We have spent our last week in Bolivia in the towns of Potosi (famous for its silver mining) and Uyuni (famous for the salt lakes, white as far as the eye can see!). 

So … we reluctantly left Sucre after 2 weeks of being in the same place but it wasn’t long before we again had the scent of adventure and discovery as we hooned off to Potosi in a shared taxi for a crazy 2 hours where we spent most of the time driving on the incorrect side of the road and stopping at police checkpoints, where up to 10 women would shove bags of empanadas through all the windows of the car trying to tempt our senses … at one stage I think there would have been at least 200 empanadas within a one metre radius of my nose! 

Potosi – Cycling, Llama Burgers, Asbestos and Dynamite

Cycling to the Thermal Hot Springs
We arrived in the charming little town of Potosi that is the highest city in the world at 4,070 metres (yet another ‘highest’ thing that Bolivia has claimed!) and at the height of the mining boom was actually bigger and more affluent than London or New York. 

We had a day to fill in before our mine tour, so we decided to go on a 25km cycling tour to a nearby natural thermal hot spring. Our tour guide was crazy and when I had an unlucky accident on the bike 50 metres from reaching our destination (the chain slipped as I was cycling up hill and so my knee rammed into the frame leaving me with a nice war wound) … Jorge felt my frustration and started kicking my bike repeatedly and screaming on top note “stupid bike, (actually he used a few more colourful words too …) look what you did.” This was quite the distraction I needed and I quickly forgot about the pain in my knee and was then worried about being in the hands of this crazy tour guide! 

The hot springs were truly spectacular, set at the foot of a dramatic mountain range with a clear blue sky backdrop. Lizzy will remind everyone though that it’s not sensible to dive underwater with your sunnies on … if you’re after a nice pair of Oroton sunnies, you might be lucky enough to dig them up from the muddy bottom of the thermal springs in Potosi! 

Seeing the miners in action and blowing up dynamite
The big thing to do in Potosi is to go underground in ‘Cerro Rico’ or Rich Hill to see how the mines operate and get a small taste for the harsh reality of their lives. These 15,000 workers everyday slog it out for 8 – 10 hours underground with asbestos, dust, no food (they chew coco leaves all day to suppress their appetite) and doing backbreaking work … and all this gives them a life expectancy of approximately 38 – 40 years, quite a good reality check to those of us who often complain about our jobs hey!! The name ‘Koala’ is popular here for hostels, restaurants, agencies etc and it’s nothing to do with Australia but is used because, like koala’s, the miners chew coco leaves all day underground. 

So we put on our very sexy mining outfit, complete with rubber boots, hard hat and a head lamp with a battery that weighed a tonne strapped to our back. We went down into the mines for about 1 1/2 hours and that was more than enough time to experience the asbestos,  dust and grime as we crawled on hands and knees through passages and had a go at shovelling the compound into buckets while the poor workers took a quick break! It was so difficult to breath and incredibly claustrophobic, and definitely a ‘once in a life time experience’ as you won’t catch me going down there again. 

After we went down the mine, a couple of the people on our tour had bought some dynamite that they use in the mines (it’s legal for anyone to buy this over the counter) and our guide let it off just outside the mines. It was the most hilarious thing I’ve seen as they lit the fuse and then while it was burning the guide was calmly holding the lit dynamite and making sure everyone had time to take photos!! Then he sprinted off down the hill and placed the dynamite sticks just moments before they exploded with a deafening bang that shook the mountain … crazy stuff!! 

It was also in Potosi that I decided I had to try the local delicacy … llama!! I also thought that it would be interesting to try it at a restaurant advertised everywhere outside as being vegetarian!! Maybe it was just that the llama was vegetarian… not sure but anyway, it was ok but I think I’d rate it below beef and lamb on the meat stakes, in case you’re tempted at some point! 

Uyuni and the spectacular salt flats
We then caught a bus to Uyuni which was not unlike what I imagine sitting on a drill for 5 hours would feel like!! We arrived in Uyuni at 2 am, had an efficient 5 hours sleep in the world’s worst hostel and then headed out to find a tour of the salt flats and luck was on our side as we found a 2 day tour leaving that day! Our travel agent however did advise us that she had an English tour going that day with another 4 Aussies … perfect we thought!! It turned out that the tour guide did not speak a word of English (but at least that was good Spanish practice for me) and also that the other 4 tourists were Canadian, Irish and English!! But we couldn’t have asked for a more fun group to spend the many hours in a 4WD powering across an endless expanse of whiteness. And we also had Flor’s bright red Irish skin to remind us to keep applying sunscreen on the salt flats!!   

The salt flats were created millions of year ago when a huge inland lake evaporated leaving around 12,000 square km of salt … it is truly just white as far as the eye can see and just amazingly spectacular. The whiteness creates some crazy optical illusions so we had fun taking funny photos for a while. We had lunch and enjoyed a perfect beer in the late afternoon sun before watching the sun slowly set, in I think the most unusual setting I’ve ever been privileged enough to experience, completing what was a truly spectacular day! We stayed the night out on the salt flats on an island that was back-dropped by a massive volcano, not a bad sight to wake up to in the morning! The second day we hiked up the hill to the lookout over the volcano and the salt flats, I have to find some more adjectives to describe the view!! Lizzy had to get up the dusty, rocky road in flip-flops after falling in the lake that morning and having wet, salty boots … they’re now quite crusty, salty and rock hard … comfy!! 

Anyway, I think the photos do a better job of describing our last week, so I hope you enjoy!! Lizzy and I are now back in the La Paz before sadly going our separate ways on Sunday. One story I do have to mention from La Paz though is that last night, we went into a bar … and low and behold, there was only one other person in the bar … and he was also from Bega!! So we had a catch up with Mark Van Ryn, very random indeed. Anyway, Lizzy is off to Rio on Sunday and then onto Europe and I am heading back across the equator to Costa Rica in search of beaches and sun!! I couldn’t have asked for a better travel buddy and will really miss our fun times together but such is the backpacking game that we must go our separate ways. 

Anyway, better run, please keep me posted on what you’re up to!! 

Ciao Ciao, Tamara 😊 

Well … we have spent the last 2 weeks in the one place … WOOHOO … no packing and unpacking, our clothes all laid out in a wardrobe, toiletries can be left out in the bathroom, a stereo, DVD player (even with old ‘sex in the city’ episodes), been going to the gym and there’s even a kitchen where we’ve have the luxury of getting into the home-made meals! All the everyday little things that I’ve been missing after being on the road for a while. 

So we chose the sunny, colonial-style town of Sucre (in the south east) to take this time out and recharge our batteries. We were staying in the house of a Bolivian family as well as a few other travellers, who we were very sad to say goodbye to after 2 weeks. Anfrid (from Norway), Anabelle and Frances (Kiwis) were our buddies at the gym in aero-salsa (a gym class here) and in the karaoke bars at night, more on this later! 

We have also been learning spanish for 3 hours a day, both with a private teacher. Lizzy is enjoying the challenge of starting from scratch and is speaking heaps more now, thanks to the help of her teacher who we only know as ‘Shakira’! Although the other night when we were out Lizzy did manage to ask the waiter in a bar “mas bebes, por favor” or “more babies, please!”. She claims she was asking for drinks rather than babies but be warned that confusing the word ‘bebida’ with ‘bebe’ could be a little dangerous! 

Anil’s in Sucre
But first I must mention the biggest surprise I had upon arriving in Sucre was finding that my friend from Sydney, Anil, was also in Sucre as he was on a brief trip around Bolivia over the Easter break. Catching up with him for breakfast in the sunny plaza was a deserving way to end a 12 hour overnight bus ride from La Paz where I was so cold that I was actually involuntarily shivering and had a little icicle on my face where my nose used to be!! So it was quite a lovely surprise and sort of surreal hanging out with a friend in a random little town in Bolivia! 

Easter Celebrations – Walking up to the crucifix at 3 am
Well the Easter celebrations, starting on the Monday before Easter Sunday,
are absolutely huge here. In Sucre, the most important activity over this time is the walk up the massive hill behind the city to the crucifix on the morning of Good Friday. Thousands of local people start their walk around midnight and we headed up at around 3 am … after hanging out in a restaurant and then when that closed, at a Bolivian guy’s house that we think was a friend of someone we knew! It didn’t seem to matter, everyone is so friendly here! It was also here that one of the Bolivian guys was convinced that Lizzy and I were ‘gemelas’ or identical twins. Naturally I was quite happy to be looking 6 years younger, of course we were sitting down at the time so he couldn’t notice the 15 cm height differential!!   

So at this guy’s house we bought a few drinks to pass the time, one being ‘dulce de leche’, something like Baileys but about 10 times more sweet and some vino. At least this numbed the cold a little as we headed up the hill along with thousands of other people, including kids, grandmas, nuns … At the top, there were hundreds of small fires made from eucalyptus leaves, so the smell definitely reminded me of home and people were camping everywhere, there were so many make-shift shops selling all types of food and of course candles. We stayed at the crucifix until around 6 am when we made our journey back down the mountain and had 2 hours sleep before our Spanish class commenced at 9 am. It was truly an incredible experience and definitely worth the zombie feeling i had for the next few days while i recovered, I can’t bounce back like I used to! 

Party time – Pinatas with condoms!
In Sucre, as I mentioned we stayed with a (very large) family where there were also another 7 or so girls staying that we have hung out a lot with over the last few weeks. Marie (from Denmark) had her birthday while we were here and as her party was put on by Bolivians, we were able to experience a ‘Bolivian Style’ birthday party complete with Winnie the pooh everything (straws, plates, bowls, you name it!), a cream cake that she had to plant her face in after the happy birthday, and even a pinata which contained not the usual lollies but rather an odd assortment of whistles, toys, condoms and g-strings! I now have a new addition to my underwear collection following my luck in the pinata stakes! 

Karaoke Time
It was also in Sucre that I got to indulge in my favourite activity .. of course it was Karaoke. Karaoke bars are in abundance in Sucre and we had no hesitation in taking the stage. Between the 5 of us girls from our house, we pumped out a hard to beat version of YMCA complete with choreography … it was definitely one of our finest moments!! But on the other hand, we also had quite a low karaoke moment, when our song ‘New York, New York’ started up with only Spanish lyrics (why was this not written ‘Nueva York’ in the song book to indicate it was in Español? ) … Anyway, Anfrid and I decided we would not be prevented from hitting the stage so we persevered in Spanish, but I will admit that it was not pretty and the DJ actually ended our song half way through and we embarrassingly left the stage … never before have I been kicked out of karaoke!! 

Anyway, we will miss this sunny town, with Anfrid and Lizzy hanging out in the deck chairs in the sun at Cafe Mirador, and dancing salsa under the stars at cafe cubano. We’re now off to the silver capital of the world and then to the Salt Flats …  Until next time, Hasta Luego … 

La versión español esta bajo …  “Going Down has never been better!”…Well that’s what our t-shirt says after cycling down the “World’s Most Dangerous Road”, more on this later … Because I’ve met lots of Spanish speakers I’ve also challenged myself to get a version of my blog going in Spanish … so below is my first attempt! 

We have now crossed into Bolivia and have been doing quite a broad range of activities, from chilling in hammocks (something I am very good at!) to cycling at full pelt down the World’s Most Dangerous Road (something that initially scared me half to death!). We have also been in the Amazon, doing a spot of swimming with, fishing, catching and eating piranhas!! But, I must start my blog on Bolivia at the border crossing … 

Even crossing the border into Bolivia was a crazy experience, it seemed that going into the tiny little immigration office (or shed as it looked) to leave Peru was really quite optional … then we just strolled across the border, once we were on Bolivian soil, again the onus was on us and it seemed somewhat optional, to head into the Bolivian immigration for our stamp. Actually the pushy women selling cheese empanadas (a Bolivian speciality) at the border were more authoritative than the immigration officials. Then as we re-boarded the bus, the driver simply asked us had we got our stamps and then the bus kept going, very relaxed indeed! 

Copacabana and Lake Titicaca
We went straight to Copacabana, a gorgeous little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest lake. Here we had a chill-out day or two where we enjoyed lying in the hammocks of our cute little hostel on the lake and catching up on reading, diaries, sleep with our only mission in the day being to catch the sunset and dine on delicious trout, the local speciality! It was also on the way to Copacabana that we were reunited with Bree, our Aussie amiga, who amazed us with her art of deciphering a menu in Spanish (and any words associated with food!) .. needless to say we have been travelling with her ever since!! 

Here we also did a great 15km walk around the lake from where we met a quirky little Bolivian man who came out to greet us on the walking track, and after giving his llama a quick kiss, he then proceeded to show us his name (highlighted but faded) in a dilapidated 1994 guidebook and also about 100 random postcards from all around the world, apparently from happy customers. Of course he was trying to sell us a trip in his boat across to the Island of the Sun … as we were quite amused by his enthusiasm, and we were heading that way anyway, we soon found ourselves on his little boat cruising across the lake to the shores of the Island of the Sun, where, as legend has it, the children of the sun were born and thereby the beginning of the Inca civilisation. On the Island of the Sun we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and afterwards ate in a tiny restaurant on top of the hill that had no electricity, yet somehow managed to produce delicious homemade pizza and pasta. Later the owner came and chatted to us for ages, he is the local indigenous leader and filled us in on all the local politics! 

La Paz and The World’s Most Dangerous Road
We reluctantly headed back to a capital city after a tranquilo time at the lake, but really only to organise to get back out of the city again! However, whilst in La Paz, a major challenge we set ourselves was conquering the World´s Most Dangerous Road. In order to prepare ourselves, the night before we headed out to the World´s Highest Oxygen Bar (I know Australia does lots of ‘big’ things but Bolivia takes the cake for having the largest number of ‘world’s highest’ things). Here we sucked back 4 different flavours of oxygen (vanilla, berry etc) for 10 minutes, and despite looking like I was back in hospital for asthma, we didn’t feel remarkably different afterwards, but i guess we´ll never know the effect it had! 

Once we got our bikes and were geared up to look like either bad rock stars or bandits from the 1980’s , we then got slightly worried when the guide handed out a small bottle of what smelt like methylated spirits (and he later advised us that it was!) and we were told to spill a few drops on the ground and then take a sip, all in order to protect ourselves during the ride ahead, apparently it was an offering to Pachamama or mother earth so she wouldn’t claim our life instead! Again, like the oxygen bar, I guess we´ll never know if it was what kept us safe during the ride! 

The ride was mostly downhill but also a couple of difficult uphill section that were made more difficult by the torrential rain that haunted us throughout. Lizzy and I have drawn the short straw in terms of weather, but it definitely added another dimension to our trip down the road that claimed its latest victim only 2 weeks ago …. 

Spotting Rattlesnakes in the Amazon
We then went for 5 days into the Amazon on a tour of the Pampas or wetlands region. We loved this little town, called Rurrenabaque, from the moment we arrived, which involved the tiny plane landing in a field that could easily have been confused as being the local footy pitch! We then jumped on the back of motorbikes (the local taxis) and hooned our way into town to find our hostel. The temperature here is divine, and with the exception of the mosquitoes, we were loving it. It is also the only place I’ve been that serves a beer in a full thermal flask (see the pic below!). 

We had a few surprises the next day, the first being our 3 hour drive into the jungle in a 4WD which had so many cracks in the windscreen that the driver had to put his hand up to hold it in place every time we passed a car, so we were feeling quite secure at this point! Our second surprise was when our tour guide, Norman, suddenly stopped the car after about half an hour and pointed to a distant tree saying “in that tree there is a slut, do you want to see the slut?”. When we looked quite confused, he just kept repeating “it’s a slut … there is a slut”. This went on for a while but we did work out that he meant “a sloth” and not a slut and poor Norman couldn´t really understand why Lizzy was laughing hysterically in the back seat. Anyway, after a close call with getting bogged (which involved us helping push!) we eventually arrived at the place where we then caught our own private dug-out canoe up the river to a quaint little thatched cottage that would be our home for the following 3 days. 

At this point Norman also decided that my Spanish was better than his English (which didn’t surprise us after the ‘slut’ episode) so he proceeded to conduct the whole tour in Spanish from there on. I felt sorry for Lizzy though as he didn’t leave me much time to translate so by the time I began recounting the life cycle of the anaconda to her i’m not sure I remembered all the finer details, translating is a skill in its own right i realised!

In the jungle we had the joy of swimming with a large group of pink river dolphins, these guys became very important friends as they kept the piranhas away from us allowing us to enjoy our swim and leave the water fully intact! Later that day we fished for piranhas and I managed to catch a baby one that was actually quite delicious when the cook surprised us with an entree of grilled piranha that evening! 

We also went walking in search of the infamous anaconda that can often be found in these areas. Although the anaconda managed to allude us, I did manage to spot a rattlesnake curled up under a tree when poking around in search of the big A! Our tour guide had only ever seen  a rattlesnake once in his life and got quite excited when I let out a big scream at spotting the snake. He then got his big stick and proceeded to get in under the bush that the snake was in and was thrashing around to try to get the snake to get into a better position for our viewing, all the while telling us .. this is the most dangerous snake in the world … one drop of its venom can instantly kill 5 people. As we were only 3 people in the group, we figured we´d have enough venom to share with an extra 2 friends if Stormin Normin kept thrashing around the way he did. Every now and then, from quite a distance, we could hear the deathly rattle noise the snake was letting out to warn Norman that it was not happy … Needless to say we got away unscathed and Norman had a great story to tell everyone back at the lodge! 

Back in Rurrenabaque, we thought we were hallucinating at breakfast when we lifted our heads from the menu to see none other than Jesus riding a donkey through the streets surrounded by a  throng of people .. of course it was the local celebration of Palm Sunday but it certainly flipped us out a little!! It was then a little bit touch and go as to whether the tiny plane could take off from the footy pitch after quite a bit of rain but luck was on our side and we were soon winging our way back to La Paz. 

The next installment of our adventures is in a town called Sucre where we are stopping for 2 weeks to learn spanish an do some volunteer work …. 

So … until next time … Adios chicos y chicas 😊 

Ahora en español … y lo siento … seguro que comete muchos errores en mi escrito … No esta un traducción exacto pero espero que uds disfruten … 

Nunca antes bajar habi­a sido tan bueno

Que escribe en nuestras camisetas que recibimos despes completando ´La Carretera mas peligroso en el mundo´. 

Pero necesito comenzar este blog donde cruzamos la frontera de Peru y Bolivia. El bus paró en la frontera y parece opcional a entrar el edificio de la inmigración (como un cobertizo pequeño) y despues  recibimos nuestro sello, caminamos a través de frontera a Bolivia y otra vez, parece opcional a entra la inmigración de Bolivia. De hecho las mujeres que estaban vendiendo empanados (una comida tipica de Bolivia) parecen sermas autoridado que la oficina de inmigración. 

Copacobana y Lago de Titicaca

Fuimos directamente a un pueblo en el lago de titicaca, se llama ´Copacabana´. Aqui llevamos algunos dias a descansar, estabamos tumbado en las hamacas, leimos, escribimos en nuestros diarios y vimos las puestas del sol. Aqui tambien disfrutamos comiendo trucha (la especialidad local). 

Aqui caminamos 17 kilometres en un camino alrededor el lago hasta le conocimos a un hombre, quien vino a nos encontrar, pero primero el le dio su llama un beso! El nos mostró un guí­a (desde 1994) donde su nombre fue escribir y tambien approximente 100 postales desde sus clientes felizes … por supuesto el queria vendernos boletos en su barco a la isla del sol. Porque estabamos yendo en esa dirección, fuimos con el al lugar donde las civilización de las incas comenzó. 

La Paz y ´La Carretera mas Peligroso en el Mundo´

Tenia que regressarnos a una cuidad para organizar a salir otra vez. Pero cuando estabamos aqui, conquistamos ´la carretera mas peligroso en el mundo´. El dia fue bueno despues adjustamos a las bicicletas y la carretera de suciedad. Tambien, antes comenzamos, nuestro guí­a nos dio una botella pequeña de alcohol (que olí­a como licore fuerte) y el nos dijo beberla y tambien poner un pocito en la tierra (una ofera a pachamama para que ella no llevaría nosotros!) 

Despues recibimos nuestras bicicletas y la ropa de protección (desde los años ochentas!), estabamos listas. Este carretera llevó su ultimo victim solamente hace dos semanas. 

Buscando Serpientes de Cascabels en el Amazon

Ibamos por 5 dias a el amazon en un tur de las pampas. Nos encontra este pueblo pequeño, se llama rurrenabaque, desde el momento que llegaramos. Fuimos en un avión pequeño a Rurrenabaque cuando aterrizamos en que se puede confudir facilmente por un campo de futbol! Despues montamos motos (el taxi aqui) al pueblo a buscar un hostel. La temperatura aqui es bueno, y excepto para los mosquitos, todo estaba bien. Aqui es tambien el unico lugar cuando se recibio una cerveza en un termo grande (ver la pictura bajo). 

Teniamos algunos sopresas el proximo dia ..  el primero fue nuestro 3 horas de conducido a la selva en un carro que tenia tanto rajas en el parabrisas que el chauffer necessita agarro el parabrisas cuando pasamos otros carros! No pude traducir la proxima broma porque no sé la palabra en español!! ¿Vds pueden ayudarme? 

En la selva, nadamos con un grupo grande de delphins … fue increible. Ellos eran muy importante porque ellos parieron las piranhanas desde mordiendo! Despues pescamos para piranhanas y saqué una pequeña que cocinaron para nuestra cena! 

Un dia caminamos mucho para buscar una anaconda. No pudimos ver una anaconda, pero vimos una serpiente de cascabel. Yo lo busqué, abajo algunos leños. Nuestro guia nos dijo que ese serpiente es la mas pelirosa en el mundo! Aparentemente, una gota de su venom puede matar 5 personas y nuestro guia queria cambia la posición de la cascabel para tomar un foto mejor … loco loco!! 

Ahora, estamos en Sucre por 2 semanas, estamos estudiando español and trabajando voluntario. 

Hasta luego, Besitos, Tamara 

Well … only 2 weeks since my last blog and in that time we´ve been on a bit of a boot camp over here, having done heaps of trekking (and in very testing weather – in no way am I doubting that this is the rainy season!!) and also a spot of white water rafting. 

I am now travelling with my sister Elizabeth, and after not seeing each other for over 12 months, hiking and camping along the Inca trail for 4 days is a great way to catch up on all the stories we’ve missed, think we’ve almost caught up on everything now!  So a short run down on what we’ve been up to:

Pisco Sours in Lima!
Lizzy and I had a successful reunion in Lima airport and then we spent a couple of days in Lima, where we were treated to a night out with my friends in Lima, Stephanie, Jennelly and Bernard. They took us to a great local restaurant and then to have a few pisco sours at a bar in Barranco. All in all, was a very fun night and we wish we could have stayed in Lima a little longer … however cold Cuzco was calling! Cuzco is seriously cold at night and we’re realising that as we’re heading south, it’s not going to be getting warmer for a while! 

White Water Rafting on the Urubamba River!
Upon arriving in the Inca capital of Cuzco, we quickly signed up for all the available activities, including rafting grade 4 rapids on the Urubamba River, which is even higher at the moment with all the rain we’ve been enduring. We had amazing fun and I’ve never screamed so loud in my life but by the end we were so cold that our feet were turning blue! However, there was an amazing sauna waiting for us at the end. After returning to a normal colour and temperature again, we enjoyed a delightful lunch by the banks of the river and returned to Cuzco truly exhausted! 

Sacred Valley
We also signed up for a tour of the Sacred Valley and the local markets. This allowed me to make a very important purchase, a Peruvian poncho in aqua!! It is the perfect addition to my backpacking wardrobe and great in the cold weather. The Sacred Valley is, as the name indicates, a series of sacred Inca sites that gave us a great taste of what was to come in Machu Picchu. We saw some truly inspiring works of art of the Incas, including stone carvings, constructions and, my favourite, a water fountain that magically stopped and started with the press of a finger on the stone!! Why are we using taps again? 

Magnificent but Muddy Machu Picchu
Well, in line with everything I´d heard before, Machu Picchu was truly the highlight thus far! An awe-inspiring sanctuary that challenged me to compare and consider all aspects of my life and the society we live in, to that of the Incas … our priorities, what we need to live, our goals, what drives us and our dedication to family and community. However, I must admit that as I was returning to Cuzco by train and heading straight for the electrically powered hot shower, I was thankful that we’ve made some key developments since Inca time! 

The view of Machu Picchu was definitely an incredible reward after 4 days of hiking in the rapidly changeable weather. It was raining one minute, roaring sun the next (this was rare!), sleeting the next … we became experts in having the right piece of clothing to pull on at any minute of the day or night. We were both sporting very sexy ponchos and rain proof trousers. As we were carrying everything, clothing was definitely kept to a minimum and so my available combinations of dry clothing at the campsites in the evening were interesting. One day my only dry clothing was a pair of long johns under my aqua board shorts, a woollen hat, a purple rain jacket to boot, with muddy hiking boots, I was looking a treat! There was seriously mud everywhere and our boots got a great work out (they are definitely water-proof which is good!). Our campsite on the second night was a sea of mud which was not what we were hoping for after hauling ourselves up 4,215m and over “Dead Woman’s Pass”and we almost were dead women I tell you! But we bounced back and were skipping along the path again on Day 3. 

The porters on the trip were truly amazing. They were literally running up and down the mountains, with 25kg on their backs, putting us to shame as we only carried our clothes and sleeping gear around. Although we could have had an additional porter to carry this, we decided to rough it and we have lived to tell the tale, so I recommend it! However the porters carry anything and everything from a gas bottle to 20 plastic chairs, from pancake mix to a fine silver bowl for the sugar in tea break … it was truly incredible to witness the service and meals we received on this remote trail and we were all so grateful to see camp and the smiling porters when we were wet and tired at the end of each day. 

Hot Springs in Aguas Calientes
The most amazing ending to our 4 day hike was relaxing in the natural thermal hot springs in the town of Aguas Calientes, at the bottom of Machu Picchu (literally means ‘hot water’). These baths were amazing and were the perfect ending to a perfect trek. Actually we did then indulge a little further as upon returning to Cusco, we took a day of R&R and had a full body massage, definitely was what the aching muscles were crying out for! 

However, Lizzy and I are clearly gluttons for punishment as we’re now about to embark on a 3 day trek in the Colca Canyon, just out of Arequipa in the South of Peru, then we’re off to Bolivia. 

Our guide told us that we would be screaming ‘no more boobies’ after 3 days .. and he was almost right. Although the booby birds are fascinating, particularly at this time of year when the babies are hatching .. but after being within just a breath of these amazing birds for days on end.. enough was enough!! My personal favourite of course was the blue-footed booby .. who could resist those aqua feet!! 

This blog is coming hot off the trail of my 8 day cruise in the Galapagos Islands which was truly fantastic and definitely the wildlife experience of a life time. It was a mind blowing lesson in natural history set in group of islands that are barren and volcanic one minute and then perfectly luscious with green mangroves the next. A place of magnificent contrasts and the only place where you can be looking at a heron one minute, a sting ray the next, then a baby shark will come along while you’re busy spying a turtle going for a morning fish. 

So … a brief run down on the highlights of the trip … This is definitely easier to describe in photos, so I hope you enjoy the extra photos on this blog and I’ve tried to keep my rambling to a minimum…   

Definitely the crew, our guide and our group. The crew were fantastic, lots of fun and were very patient with helping me practice my Spanish all week and also provided great dancing partners on the last night where they got the salsa and reggatone CDs out and we danced around the dining table!  Our guide Diego was also so helpful and patient and answered questions asked by certain people in our group such as Diego … is the red-footed booby the one with the red beak? to which he patiently answered that it was probably the one with the red feet! Our group was great fun, particularly my fellow Aussie cabin-buddy Bron! The Captain’s daughter and nephew were also on the boat who were my constant companions and with whom I had the fun of building a big sand castle on the beach. However, the little girl did tell me in Spanish that I was easy to understand only when I “spoke properly” .. guess I still need a few more lessons under my belt … 

Discovering the creatures of the sea …  Definitely the highlight for me was swimming with the sea turtles, playing with sea lions in the water as they dart in and out and around you, floating over giant manta rays, following white point sharks as they slithered through the sea and seeing an amazing aquarium of brilliantly coloured fish … Everyone on the boat was highly amused at my fetish with sharks. Upon finding out that these sharks do not (usually) attack humans, whenever we saw one whilst snorkelling, I always took off after it to follow it slithering around whilst everyone else was thinking, there she goes again, or trying to swim in the opposite direction! One day while I was snorkelling, I was in heaven, I had 5 different shark sightings in the space of 45 minutes … call me crazy but I love these guys. 

Turtles Turtles deserve a special mention all on their own. I loved both the land and the sea turtles. After swimming with a few sea turtles, I did’t think that the land turtles could possibly compete but then upon stumbling across giant 150+ year old turtles roaming around the highlands on the island of Santa Cruz, I had to reassess my earlier judgements. These amazingly huge creatures walk up to 10 km a day, some of them weigh 250 kg and they are ginormous (not sure whether that is a word or not). We even had to stop the car to get one of the turtles off the road into the national park … that was certainly a first for me. 

Boobies, boobies, boobies. I didn’t actually know that booby birds existed before Galapagos, let alone that they come in the varieties of blue-footed, red-footed and masked. We saw so many of these beautiful birds and I have learnt almost everything there is to know about them, or so I think! My favourite boobies were on the island of Genovesa where we witnessed the mothers feeding the young, by regurgitation. 

Anyway, that´s all in this blog, but please take a look at the pics, there’s about another 500 where they came from too!!  I´m currently adjusting from being rocked to sleep like a baby from the gentle swell of the ocean, in other words, I´m back in a dorm room in a hostel in Quito! I leave tomorrow to meet up with my sister Elizabeth in Lima, can’t wait!

Hope you are all well and please keep in touch,  Tamara 😊 

So .. I wasn’t going to send another blog before Galapagos Islands but I had such a great week in Ecuador that I wanted to jot down my experiences! 

Where to go and what to do?
After arriving in Ecuador, I had no grand plan of where I would go and what I would do for my 5 days before Galapagos, but over breakfast and with the help of my trusty Lonely Planet, I’m so glad that I decided to head directly to the idyllic little town called Baños. After a spectacular bus ride through the beautiful mountains and past snow-capped volcanoes, I arrived in this little town that I soon discovered was not only the adventure sports capital of Ecuador but also that I had perfectly time my arrival to be the last day of carnival and just in time for the huge carnival closing party that evening! 

Carnival Time
The custom in this town for carnival involves lots of cans of foam !! Everyone was running around town taking great delight in decorating everyone, from head to toe in foam, including me!! I tried to artfully dodge the scores of people on the streets but I soon realised it was impossible as everyone from kids to grand parents takes part in this crazy tradition of trying to best cover other people in white foam! 

For carnival closing party I made friends with some fantastic Ecuadorian students (Maria and David) who took me under their wing and really showed me how to close carnival, Baños style!! We were dancing all night with hundreds of people whilst foam fired out all over the crowd, everyone was in such a good mood and it was hard to leave! Maria and I were up dancing on the tables, however this almost ended in tears when Maria fell through a piece of the table and ended up lying on the floor 2 metres down, with a bleeding nose and a sore knee. But this didn’t stop her for long and pretty soon she was back salsa-ing the night away again! 

I made some great friends out at salsa bars in Baños and hope that I can come back to this little party town for carnival again some time! 

Activities a plenty – Horse riding, Rafting, Biking and Jungle Trekking
The next day I started my 4 days of activities. I thought the first day, being horse riding in the mountains, would be rather relaxed and tranquil however my horse had other ideas and it proved rather hairy galloping up mountain ridges with no helmet on (these don´t exist in Ecuador) with the guide disappearing into the distance and my horse anxiously trying to follow!! 

Biking and the tunnel incident
The next day was mountain biking and white water rafting … Both offered spectacular views of the mountains and rivers and definitely got the adrenaline rushing. I luckily finished both activities with no damage however others weren’t so lucky. You can see the photo of the girl in my group that didn’t make it out the really dangerous tunnel in a good condition. There was this tunnel that was completely dark, with the occasional oncoming lorry at top speed and not having cycled in the pitch black before, it was so difficult to tell how close you were to the walls of the tunnel and even to maintain balance, freaky stuff!! Even the tour guide that does it every day says it makes his heart race every time. Anyway, out of a group of 10 people, we had 2 quite serious men overboard! Hilary was the worst off and just rescued herself and bike before an oncoming car rushed past, and she was actually smiling as she stumbled out of the tunnel … 

Rafting for the first time and flipping the boat for the first time!
Next stop .. white water rafting! This was a 3+ slope but for my first time was plenty, especially considering the raft flipped 5 minutes into the rapids and we had people and paddles everywhere, absolute carnage. But we felt better when the other boat also flipped about an hour later … It was so much fun though and can’t wait to do some more rafting in Peru! 

Into the Amazon!!
After the rafting, we headed into the Amazon and settled in our secluded cabañas high up on the hill with superb views over the Amazon and surrounding rivers. We then headed to what would be our first of many waterfall adventures, just in time for sunset. I met some great people, including 3 girls from Chile that I’m looking forward to catching up with in Santiago and a lovely couple from Canada that I shared hours of jungle walking with. 

Over the 3 days, with the help of our very knowledgeable guide, Juan, who grew up in the Amazon, we discovered amazing things about the flora and fauna of the jungle. We tried the medicine, sampled the fruits, tried the toothpaste, lifted up dew dripping leaves to discover tree frogs and spiders, spotted birds and butterflies and Juan even weaved me a backpack from the palm trees. His skills especially came in handy the day it was raining when he made us all very effective rain hats from palm leaves, I’ll let you judge on the fashionista qualities of the hat from the photos though! 

The funniest discovery was definitely the pornographic palm tree. After you’ve seen the photo, I’ll let you work out where the name comes from. These plants were everywhere and maybe I’m immature, but they always raised a smile! Day 2 was superb, the highlights being swinging like Tarzan through the jungleon a 40 metre vine that swings way out over the beautiful canopy. Of course, it was super scary as one slip from the vine (especially considering it was rainy) and it would not have been a happy ending. 

We also got about in bikinis and rubber boots to get up to a secret waterfall. I was definitely pushing the fashion boundaries in the jungle and there is definitely not a photo I’m publishing of me in this sexy little outfit!! But it was worth it and after wading through rivers up to our waste and scrambling up muddy river banks, we came to an amazing waterfall where we could jump 4 metres down into the pool from a fallen tree, was definitely a lot of fun. 

Our guide had all sorts of sayings that he has picked up from foreigners, that he says all the time and at entirely inappropriate moments, for example ‘that’s amazing’, ‘that’s incredible’, ‘that’s adorable’, ‘cool bananas’ and my personal favourite, ‘that’s electrifying’!! Over the course of 3 days, it was getting too much but definitely made the trip interesting. 

You will notice that in every photo I have the same clothes on, as my backpack unfortunately didn’t make it into the jungle, so I was unfortunately surviving in the wet jungle with one set of clothes and a very damp pair of socks!! The nightly camp fires were a chance for me to dry my 
clothes and sample the local liquer (fire water) which is an extract from sugar cane. Quite deadly !! 

The Story of my Jungle Scar
After spending 3 days in the jungle, I wish I had a great story of fighting off a deadly snake to be sporting the scar that I am, but sadly not … I was helping out in the kitchen and a lady there decided that adding a cup of oil to a boiling pan without a lid on would be a good idea, and luckily I only ended up with a whopping big scar on my forehead and not my eye missing!! After 3 days of jungle medicine, where Juan decided to paint a love heart on my face one day (see the photo), it is still attracting a lot of weird looks and definitely a talking point at the hostel tonight. 

On the final day we boated in these tiny canoes down a river including a few little rapids, which was quite terrifying, to an indigenous community. We then rode again in the canoes on the back of the pick up truck back to camp, only in Ecuador hey! 

All in all,  it was a fantastic experience, and I hope the first of a few trips that I will make to various different parts of the Amazon. 

I’m off to Galapagos tomorrow, 

Hasta Luego, 

Tamara xx 

Hello again and another update on my antics in Guatemala over the last couple of weeks.

Volcan Tajumulco

My biggest achievement since I’ve been away would have to be last weekend, which I spent climbing to the highest point in Central America, Volcan Tajumulco, at 4,220m. The climb was especially difficult as were not only battling with the altitude and lack of oxygen but mostly the weight of the equipment and water we had to carry with us. I went with a trekking company ‘Quetzaltrekkers’ who were so well organised with everything from amazingly sexy 80’s ski-wear to keep us warm (check out my great purple jacket that surprisingly my friend was quite jealous of) to all the necessary camping equipment and food, that enabled us to be setting up camp, as well as eating amazing pasta and soup at our base camp at 4,000 m, as well as a fantastic spread of salads and guacamole for lunch! Fue muy delicioso!

We each had to carry at least 6 litres of water, plus a sleeping bag, roll-mat and some form of communal camping equipment. Luckily i only scored some food and the floor of one tent to carry. One poor guy lucked out and had to haul the huge cooking pot up the volcano (see the photo below)!

But it was definitely the coldest night of my existence and during the night where I spent the night freezing cold but also trying to avoid a fellow traveller lying next to me in the tent who was aggressively spooning me all night in an attempt to keep herself warm, needless to say I didn’t get an ounce of sleep and so waking up at 4.30 am to ascend to the highest point was not going to be easy! We were scrambling up rocks in the pitch black darkness, but the sunrise was definitely worth it and the biscuit the guide passed out at the top was the most appreciated sugary snack of my life! All in all, it was an incredible weekend. I made the climb with some friends from my language school, Pete and Lauren, who kept me laughing up the mountain, although I think over 2 days of endless banter in an attempt to divert attention away from the obstacle looming ahead, that we exhausted all topics of conversation, although I definitely would not have got up the mountain without them!

Volcan Chicabal

I was not planning to climb two volcanoes in the space of a week but it ended up that way when the school was running a trip to the Volcan Chicabal this weekend. There is an amazing lake nestled in the crater of this volcano which is a more modest 2,712 m above sea level. Although this was a much steeper path than Tajumulco, we were not battling the weight of our backpacks or the altitude so it seemed a breeze in comparison and there was no camping involved! From the mirador (lookout), there were amazing views over the lake and other volcanoes. There was a lot of dust and Alicia and I felt embarrassed that we were skidding down the track in our state-of-the-art hiking boots while there were 10 year old kids passing us with barely any shoe coverings on and carrying massive amounts of wood on their backs and wielding machetes, with no problems at all!

Hanging out in Xela

I have been having so much fun in Xela and really starting to feel like I’m getting settled here, just when it’s almost time to go! I’ve also been going to salsa class for the last 2 weeks every night which is great fun and little by little I’m improving! Four weeks has absolutely flown by and only one week to go! I have met some amazingly fun people at school who I am very sad to be saying goodbye to this week, as most of my ‘crew’ have come to an end of their time at the school and the last few nights have been despedidas (farewells) for those heading home or off travelling.

There are a few people that I have to mention from my stay in Xela… Tamara (numero 2): surprisingly there are two Tamara’s in our school, which has caused endless confusion with allocating teachers etc. but it was finally agreed that I would be Tamara #1 and she would be Tamara #2! We have spent numerous afternoons in Cafe la Luna pretending to study and in the evenings going to salsa class and, more recently, also spending the nights in salsa clubs! Tamara has the amazing knack of always being asked to dance by guys that don’t have an ounce of rhythm in their body, providing endless amusement (I am also hereby correcting my first blog where I said that all Guatemalans know how to dance!). Tamara is also the best reggaeton dancer I’ve ever met! Alicia, Lauren and Maggie – amazing girls I’ve met who have encouraged me during the tough days of classes and been very fun travel companions on school trips!

A few things I’ve noted… I thought I’d share a few of the interesting things I’ve noted during my time in Guatemala:

Dogs, Fireworks and Evangelical churches – Together, these 3 sources of extreme noise either keep me awake or provide my alarm in the morning. There are dogs constantly barking, people setting off fireworks (apparently it’s a tradition to set off fireworks out the front of your house at 6am in the morning when it’s someone’s birthday), and the evangelical church, located across the road from my house gets the drums, guitars and singing pumping at 7am on a Sunday morning, which is the only downside of my home-stay experience!

Hand signals – All Guatemalans talk with their hands and there are a number of important signals that my family has taught me over the last month! I will be able to give you a lesson on these when I’m home but in summary there are signals for ‘very intelligent’ comments, ‘stupid’ comments, ‘Son of a b$tch’, ‘stingy’, ‘money’, ‘right back at you’, the list goes on!

Hola and adios greetings – Guatemalans are incredibly polite people, so whenever you arrive anywhere it’s very important to go around to every person you know (or don’t know sometimes!) and greet them hello with a kiss on the cheek, and then, again when you say goodbye! It’s therefore necessary to commence leaving 10 minutes before you need to go to ensure you get the round of kissing and adios done before you have to head off!

Anyway, I’ve got one more week of school left, then I’m heading to the north of Guatemala for a week of travelling, so will post another blog then! So, that’s enough from me!

Hasta luego, adios chicos and keep me posted on the news!

Tamara xx

Well I have now been in school and with my family for 2 weeks and thought I´d share a few stories and experiences of what I’ve been up to! 

My School – Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Español

The school I’m at is unique in that it is the only school that I’ve heard of that combines the Spanish learning experience with an understanding of Guatemalan history and issues still existing today, as well as providing a diverse range of activities for students to participate in when school´s out!! 

Each week we have a minimum of 2 speakers come to the school to give lectures on various issues, for example this week we had an ex-guerilla come to speak about his experiences in fighting for the rights of the people during the civil war in the 80s and early 90s where thousands of indigenous people were killed by the army under control of the then Government. 

Each day i have 5 hours of study from 8am until 1pm and then in the afternoon there´s activities to participate in which is awesome and keeping me really really busy!!  The teachers here are fantastic and class passes with lots of laughing and talking and currently I’m reading Harry Potter in Spanish as well!! 

Here is the website of my school which i really recommend if you want to study spanish at some point! http://www.plqe.org/ 

Quetzaltenango or Xela (pronounce Shay-La) – The city where I’m living!

Well the first thing I have to mention is that the weather in Xela is crazy, because the city is at an altitude of 2,333 m it is absolutely freezing at night but unbelievably hot during the day, in the 30 degree mark. Whereas at night it’s been below zero – sooooo cold!! And none of the houses have heating of course, one night I had on all my thermals, 2 pairs of socks, a beanie, all my jumpers, as well as 3 blankets and I was still so crazy cold! So the next night i asked the mother in my house ¿Hay otra chamara para Tamara? – so i now have another ultra thick blanket … so the cold is more bearable. 

The city is great, very colonial but plenty of great places to go out and also sit and have a coffee without a big city feel. Everything is within walking distance which is great.

My Family – The Maldenados 

I have a truly fabulous family that loves muchas bromas (many jokes) and so our meal times are always spent laughing and joking and so hopefully my ´Spanish personality´is also developing ! In the beginning I was finding it really hard to feel like me when speaking Spanish because it is difficult to express your true personality in a new language, but with the help of the Maldenados I think i’m well on the way!! 

My family comprises 5 people plus a dog (Pulga!) who I haven´t seen move further than 5 steps at once and spends her day lying on the couch mostly! The father (Fausto) is the main joker of the house, along with Gladis (the mother), their 2 daughters (Tahina and Susie) and Susie´s 4 year old daughter Nereida! So meal times are quite boisterous as your can imagine. 

The family is determined to find me a boyfriend during my time in Guatemala and are quite keen for me to apply to go on a puerta rican TV show called ‘Doce Corazónes’ (12 hearts) that is a bit of a perfect match type show that Fausto watches every day at midday. They think my name on the show should be ‘La Cangura'(the kangaroo!). Everyone in Guatemala is fascinated with Kangaroos and it is always the first question I get asked when i meet someone, ´do you have a kangaroo?´ So … they are currently in search of future options and are always quizzing me about the new guapo chicos at the school each week – if nothing else, it makes for highly amusing meal times! 

My House and the Water/Electricity Dilemna!

The Maldonados have a great house and I luckily have an upstairs granny flat that is a really large bedroom with my own bathroom, desk, couch etc!! I definitely living in a hotel compared to some of the other students at the school. Every day I spend 10 minutes in the morning trying to make my bed perfectly as Gladis always tries to remake it while i´m school each day, she always manages to perfect my attempt much to my embarrassment! I also have the best decorated bathroom i have every seen – refer to the picture below!! 

The most interesting and quirky item in a Guatemalan house is definitely the shower. Guatemalans have developed a unique showering apparatus whereby the water is heated for a shower only in the actual shower head itself (refer to picture). So above your head in the shower is a tonne of wires (some of them seemingly live wires hanging around) and the water is only heated as it goes through the shower head. Even not being a very scientific person, I am well aware that water and electricity is a lethal combination. One of the girls at school always wears rubber shoes in the shower just in case she gets a shock! Luckily i haven´t had a shock yet but every day I shower with trepidation!! 

Living with a family is great but also quite rigid as meal times are lunch at 1pm (lunch is the main meal of the day) and then dinner is at 7pm – but i’m getting used to it! The food is fantastic, lots of beans, chicken, salad and fruit, definitely a much healthier diet than I had in London! 

School Exercusions

The school has an excursion almost every day which is great. The highlights have been Fuente Georginas (natural hot spring baths high up in the mountains that were divine), Fiesta in Chicilaja (every town has a fiesta once a year, and this town has this traditional where people dress up in masks – see the photos below- and dance around with beers while everyone looks on!), Walking the path of the guerrilla (there was a civil war in Guatemala for many years and with an ex-guerrillero, we walked the paths they walked in the mountains and heard all about life as a guerrillero for his years fighting the army), El Baul and the huge slippery slides (crazy slides at the top of the hill overlooking Xela which we played on until I thought I might put a hole in my only pair of trousers!) and The Largest Mayan markets in Central America (here you could buy anything and everything. I was tempted by the 5 pigs all strung up together but not sure my host mum would want them. The name “Chicken Bus” certainly holds true on market day where you could see any animal riding the bus into or out of town!)

Anyway, there is  so much more I could say, but will give more of an update on other activities next time. Am off to salsa class and then am climbing the highest volcano in Central America! 

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Well, in summary, I’m having so much fun thus far, more than I ever imagined!! My very first day was so brilliant that I didn’t think it would get much better, and each day keeps throwing more great things at me!! 

A few highlights thus far: 

Riding the Chicken Bus
The gringo (name given to western travellers by the locals) name for the bus that is an old jeep crammed with seats that really only fit for 2 bums, but of course 3 people are squeezed into each seat as the bus fills up. There are no bus stops and, unlike the buses in London where the bus driver is likely to take off even if he sees you absolutely sprinting towards the bus stop, as the buses in Guatemala are all privately run, the driver will stop and wait for anyone and everyone (and their animals and sacks of rice) who may be within a 1 km radius and want to get on the bus and only wants to stroll at a leisurely pace!! Needless to say, what is a 30 min direct drive took almost 2 hours!! 

Salsa Dancing
I’ve fallen in love with the salsa, and not only inspired by the latest episode of ‘strictly come dancing’ (no i wasn’t at home on a Saturday night, i watched the repeat on Sundays!!), I’ve made it my mission to become salsa proficient during my time here. Already I’ve been to two salsa clubs and what continues to amaze me is that the Guatemaltezcas are a population that is born knowing how to dance, anyone and everyone can salsa, it is truly incredible. Random guys will come and ask the girls to dance, there’s live bands and it is also not a bad workout!!

Climbing Volcan Pacaya
Well, after years of toasting marshmallows on the bonfire at Guy Fawkes Night, I can now add a volcano crater to my list!! We climbed this amazing volcano in the afternoon and whilst hanging out on the 3 week-old hardened (but still incredibly hot) black lava toasting marshmallows (that one the Scottish guys had brought with him in a moment of brilliance!), the volcano was spewing out lava at a rapid pace, the sun was setting and there was a full moon to boot, it was a truly incredible experience. Vettie, your tip on the head torch has already paid itself off in the descent from the volcano in the pitch black darkness!! 

Lake Atitlan and the God of Rum
The lake is spectacular, surrounded by volcanoes and mountain and is definitely the most beautiful place I’ve been to in Guatemala so far. After a relaxing boat ride across the lake, wandering around Santiago Atitlan with some fellow travellers, we were offered to be taken to the house of ‘Maximon’. Although Guatemalans are largely Catholic, in the highlands each community has a local deity that not only like rum and cigars, but is worshipped by the people, it is supposed to balance out the catholic religion!! Literally this is a wooden statue, dressed in local clothes but with an Italian hat and tie, with a cigar in his mouth! Locals give the god rum, cigars and money in return for curing illness and other ailments. However, it seems that the people who owned the house Maximon currently lives in, had indulged in a little of the rum themselves, check out the guy in the photo with me, he absolutely reeked of rum and was determined to stay as close to me as as possible!

Back to School
Well, as you know, my primary goal for this trip was to get a grip on spanish. So i have diligently enrolled in 5 weeks of lessons, which is 5 hours a day of tuition as well as living with a family that doesn’t speak any english!! After only one week of school, my spanish has progressed in leaps and bounds and I have even had conversations about kangaroos in the circus in Mexico … don’t ask!! I’ll put details of my school, family and the activities thus far in my next blog but can sum it all up by saying that i’m having a truly amazing time and have met so many great people! 

Anyway, until next time, hasta la vista and keep me posted on your news, Tamara xx