Anyway, that kind of dampened the carnival spirit, but we decided to go and join in anyway. So we donned our clown outfits, loaded up on water bombs and foam sprays and joined the mob. And I do mean mob. A bunch of gringos in the parade was like a red rag to the locals. There was water and foam raining in from all angles. And completely indiscriminate. Foam in the eyes, water bombs thrown at full force from point blank, it was like a war zone. And as if that wasn't enough, some people had what can only be described as golf balls in socks, which were used to whip victims across the back and legs. Seriously, if this happened in Europe there would be riots. And there was nearly one here, as one of our group took exception to one whipping and piled into his assailants. There were considerably more of them than us, so we dragged him out and bobbed and weaved our way back to the hotel. Needless to say La Paz, and Bolivia in general lost its appeal after that.

Thankfully we're moving on to Peru next with a new tour leader, Jennifer, who appears to be missing the fairly basic tour leader requirement of being able to communicate verbally. Every detail of our future plans so far has had to be painstakingly prised out of her. Oh well, things can only get better as D:REAM once reminded us. Although we then got 10 years of Tony Blair.

written by  phileasdogg on February 22, 2009 from La Paz, Bolivia
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

And a few of us went mountain biking too. Now I've probably lost a bit of fitness in the past 6 months, but I still don't think I'm in bad shape, but the 3km climb to get out of the city nearly killed me. At 4000m, you just can't seem to get the oxygen into your lungs that your body is begging for. I was reassured to see the local tour guide gasping for breath too, and thankfully the next 20km was downhill, where we met a bus to take us back to the city.

Carnival atmosphere is stepping up, with water pistols and bombs seemingly around every corner now. I think we'll need to arm ourselves for the carnival parade in La Paz.

written by  phileasdogg on February 19, 2009 from Sucre, Bolivia
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Mining is still the dominant industry in the town, though it´s now lead, tin and other less precious minerals. The conditions in the mines have always been appalling - the Spanish conquistadors initially used indigenous labour to work the mines but as they quickly died they were replaced by imported African slaves who didn´t fare much better - an estimated 8 million miners have died since mining started in Potosi, either in the mines or from silicosis.

We did a tour into one of the mines to see the conditions for ourselves and it was pretty depressing. The miners work in very cramped conditions, chipping away at the rock face with hammer and chisel, with rock dust going into their eyes and mouths (goggles are too expensive and they can´t breathe with masks on). They typically work 12-hour shifts for the equivalent of about US$6. The most depressing sight was kids working down there - we saw one who was 11 years old, dragging a heavy sack of rocks out of the mine shaft. Usually their fathers have died in the mines, so they have to work to support their families. There was a film made about the children miners of Potosi a few years ago called The Devil´s Miner which we watched, but it´s not one to watch if your mood needs improving!

Anyway, we took the miners a "gift pack" each, consisting of crackers, cigarettes, coca leaves, dynamite and a detonator. A slightly surreal assortment of gifts but they seemed to be well appreciated.

written by  phileasdogg on February 15, 2009 from Potosi, Bolivia
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

But the highlight was definitely the salt flat at Salar de Uyuni on Day 3. It´s the world´s largest salt flat at over 10,000 square kilometres and is the remains of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin, which existed here about 40,000 years ago. Driving across the middle of it where all you can see is white ground and blue sky was a fantastic experience. And our cooks and drivers were brilliant - the food and service was better than most of what I´ve had in South America to date.

Uyuni itself is a fairly humdrum town, and the difference in affluence between Chile and Bolivia was immediately obvious. And with Carnival coming up in a week or so, the local kids took great delight in pelting the gringos with water balloons as we walked down the main street. I think we´re going to have to arm ourselves. It´s a dog eat dog world out there.

written by  phileasdogg on February 13, 2009 from Uyuni, Bolivia
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

1 comment...

But in the meantime it´s a nice chilled-out place to relax for a couple of days. We hired some bikes and went off to some nearby sand dunes to try our hands at sand boarding. It quickly became apparent that snowboarding techniques aren´t so great on sand - there´s too much friction. But after some experimentation I managed to get down the dune in one go, and it was actually really good fun, if a touch painful on landing. Also biked out to see some pre-Columbian ruins, that were little more than a few piles of mud. But then they were 2800 years old (allegedly).

The tour group are a good group all told. Still have some doubts about my roommate, a rock-bothering know-it-all geologist, who seems reticent to flush the toilet and has a penchant for getting up at 6.30am and rustling plastic bags for 20 minutes. Each to their own I guess.

written by  phileasdogg on February 9, 2009 from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

1 comment...

Anyway, made it in the end. There´s not a great deal to do or see in La Serena itself, so a few of us made the 3-hour trek up the coast to do some whale watching. Or as it transpired, whale searching. We went out in a 10-man boat that looked like something out of Moby Dick, but couldn´t find so much as a spurt of water in 2 hours. However, all was not lost as we did get a school of dolphins playing alongside the boat, and also saw sea otters, sealions, an elephant seal, pelicans and penguins. So I reckon we probably got our 28,000 pesos worth there (about 28 quid).

There´s also a big observatory nearby where regular punters can go along and look through a big telescope at Orion´s Belt, the Northern Cross, Saturn etc. Actually more interesting than it sounds, helped by the fact that lack of light pollution means Chile gets some spectacular starscapes.

Hopefully a less stressful trip to San Pedro de Atacama tomorrow, though it´s an overnight bus which doesn´t bode well. A few of our tour group did an overnight bus in Brazil that got hijacked. Fingers crossed...

written by  phileasdogg on February 7, 2009 from La Serena, Chile
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

There´s really not a great deal to do in Santiago so after making some cursory gestures towards exploring local culture by visiting a couple of museums I took in two movies, which I can justify by claiming they improve my Spanish - they´re English language with Spanish subtitles.

It´s up to La Serena tomorrow, a coastal resort about 6 hours drive from Santiago.

written by  phileasdogg on February 5, 2009 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

I also parted company with Caroline here, so after 5 weeks of having a highly efficient organiser to tell me where to be at what time, I´ve now got a few days of trying to keep myself alive before joining a 6-week tour in Santiago that takes in Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

written by  phileasdogg on February 3, 2009 from Puerto Varas, Chile
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Argentina has been great - Buenos Aires is a vibrant, cultured city, and the natural and diverse beauty of the glaciers, the Lake District and the Iguazu Falls have got to make it one of the most naturally beautiful countries in the world. And the steaks have been great too! It´s almost enough to make you forgive the Falklands and the Hand of God. But not quite.

written by  phileasdogg on January 28, 2009 from San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Then today we went out for a trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier itself. Clearly it´s in a fairly safe part of the Glacier a long way from the face, but there are still deep crevasses all over it, so it pays to watch your step. There are impossibly blue small lakes and mini-waterfalls all over the Glacier (I think the colour has something to do with the density of the compacted ice) but it was brilliant to be out there on such a vast, constantly shifting ice Field.

It´s definitely been a highlight of the trip so far, and it´s a shame we´ve got a non-changeable flight to Bariloche tomorrow as I´d have like to spent a couple of days trekking in Torres del Paine, but hey ho...

written by  phileasdogg on January 24, 2009 from El Calafate, Argentina
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...