Quotable Quotes :)
After having friends all around for the last two month and half, I am travelling alone again.. Here are some famous sayings to commemorate the funny moments..
"As long as she´s pretty"
- Hien, on numerous occasions
"Just because I like to watch lesbians doesn´t mean I´m simplistic"
- Hien again
"Can we go now? I´ve seen everything."
- Bob
"sometimes being a tourist you just get shoved around... what you have to do is to bend over, take it and fake orgasm.."
- Anthony. We all choked on our breakfast upon this famous remark
"people have layers like onions.. " - Susan
"my layers are harder to peel off than others... " - Anthony's response
".. as long she´s non-smoking, non-drinking and christian.."
"that´s the mental list, but sometimes the heart makes its own decisions" - Anthony again
"I suggest chocolate.." - Anthony
"I think men are better." - Jenny
On the president´s trail..
Tonight there was a big fanfare around La Paz.. people marching around, carrying flags, calling out slogans. I thought it was a protest of a sort.. but upon reaching Plaza San Franscisco it became apparent what all the fuss was about. There was a big screen TV, people sitting on a raised platform, and a huge crowd gathering around the area backed with patriotic slogans over the PA system. Even fireworks. Yep, the president is in town.
Evo Morales is the newly elected president in Bolivia. He is the first native Bolivian president in the country, and as such is very popular, almost hero-like, amongst the native Bolivian population. I dunno too much about the politics here, but apparently he is fairly left-wing and supports Bolivia´s Coca leaf industry much to the annoyance of the US government. There was a small article on the president on the local free English newspaper, focussing on the president´s taste for colourful knitwear.
The funny thing is, it´s almost as if he´s stalking us. We left Rurrenabaque for La Paz a few days ago, and the day before that someone told us that he´s friends with the president, and that the president was coming into town the next day around 10am. We weren´t sure if he was serious, but the next morning people were fussing around town, putting up flags and things. Our flight was at 10am, so we thought we would miss the chance to see the president. However, when we got to the tiny airport there were a bit of a crowd gathering around, some security people and a small camera crew. As we walked into the airport office we could see soldiers lining up on the runway, and two people stepping out of a small, official looking plane. One of them is the president, but we didn´t know which one.
After a while we figured out the president was the one wearing a casual blue jacket, and after a bit of a walk up and down the runway, he headed straight towards the airport office, right where we were. At one stage I was only 3 meters away from him and managed to catch his attention and gave a small wave.
Pampas, Contiki Style!
Came back from the jungle (pampas - the wetlands in the Madidi area part of the Amazon) this arvo and will be heading out to the actual jungle tomorrow for another 3 days. Hopefully this time it will be a more authentic experience than the last 3 days.
We are currently in the town of Rurrenabaque, which is a popular spot to venture into the jungle. It´s a lovely little town and full of tour agencies and eateries. Overwhelmed by the amount of choices and the fact that everyone seem to be doing exactly the same thing, we decided to go with the oldest agency (called Fluvial).. not expecting that they would put us into another agency due to insufficient booking, and the next day we founded us in a group with 5 Isrealies who have just finished military service and are ready to party! Turned out to be an "interesting" experience as they spoke in Hebrew the whole time, and along with our young and a bit macho tour guide, we had the pampas tour, non-eco style.. Our first lunch was spent in a restaurant with a live band playing the loudest spanish sentimental music I have ever heard.. I saw the first Tucan, with its wings clipped and its leg tied to a pole, for the viewing pleasure of the tourists. And from then on things got even more ridiculous.. We saw countless number of aligators sunbaking on the riverbanks during our trip to the cabin site, but at night we ventured out on the boat again, trying to capture one for the photos. After an hour or so the tour guide managed to capture a small one, let it go free on the boat to scare the girls.. who screamed and stood up and I thought we were going to fall into the water along with my camera. Then after 20 minutes of so of posing in front of the camera for each of the 5 people, they let the little gator go and went looking for another one. Eventually we found a bigger one, captured it and posed for camera for another half hour or so.. I was both scared and annoyed at their crazy behaviour, but what can I do.. Next morning we went Anaconda hunting. Spent about 3 hours walking through mud and almost knee-high swamps in a pair of gumboots that are 3 sizes too big. After I complained my tour buddies kindly got some leaves for me to stuff my boots with.. and I used alot of leaves! We nearly didn´t find any but on the way back to the campsite my friend spotted one and this time the tour guide pulled the snake out of its hole along with some help from other tour buddies ( we had already learnt from guidebooks and information centres that the sunscreen and inset repellents we wear are pretty dangerous for the snakes, and it´s strongly advised that we do not handle them). I walked off at that point as I wasn´t trapped on the boat. After lunch we started making some jewellery from the nuts (which was fun!), and then off to Pirana fishing. I didn´t managed to catch anything, but the rest of the group (mostly the guide) caught about 10 fish for the dinner. Then off to see the sunset. However on the way we came past a lazy aligator which is not moving very much and seemed like an easy target. Our tour guide couldn´t pass the challenge and proved himself one more time by capturing this one, which was pretty big, and dragged it into the boat, knocking its head at the side of the boat a few times during the big struggle. Then kodak moment once more! What a hero!
Today was less eventful.. my friend and I woke up in time to see the beautiful sunrise and we all saw even more animals on the way back to town, eg. Monkeys, aligators, caymans, lots of turtles, birds, a sloth(!), a carebar (dunno how to spell, but looks like a giant guinea pig) and some pink dolphins. It was wonderful seeing so many creatures, if only we were in group that appreciates the environment a bit more.. Still, it wasn´t all bad.
Surviving the Most Dangerous Road In the Road...
Guess what, I survived the bike ride! Well, almost.. I did just over half of the ride, and then fell into some mud and called it a day. Still, considering I was so panicky and actually threw up twice in the morning, I was very happy to have made it that far. On top of that we survived a trecherous 17 hour bus ride last night and this morning, in order to get to the lovely town we are in now.
Was planning to write more but now getting kicked out of internet cafe as they are closing all of a sudden. We are going to a pampas tour in the Amazon jungle tomorrow, for 3 days, and hopefully will see some amazing wildlife. Will keep you posted.
Petrified...
Just checking my email, am so happy to receive some of your replies. At the moment I am paralysed with fear.. for what I am about to do tomorrow. Well, here is a clue.. http://gravitybolivia.com/ (ie. mountain biking down the "world´s most dangerous road" - 64 km downhill with 3600 meters descent), I really really don´t know what I was thinking when I signed up for it, but I can always chicken out and catch the van that follows us..
Too scared to write more, but may be I will reply when I am in a happier mood tomorrow! :)
From Bolivia with Love :)
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We are in Bolivia now.. in the capital city of La Paz, which is the highest capital city in the world with the altitude of 3660 meters. It looks quite pretty so far, with the city sprawling way up the surrounding mountains, cute little artesan shops lining many streets and little markets everywhere. Pretty typically South American, but also with a somewhat laid-back atmosphere and hippies selling their handiwork on the streets. We just got into the city last night, but so far so good, and one thing that seem classically Bolivian was the Llama fuetus that was being sold by many streetside vendors. And for the first time in this trip we went to fancy restaurant tonight to celebrate our friend's birthday.. it was a beautifully decorated Austrian restaurant, with live piano music and food that took us away from South America and into the heart of Europe.. (like Salzburg, from the Sound of Music...) It was a much needed escape.. and the black and white chocolate mousse at the end was just an icing on top.
Running out of time again, but there´s so many things to tell you about before I forget.. perhaps look at my blog (http://misstravelbug.blogspot.com/) when you are free, but it´s not updated yet. Some of the highlights are
- Inca trail - spending 4 days trekking through the routes of the Inca people to the mystical Macchu Pichu, and visiting many ruins and spectacular scenery along the way, including a 4100m ¨dead woman´s pass that left most of us struggling for breath
- lake titikaka - a huge, tranquil lake at 3800m that is part Peruvian and part Bolivian. We spent two memorable nights there, on two separate islands (Amantani and Isla de Sol)... where we watched the fullmoon and sunrise from a charming little hostel room on the top level, with panoramic view alround. Also visited a set of man-made islands constructed entirely from reeds! (Island of Uros or the Floatantes)- watching Condors up close at Colca Canyon
- soaking up in the thermal springs at Agua Caliente and Colca Canyon!
Will write again soon...
