gazing, it was really incredible, we went out to the desert and the sky was soo clear and the astromomer who was our guide was really funny and he taught us so much about the stars. Then we took turns at looking through telescopes to see galaxies, particularly bright stars and Saturn. Saturn looked unreal because you could see the rings around it.
The next day we took a 24 hour bus to Santiago, it was a slow day trying to find ways o pass the time. the bus was quite a nice one but we were all feeling very sore and stiff from the sand boarding adventure the day before. Unfortunately when we got off the bus for a food stop a passenger stole Nats backpack, Anthea's money belt and another passengers laptop. They don't know which passenger stole it so it all needed to be claimed by insurance.
We arrived in Santiago at 8am the next day, and we spent the day at the police station and the NZ embassy trying to arrange for Anthea to get a new passport. And i got my legs waxed. That evening we had a BBQ at the hostel.
The next day we went for a wander in the Bella Vista area which was really nice. We went to markets, out for lunch and then to a famous poet, Pablo Neruda. It was a very quirky and interesting house and our guide was really knowledgable on Pablos life. He was a real romantic and built the house for his mistress. The house was built like a boat and there is another part built like a lighthouse. Then we had coffees at the cafe next door.
That evening we went on a mission to find a McDonalds, the first time i had eaten McDonalds since i came to South America (other than sundaes) It was pretty average in the end. The we went out drinking. We didn't head out til 1am and the bars were still quiet. The first bar we went to was called bedrock and was themed in the style of the flintstones, it looked cool but the drinks were horrible. although they were very strong. We then headed to a club and stayed there til about 5am. It was a really good night
The next day was my final day in South America but we didn't get up til 12 cos of our big night. Anthea, Chris and I went into central Santiago and walked up this beautiful hill that had rock walls, stone stairways, statues, fountains, and a castle at the top. There was a really nice view of the city up there too. Santiago is soo smoggy that you can hardly see the mountains that surround it. We then slowly made our way to the plaza stopping at shops, markets and food places along the way. we tried some mini empanades which were delicious, bought some fancy chocolates and i got a new jersey too. By the time we reached the plaza it was dark. but it still looked really nice and then we caught the subway home. It was a really good day.
The next morning i was still getting ready when my bus transfer arrived, it was 20mins early so I had to rush around getting my stuff together and saying goodbye.
My flight was pretty nice, i got a personal tv screen which was a first for me so i got to watch whatever movie liked. The first flight was only 3 hours to Sao Paulo and then i had to wait in the transfer lounge for 6 hours before my next flight. i wandered the shops, read my book, wandered the shops again, tried all the testers in duty free, read my book, listened to my mp3, read my book and eventually it was time to board. This flight was 11 hours and again i had my own screen so i passed the time alright, The inflight food was pretty average but thats to be expected.
I arrived in london and found a significant lack of customs staff. all i found was an empty room with a phone on the wall which you had to pick up if you had anything to declare. Then i had my first experience on the London underground. It was surprisingly simple. I caught the piccadilly line to russell square. I loved that everyone was speaking english again and that i recognised the names of so many station names.
That evening i bought dinner at the supermarket in order to try and spend very little money.
Yesterday Nic and Craig arived in the morning and we grabbed a free map and explored the city. We saw so many famous landmarks. such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Globe Theatre, Millenium Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral. We also went to see a matinee show of Wicked for only 20pounds which was pretty cool.
Today i went down to the shops at 9.30 and only one shop was open, French connection. I thought i'd takea look around while i waited for other shops to open but i ended up buying a pair of jeans, they were a little pricy but i really did need another pair of jeans since the weather here is a bit colder than i expected. So its completely justified. Then i bought a pair of converse shoes cos i'm sick of wearing sneakers. And that brings me up to date.
So the last night in San Pedro we went star gazing, it was really incredible, we went out to the desert and the sky was soo clear and the astromomer who was our guide was really funny and he taught us so much about the stars. Then we took turns at looking through telescopes to see galaxies, particularly bright stars and Saturn. Saturn looked unreal because you could see the rings around it.
The next day we took a 24 hour bus to Santiago, it was a slow day trying to find ways o pass the time. the bus was quite a nice one but we were all feeling very sore and stiff from the sand boarding adventure the day before. Unfortunately when we got off the bus for a food stop a passenger stole Nats backpack, Anthea's money belt and another passengers laptop. They don't know which passenger stole it so it all needed to be claimed by insurance.
We arrived in Santiago at 8am the next day, and we spent the day at the police station and the NZ embassy trying to arrange for Anthea to get a new passport. And i got my legs waxed. That evening we had a BBQ at the hostel.
The next day we went for a wander in the Bella Vista area which was really nice. We went to markets, out for lunch and then to a famous poet, Pablo Neruda. It was a very quirky and interesting house and our guide was really knowledgable on Pablos life. He was a real romantic and built the house for his mistress. The house was built like a boat and there is another part built like a lighthouse. Then we had coffees at the cafe next door.
That evening we went on a mission to find a McDonalds, the first time i had eaten McDonalds since i came to South America (other than sundaes) It was pretty average in the end. The we went out drinking. We didn't head out til 1am and the bars were still quiet. The first bar we went to was called bedrock and was themed in the style of the flintstones, it looked cool but the drinks were horrible. although they were very strong. We then headed to a club and stayed there til about 5am. It was a really good night
The next day was my final day in South America but we didn't get up til 12 cos of our big night. Anthea, Chris and I went into central Santiago and walked up this beautiful hill that had rock walls, stone stairways, statues, fountains, and a castle at the top. There was a really nice view of the city up there too. Santiago is soo smoggy that you can hardly see the mountains that surround it. We then slowly made our way to the plaza stopping at shops, markets and food places along the way. we tried some mini empanades which were delicious, bought some fancy chocolates and i got a new jersey too. By the time we reached the plaza it was dark. but it still looked really nice and then we caught the subway home. It was a really good day.
The next morning i was still getting ready when my bus transfer arrived, it was 20mins early so I had to rush around getting my stuff together and saying goodbye.
My flight was pretty nice, i got a personal tv screen which was a first for me so i got to watch whatever movie liked. The first flight was only 3 hours to Sao Paulo and then i had to wait in the transfer lounge for 6 hours before my next flight. i wandered the shops, read my book, wandered the shops again, tried all the testers in duty free, read my book, listened to my mp3, read my book and eventually it was time to board. This flight was 11 hours and again i had my own screen so i passed the time alright, The inflight food was pretty average but thats to be expected.
I arrived in london and found a significant lack of customs staff. all i found was an empty room with a phone on the wall which you had to pick up if you had anything to declare. Then i had my first experience on the London underground. It was surprisingly simple. I caught the piccadilly line to russell square. I loved that everyone was speaking english again and that i recognised the names of so many station names.
That evening i bought dinner at the supermarket in order to try and spend very little money.
Yesterday Nic and Craig arived in the morning and we grabbed a free map and explored the city. We saw so many famous landmarks. such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Globe Theatre, Millenium Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral. We also went to see a matinee show of Wicked for only 20pounds which was pretty cool.
Today i went down to the shops at 9.30 and only one shop was open, French connection. I thought i'd takea look around while i waited for other shops to open but i ended up buying a pair of jeans, they were a little pricy but i really did need another pair of jeans since the weather here is a bit colder than i expected. So its completely justified. Then i bought a pair of converse shoes cos i'm sick of wearing sneakers. And that brings me up to date.
23 April, 2009
San Pedro de Atacama
So yesterday we spent the day running aound booking buses, trying to book star gazing but it was all full, so we went back to the bus company changed our bus to the next day, then booked the star gazing for the following night, then comparing prices for sandboarding, booked that at the place with the most attractive salesperson and then extended our accomodation for another night, grabbed some lunch and then got ready for horseriding. It was very busy.
So 3pm we headed out to horseriding and I got a big beatiful black horse named Negro. We headed towards the Quitor ruins at a very slow pace and soit was a bit boring to begin with. However after we left the ruins we were allowed to trot and canter which was great fun although a little hard on the butt. I couldn´t get into the right rythym for a proper canter but Katrina managed it. The scenery around us was beautiful and by the time we heaed back it had cooled down so it was great fun.
Last night we headed out for a birthday dinner for Anthea, it was all a bit rushed but Chris got Nat and Claire blowing up balloons at the restaurant then Chris and I half jogged half powerwalked to the bakery to collect the cake. Dinner was great and the cake was soo massive, so we ended up giving pieces away to the staff and other patrons at the restaurant.
Today we had to be up early to go sandboading, we loaded up the gear and then went in a van to Death Valley. There were no chairlifts unfortunately so we got quite a workout going up and down the sand dunes. Sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding although a little slower. So i had a small advantage already knowing how to snowboard. We had a few practises going on our heels and toes then we took to the bigger slopes. I was getting pretty good at going mountain side but i would fall over if i attempted to turn. They had built a small jump and Anthea was the first to attempt it but she wiped out. Claire and I took turns at attempting the jump after that and it was generally unsuccessful, i managed to land one jump but fell over immediately after. I had about 4 attempts but then i was exhausted from all the hill climbing in the extreme heat. It was hilarious to try though and we didn´t manage to hurt ourselves because the sand is so soft. We had sand everywhere after though including in our mouths from the occasional face plant. If you want to see photos i´ve uploaded them to facebook.
We headed back and our first agenda was showering. We then managed to find delicious empanadas fom the corner store freshly baked. After Claire and i went down to the sandboarding shop to upload the photographers photos, he took some fantastic action shots so we were stoked to get copies for free. On our way to the store two quite attractive guys from a restuarant tried to get us to eat there. we thanked them but declined. On our way back to the hostel they tried again this time trying to block our paths and lead us into the restuarant, they had their arms wide open so we offered them hugs then we said we had already eaten but we would come back later.
Claire and I have had a really cool afternoon together, we went to the plaza to play cards, then walked down to the bakery to get amazing lemon pies and cream buns, on our way we had to walk past the restaurant guys and so of course they tried again but we said we had a task to do but we will come in on our way back. So on the way back we had to honour our promise and we finally agreed to try their restaurant. We couldn´t bare to disappoint them. So we just ordered drinks and played more cards. Every 10 mins one of the two guys would come over to see how we were doing and chat with us. It was a great afternoon :p There was also a gorgeous dog poking his head through the door and one of the waiters let him in so we could pat him. The population of dogs in San Pedro is massive, they are everywhere. The other day we went for a walk and we seemed to collect dogs as we walked, by the time we got back to the hostel we had a following of 6.
So tonight is our last night with Claire before she heads off to Cusco to do some volunteering so I better go to have our final dinner as a group!
So 3pm we headed out to horseriding and I got a big beatiful black horse named Negro. We headed towards the Quitor ruins at a very slow pace and soit was a bit boring to begin with. However after we left the ruins we were allowed to trot and canter which was great fun although a little hard on the butt. I couldn´t get into the right rythym for a proper canter but Katrina managed it. The scenery around us was beautiful and by the time we heaed back it had cooled down so it was great fun.
Last night we headed out for a birthday dinner for Anthea, it was all a bit rushed but Chris got Nat and Claire blowing up balloons at the restaurant then Chris and I half jogged half powerwalked to the bakery to collect the cake. Dinner was great and the cake was soo massive, so we ended up giving pieces away to the staff and other patrons at the restaurant.
Today we had to be up early to go sandboading, we loaded up the gear and then went in a van to Death Valley. There were no chairlifts unfortunately so we got quite a workout going up and down the sand dunes. Sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding although a little slower. So i had a small advantage already knowing how to snowboard. We had a few practises going on our heels and toes then we took to the bigger slopes. I was getting pretty good at going mountain side but i would fall over if i attempted to turn. They had built a small jump and Anthea was the first to attempt it but she wiped out. Claire and I took turns at attempting the jump after that and it was generally unsuccessful, i managed to land one jump but fell over immediately after. I had about 4 attempts but then i was exhausted from all the hill climbing in the extreme heat. It was hilarious to try though and we didn´t manage to hurt ourselves because the sand is so soft. We had sand everywhere after though including in our mouths from the occasional face plant. If you want to see photos i´ve uploaded them to facebook.
We headed back and our first agenda was showering. We then managed to find delicious empanadas fom the corner store freshly baked. After Claire and i went down to the sandboarding shop to upload the photographers photos, he took some fantastic action shots so we were stoked to get copies for free. On our way to the store two quite attractive guys from a restuarant tried to get us to eat there. we thanked them but declined. On our way back to the hostel they tried again this time trying to block our paths and lead us into the restuarant, they had their arms wide open so we offered them hugs then we said we had already eaten but we would come back later.
Claire and I have had a really cool afternoon together, we went to the plaza to play cards, then walked down to the bakery to get amazing lemon pies and cream buns, on our way we had to walk past the restaurant guys and so of course they tried again but we said we had a task to do but we will come in on our way back. So on the way back we had to honour our promise and we finally agreed to try their restaurant. We couldn´t bare to disappoint them. So we just ordered drinks and played more cards. Every 10 mins one of the two guys would come over to see how we were doing and chat with us. It was a great afternoon :p There was also a gorgeous dog poking his head through the door and one of the waiters let him in so we could pat him. The population of dogs in San Pedro is massive, they are everywhere. The other day we went for a walk and we seemed to collect dogs as we walked, by the time we got back to the hostel we had a following of 6.
So tonight is our last night with Claire before she heads off to Cusco to do some volunteering so I better go to have our final dinner as a group!
22 April, 2009
Salt flats continued...
Day 2 of the salt flats was just a massive driving day. which was exhausting on the bumpy roads. We drove through different coloured deserts and stopped at 3 different lagoons to see Flamingos which was pretty cool. That night at the hostel we played card games and scattegories then we set off Antheas fireworks. It was another beautiful clear night but much colder.
We had to be up at 5.30 again to get to the geysers. it seems they are at their best before the sun rises because they are stemay, once it heats up you can´t see the steam anymore. They were very impressive, the first one we visited was just a 20cm diametre hole with steam shooting out of it and we were able to leap through it which was good fun. Although the steam made your clothes feel damp which made us feel even colder. Then we went over to the main geysers which from a distance just look like a massive cloud of steam but you can walk all through the bubbling mud pits and at some points the path gets very thin between to boiling pits, and apparently some people have fallen in before because they weren´t paying attention. While we were wandering around the geysers the sun came up from behind the mountains.
From here we went to the thermal pools, they were on the edge of a hot water lagoon, it was dam hard getting changed and geting in the water cos it was soo cold outside but it was great once we were in. After the geysers we had a massive pancake breakfast and we also had this odd mix of cereal, yogurt fruit and bon bons (they´re chocolates) which i was told was very nice but i just ate pancakes cos i love them.
From here we had to hurry to the border cos we were running late for our transfer to Chile. The transfer took us to San Pedro and it was so nice to drop in altitude because the geysers were at 4800m and that is exhausting. At the immigration office i was a bit worried because a hostel i had stayed at in La Paz had emailed me telling me i hadn´t paid my bill and they´re going to report me to immigration, the police and blacklist me at other SA hostels. But i had paid my bill and i emailed them to tell them that and they never replied. So at immigration the man spent like 2 minutes looking from my passport to a list of names on the wall but eventually he stamped my passport and let me through. Then we had to get our entire bags searched. But we all got through without a problem and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama.
San Pedro has been really nice, we haven´t done alot yet, just wandered around the town, soaked up the sun and had a few meals out. It been great to feel warm again, to be at a lower altitude (around 2500m) and to sleep in. And i finally got a hot shower after over a week of cold showers in Bolivia. The girls warned me that the guys in Chile are the hottest in all of South America and they are not wrong. We went out for drinks last night and our waiter was gorgeous.
We then went to another bar and we found the drinking rules in San Pedro are quite weird. You have to remain seated when drinking and there always has to be food on the table so on every table you can see a dish of pasta that no one will ever eat. The bars can be fined if they don´t follow these rules. So 2 hippies claiming they were following the seated rule invited themselves over to our table and just wouldn´t stop talking, one of them told me i had beatiful hair and another told Katrina she was the most beautiful girl in all of New Zealand. We couldn´t get them to go away so eventually we left. Which was a shame cos the hot waiter had just arrived at this bar too :p
Today we´re going horseriding and then tonight we´re going star gazing with telescopes in the middle of the desert, so it should be a good day.
We had to be up at 5.30 again to get to the geysers. it seems they are at their best before the sun rises because they are stemay, once it heats up you can´t see the steam anymore. They were very impressive, the first one we visited was just a 20cm diametre hole with steam shooting out of it and we were able to leap through it which was good fun. Although the steam made your clothes feel damp which made us feel even colder. Then we went over to the main geysers which from a distance just look like a massive cloud of steam but you can walk all through the bubbling mud pits and at some points the path gets very thin between to boiling pits, and apparently some people have fallen in before because they weren´t paying attention. While we were wandering around the geysers the sun came up from behind the mountains.
From here we went to the thermal pools, they were on the edge of a hot water lagoon, it was dam hard getting changed and geting in the water cos it was soo cold outside but it was great once we were in. After the geysers we had a massive pancake breakfast and we also had this odd mix of cereal, yogurt fruit and bon bons (they´re chocolates) which i was told was very nice but i just ate pancakes cos i love them.
From here we had to hurry to the border cos we were running late for our transfer to Chile. The transfer took us to San Pedro and it was so nice to drop in altitude because the geysers were at 4800m and that is exhausting. At the immigration office i was a bit worried because a hostel i had stayed at in La Paz had emailed me telling me i hadn´t paid my bill and they´re going to report me to immigration, the police and blacklist me at other SA hostels. But i had paid my bill and i emailed them to tell them that and they never replied. So at immigration the man spent like 2 minutes looking from my passport to a list of names on the wall but eventually he stamped my passport and let me through. Then we had to get our entire bags searched. But we all got through without a problem and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama.
San Pedro has been really nice, we haven´t done alot yet, just wandered around the town, soaked up the sun and had a few meals out. It been great to feel warm again, to be at a lower altitude (around 2500m) and to sleep in. And i finally got a hot shower after over a week of cold showers in Bolivia. The girls warned me that the guys in Chile are the hottest in all of South America and they are not wrong. We went out for drinks last night and our waiter was gorgeous.
We then went to another bar and we found the drinking rules in San Pedro are quite weird. You have to remain seated when drinking and there always has to be food on the table so on every table you can see a dish of pasta that no one will ever eat. The bars can be fined if they don´t follow these rules. So 2 hippies claiming they were following the seated rule invited themselves over to our table and just wouldn´t stop talking, one of them told me i had beatiful hair and another told Katrina she was the most beautiful girl in all of New Zealand. We couldn´t get them to go away so eventually we left. Which was a shame cos the hot waiter had just arrived at this bar too :p
Today we´re going horseriding and then tonight we´re going star gazing with telescopes in the middle of the desert, so it should be a good day.
21 April, 2009
Sucre, Uyuni and the Salt flats
So Sucre ended up just being a place to relax and not do too much. We found a cafe called Joyride that was recommended in the lonely planet and ended up eating there for breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, and then dinner. It may seem strange to continuously eat at the same place and not try something new but we´ve learnt that when you find a good thing stick with it. Especially in Bolivia where its very easy to get very bad food. On our second day in Sucre we went on the Dino truck to Cretaceous park. Its the thing to do in Sucre. We had fairly low expectations of this place because we had overheard some ther travellers saying it was pretty average but we loved it. Just cos its was a bit silly and gave us an opportunity to take funny photos with giant dinosaur replicas. But the main attraction of this park is a limestone wall with over 500 preserved dinosaur foot prints. And from those footprints they can determine what family the dinosaurs came from, their size and weight as well as some behaviour. The wall has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site and they are donating the money to protect the wall. As its made of limestone it can crumble very easily and only 2 months ago they lost a large section of the wall due to a landslide. So they are hoping to get the entire wall covered in Latex. Archaeologists have studied the wall structure and predict that if they don´t do this a large part of the wall will collapse in 6months. It was very cool to see but we definately had more fun playing amonst the giant dinosaurs. All of which were life size. I will see if i can upload some of Katrinas photos.
We left Sucre at 7am the next day and spent the next 11 hours on a bus to Uyuni. We stopped in Potosi which is the world´s highest city at 4060 metres. And then 1 hour out of Potosi we stopped in the middle of a desert, for what seemed to be a food and toilet stop. However there was only what once looked like it might have been a toilet. By far the most disgusting toilet i have ever seen. I wont go so far as to describe it. So for those needing to go it meant finding something to hide behind, but we were in the middle of the desert so there was nothing. Nat found a small hut and lying on its roof was what we think was a dead bat. In the end i decided i didn´t need to go too badly and got back on the bus.
We arrived in Uyuni around 6pm and were instantly hounded by people wanting us to stay in their hostel or use their company for the Salt flat tour. We ended up agreeing to one womans offer and then she ouldn´t stop talking about her tour. She was definately persistant, and a massive liar. For starters she told us she was taking us to a hostel in the Lonely Planet and then took us somewhere completely different. She told us no one has english speaking guides for the tour, and other lies to make us choose her tour. it was very hard to get her to understand we wanted to look at other companies. We compared about 3 diff companies and found one we liked with an english speaking guide. then we went back to our hotel where the same woman pestered us again and still insisted that there are no good english speaking guides in Uyuni even after we told her we found one. Everytime we said no she just lowered her price, eventually we got the message across. That evening we had pizza at Minuteman and it was fantastic!!
The next day we got to the tour company at 9am, due to people wandering off and the tour guide being unorganised it was close to midday before we actually left. We had 3 people in the back row, 4 in the middle and the driver and guide up front, and around us were our day packs, water bottles and Chris´ guitar. It was a tight fit. We started to wonder if we had chosen the right company. However we got started and first stop was the train cemetery where we were allowed to climb all over the rusting trains to take photos. Good thing we had all had our tetanus shots. Then we headed back into Uyuni cos the driver needed to make another stop.
Finally we were actually heading into the salt flats and they were beautiful. When you look into the distance the mountains are reflected onto the salt flat which makes it unclear where the horizon is. Plus the ground is incredibly white and quite blinding and there are hexagon patterns all over it which looks very cool. Driving over it was very smooth because its soo flat.
Our first stop was at a salt hotel, the whole thing is made of bricks of salt and inside were lots of salt statues.
We stopped at Fish island and climbed to the top to get a panoramic view of the salt flats. The island is covered in cacti. Apparently it takes a cactus 100 years to grow 1 metre and some of the cactus on this island were over a 10 metres high. we climbed down and had lunch on a salt table. After lunch we attempted to take clever photos on the flats. Because the area is so flat and white it destroys perspective so if you are clever enough you can take photos where a person looks as tall as a Pringles tube by standing quite far behind it. We weren´t clever enough. We did ok but because the sun was getting low the shadows on the ground gave away the trick. We spent about an hour taking photos and then we got back in the truck and headed to our hostel. Whenever we were in the truck we were singing. We attached our ipods to the stereo so we sang along to every song. Even our guide and driver would join in occasionally.
As a bonus we stayed in a salt hotel which wasn´t part of the itinerary but we had requested to go back to the salt flats in the morning to see the sun rise so our guide managed to get us into this hotel as it was closer to the Salt flats. Just like the one we had seen earlier in the day the whole thing was made of salt. That night we played cards and drank some red wine and then had dinner. I was surprised at how mild the evening was as we had been told that the current overnight temperature was -18C but i would assume it didn´t get below zero that night. When i went out to clean my teeth i was amazed by the stars, there were millions of them, its was soo clear.
The next morning we had to be up and out of there by 5.30 to see the sunrise so we were very frustrated when at 6am we still hadn´t left. Our guide was fairly unorganised but fortunately we were out on the flats before the sun rose. It was really beautiful. I was running around in a circle trying to keep warm while we waited. Which is hard work at an altiude of 3500m. The mountain behind us lit up before we actually saw the sun rise. It was amazing and just for fun i did the sun salutation in front of the sun (yoga postion).
We then got in truck and the roads got considerably bumpier. We were no longer on the salt flats just in a desert so the roads were very rocky. After about 30mins of drving the truck broke down. Which is apparently inevitable on any salt flat tour. gortunately our driver got it working again after a few minutes. Although once we were almost in the town of San Juan it started bunny hopping again and we only just managed to get there. We had a 20min break while they treid fixing the car and we realised we had to many Bolivianos and we were going to cross the border to Chile the next day. this was the last shop we were going to see so we bought far too much chocolate and Anthe and Chris bought fireworks. We went into a courtyard of someones house where there was a toilet we were allowed to use. And in the courtyard was a little boy who wanted to play football with us. So Claire Katrina and I were playing and we started to notice a pattern, if i kicked the ball past him he would yell out Goal!!! but if Claire or katrina did it he would say No goal!! So we kept testing the theory, and when i purposely kicked the ball in the complete wrong direction and he still yelled out Goal!! we decided he might favour me. He didn´t speak much english but he would point to me and say something about how only i was allowed to score the goals. Patty and Nat joined in too but they also weren´t allowed to score goals. I was finding the whole thing hilarious but we decided that we´d get someone else to kick a goal and then we´d all yell out Goal!! at the same time to see if we could overrule his call. He did not like appreciate being underminded and refused to play after that.
Right i´m going out for some drinks so i´ll finish this later.
We left Sucre at 7am the next day and spent the next 11 hours on a bus to Uyuni. We stopped in Potosi which is the world´s highest city at 4060 metres. And then 1 hour out of Potosi we stopped in the middle of a desert, for what seemed to be a food and toilet stop. However there was only what once looked like it might have been a toilet. By far the most disgusting toilet i have ever seen. I wont go so far as to describe it. So for those needing to go it meant finding something to hide behind, but we were in the middle of the desert so there was nothing. Nat found a small hut and lying on its roof was what we think was a dead bat. In the end i decided i didn´t need to go too badly and got back on the bus.
We arrived in Uyuni around 6pm and were instantly hounded by people wanting us to stay in their hostel or use their company for the Salt flat tour. We ended up agreeing to one womans offer and then she ouldn´t stop talking about her tour. She was definately persistant, and a massive liar. For starters she told us she was taking us to a hostel in the Lonely Planet and then took us somewhere completely different. She told us no one has english speaking guides for the tour, and other lies to make us choose her tour. it was very hard to get her to understand we wanted to look at other companies. We compared about 3 diff companies and found one we liked with an english speaking guide. then we went back to our hotel where the same woman pestered us again and still insisted that there are no good english speaking guides in Uyuni even after we told her we found one. Everytime we said no she just lowered her price, eventually we got the message across. That evening we had pizza at Minuteman and it was fantastic!!
The next day we got to the tour company at 9am, due to people wandering off and the tour guide being unorganised it was close to midday before we actually left. We had 3 people in the back row, 4 in the middle and the driver and guide up front, and around us were our day packs, water bottles and Chris´ guitar. It was a tight fit. We started to wonder if we had chosen the right company. However we got started and first stop was the train cemetery where we were allowed to climb all over the rusting trains to take photos. Good thing we had all had our tetanus shots. Then we headed back into Uyuni cos the driver needed to make another stop.
Finally we were actually heading into the salt flats and they were beautiful. When you look into the distance the mountains are reflected onto the salt flat which makes it unclear where the horizon is. Plus the ground is incredibly white and quite blinding and there are hexagon patterns all over it which looks very cool. Driving over it was very smooth because its soo flat.
Our first stop was at a salt hotel, the whole thing is made of bricks of salt and inside were lots of salt statues.
We stopped at Fish island and climbed to the top to get a panoramic view of the salt flats. The island is covered in cacti. Apparently it takes a cactus 100 years to grow 1 metre and some of the cactus on this island were over a 10 metres high. we climbed down and had lunch on a salt table. After lunch we attempted to take clever photos on the flats. Because the area is so flat and white it destroys perspective so if you are clever enough you can take photos where a person looks as tall as a Pringles tube by standing quite far behind it. We weren´t clever enough. We did ok but because the sun was getting low the shadows on the ground gave away the trick. We spent about an hour taking photos and then we got back in the truck and headed to our hostel. Whenever we were in the truck we were singing. We attached our ipods to the stereo so we sang along to every song. Even our guide and driver would join in occasionally.
As a bonus we stayed in a salt hotel which wasn´t part of the itinerary but we had requested to go back to the salt flats in the morning to see the sun rise so our guide managed to get us into this hotel as it was closer to the Salt flats. Just like the one we had seen earlier in the day the whole thing was made of salt. That night we played cards and drank some red wine and then had dinner. I was surprised at how mild the evening was as we had been told that the current overnight temperature was -18C but i would assume it didn´t get below zero that night. When i went out to clean my teeth i was amazed by the stars, there were millions of them, its was soo clear.
The next morning we had to be up and out of there by 5.30 to see the sunrise so we were very frustrated when at 6am we still hadn´t left. Our guide was fairly unorganised but fortunately we were out on the flats before the sun rose. It was really beautiful. I was running around in a circle trying to keep warm while we waited. Which is hard work at an altiude of 3500m. The mountain behind us lit up before we actually saw the sun rise. It was amazing and just for fun i did the sun salutation in front of the sun (yoga postion).
We then got in truck and the roads got considerably bumpier. We were no longer on the salt flats just in a desert so the roads were very rocky. After about 30mins of drving the truck broke down. Which is apparently inevitable on any salt flat tour. gortunately our driver got it working again after a few minutes. Although once we were almost in the town of San Juan it started bunny hopping again and we only just managed to get there. We had a 20min break while they treid fixing the car and we realised we had to many Bolivianos and we were going to cross the border to Chile the next day. this was the last shop we were going to see so we bought far too much chocolate and Anthe and Chris bought fireworks. We went into a courtyard of someones house where there was a toilet we were allowed to use. And in the courtyard was a little boy who wanted to play football with us. So Claire Katrina and I were playing and we started to notice a pattern, if i kicked the ball past him he would yell out Goal!!! but if Claire or katrina did it he would say No goal!! So we kept testing the theory, and when i purposely kicked the ball in the complete wrong direction and he still yelled out Goal!! we decided he might favour me. He didn´t speak much english but he would point to me and say something about how only i was allowed to score the goals. Patty and Nat joined in too but they also weren´t allowed to score goals. I was finding the whole thing hilarious but we decided that we´d get someone else to kick a goal and then we´d all yell out Goal!! at the same time to see if we could overrule his call. He did not like appreciate being underminded and refused to play after that.
Right i´m going out for some drinks so i´ll finish this later.
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