Sucre

Everyone we met who’d been to Sucre told us we’d stay there longer than we thought and that we would love it. I hate going in with expectations but it totally met them. 8 days later we finally left! It’s a beautiful city and we were lucky enough to experience it during and after carnival. For the four days and five nights of carnival our time was consumed by water balloons, water guns, foam spray and out of tune monotonous marching bands. Your movement is restricted by the fact that if you step outside you will get attacked so the only option is to go armed and go hard and that’s exactly what we did. Though after two days it got a little wearing!

We decided to do four more days of Spanish School but this time with a personal teacher. We learnt at Me Gusta, a lovely tiny school and it’s been really useful to re-cap and learn more Spanish. After school was mostly spent in Sucre’s markets, our favourites being Mercado Central (amazing chorizo baps and HUGE fruit salads for £1) and Mercado Campesino (very local, lots of clothes and random things you probably don’t need!)

Chris and his teacher

We have been very lucky with presents from friends and family which has enabled us to have a few really awesome meals. In Sucre we ate at La Taverne where we enjoyed cocktails, three courses and a bottle of wine for £22 each – mental! We also had a great meal at the Mirador Café which overlooks the city. It’s Italian owned and they make their own pasta. It was here that we finally managed to hold a conversation with locals and it was great! We had a fantastic conversation with a man and his three children who live in the countryside near Sucre and walk three hours into Sucre and back every Saturday and Sunday to earn a tiny amount of money busking in traditional clothes. We saw them after in their tracksuits, they looked much happier! This was also the place where I played my first full game of chess and beat Chris (Steve, he needs more practice when we get home!)

The view from Mirador Cafe

Winner!

One thing I found particularly amusing was paying for a double room and in fact sleeping in ‘The Snug,’ a tiny attic space in our room because the bed was SO awful! Could I look more cozy?!

And at this point it would be wrong not to mention Kai who has been travelling with us on and off (mostly on!) for 6 weeks. In Sucre we said bye and we’re pretty sure Kai will win the award for the person we travelled longest with. Fondly known as ‘The Machine’ for his extreme fitness, he has been wonderful to travel with and we hope to see him on stage in London soon. 

Smith

Potosi

The next stop after Uyuni was the highest city in the world, Potosi. Sitting a whopping 4,090m above sea level Potosi was once one of the richest cities in the world. The reason for that is that Potosi lies beneath a mountain that was jam packed full of silver. And the Spanish plundered the mountain, and the people of Potosi, for all they were worth. Today, Potosi is a popular stop for travellers as although they are working mines you can go on a tour inside, see the work and experience the conditions for yourself.

I pondered whether to go on this tour for a while. Firstly, the mines are not really designed for people 6ft 5ins. Secondly, the idea of paying to go into a mine where people were actually working felt a bit weird. However, after speaking to other people who had taken the tour I decided this was something I had to see for myself. Millie opted out!

After getting the necessary safety gear (and acquiring an inappropriate new nickname) we were taken to a market to buy presents for the miners (coca leaves, water and booze are popular), the refinery where they extract the silver from the rock and then to the mine itself. Our guide (Shampoo) was an ex-miner himself and briefed us pretty heavily to begin with that this is a working mine and that you are a guest there. Basically, do what you’re told. That became blindingly obvious about 50m into the mine as 4 miners pulled a cart full of rocks along the tracks and I was pushed to the wall and shouted at to get out of the way.

Shampoo

The next two hours involved walking, crawling and sliding through the mine to different work areas, seeing the conditions the miners work in, giving them the presents and chatting to them. It was a humbling experience. Its impossible to put into words just how hot, loud, cramped and dusty some parts of the mine were and I was glad to (literally) see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As we were about to leave we also saw a team of miners who were probably no older than 14. We asked our guide about this and he said they were just working as it was the school holidays. I think everyone treated this with a pinch of salt and a few days later we saw a documentary, The Devil’s Miner, about a 14 year old boy who works in the mines that probably gets a bit closer to the truth. It’s not a cheery film, but well worth a watch.

I am really pleased I did the tour as it gave you a great appreciation of the reality of life in Potosi. The miners work 8 hour shifts, get paid an average of £300 a month (3x the average wage in Bolivia) and on average have a life expectancy of about 40.  We paid £10 for a two hour tour.

Mc

Salt Flats Tour

It has been argued by fellow travellers that this tour should be re-named as the Tour of South West Bolivia which I have to agree with, it’s so much more than just salt! We chose to do the route from Tupiza to Uyuni, four days and three nights. In a nutshell it was full of the following: time in a jeep, llamas, snow capped mountains, lakes, volcanoes, flamingos and (Jon you’ll be pleased to hear) Jungle Speed!

I want this Llama

The people we did the tour with made such a difference. In a boy heavy jeep I was joined by Chris, Kai (German), Marco (Italian) and Anup (Indian), we had a lot of fun. We also had another two jeeps with us with two great groups of people (two Argentinean, three Irish and three from London). I managed to insult Marco by teaching Anup how to cook Spaghetti Bolognese but otherwise we got on brilliantly! We had a great driver called David who let us take over the music in his car and only spoke Spanish so it was great practice. And our wonderful cook Gladys (we’re convinced that’s not her name, we think they called her that so it’s easier for tourists as the other cook had the same name!) The highlight of her cooking was llama balls, they were SO good.

My jeep crew

An important reflection: altitude is mental. Having never experienced altitude Chris and I were soon to find we could only walk half the pace, had constant headaches and were consistently out of breath! This particularly took its toll on Chris and the boys when they attempted to play football at 4200m, it was a short game!

Highlights for me were reaching 5000m where it snowed and we attempted to look at geysers, Laguna Colorada which was one of the most stunning places I’ve ever been and, of course, the salt flats.

5000m

Laguna Colorada

Tortoise rock

Unfortunately the salt flats were flooded so we could only safely go onto a bit of them but this didn’t really matter. And it’s incredible quite how much time you can spend taking those photos everyone takes!

Behind the magic

Smith

Salta

After two 18 hour bus journeys with 12 hours in Mendoza in the middle it was such a relief to arrive in Salta and it was so much more beautiful than I had anticipated. By chance we hit the opening carnival parade which was incredible. Big noise, bright colours, fantastic music and some interesting dance moves!

And now one for Uncle Tim. We finally visited our first museum of the trip which was the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology and it was fascinating. It documents the discovery (in 1999) of three perfectly preserved children who were buried alive as a gift to the mountain gods in 1480 on Mount Lullaillaco. As part of the trip you also see one of the bodies which was a bizarre experience. I’d never heard of these children but apparently they’re the best naturally preserved bodies in the world. Cultured or what?!

Smith

Bariloche and our limited experience of Chile

Our experience of Chile will be limited to Puerto Natales and Puerto Montt (the start and end point of our Navimag adventure). Mainly because Argentina and Chile are SO expensive, we have decided to get to Bolivia as quickly as possible. These two places, despite being relatively dull port towns, have in some ways been a highlight of the trip. So far they’ve been the only places we’ve been to that have looked how I pictured South America would be. Everywhere else has looked European so they were pretty special. Add to that a fantastic pizza restaurant in Puerto Natales and the most incredible family home (with cats and kittens!) and a fantastic steak for my birthday in Puerto Montt and I was sold.

Puerto Natales

Puerto Montt

The perfect way to spend my birthday

Our next stop was Bariloche for three days and with pneumonia behind us it was finally time for some exercise! We met up with some friends and Chris, three guys and I went on a stunning 25k bike ride. We had wonderful views of the lakes and mountains and road through forest tracks. We also came across an artisan festival in a tiny town with food, beer and crafts. I was knackered by the end and the guys looked like they had hardly broken a sweat! 

So it was up early again the next morning for a seven hour hike at Cerro Catedral. We took two cable cars up the mountain (my first time on a chair lift!) and then essentially did bouldering and rock scrambling for over three hours until we reached a tiny refugio by a lake. It was SO stunning and made the epic first three hours totally worth it. After a paddle and a lie down we trekked another three hours through a forest track back to the town. ¼ kilo of ice cream later and I felt much better!

Terrifying sheer drop (sorry Mum)

Follow the red dots

For my birthday treat Chris took me to a restaurant called Butterfly. In this tiny lakeside restaurant run by a German guy, an Irish guy and his Argentinian wife, we had the best meal of our lives. The dinner was a seven course tasting menu and every single course was mindblowing. The dishes included a trio of amuse bouches (a shot of white tomato and goats cheese soup, a breaded wild bore nugget with cucumber and wasabi and a rabbit and onion tart). The main was lamb which had been cooked in a bag for 17 hours and then oven cooked from when we arrived at the restaurant which resulted in a crunchy coating and lamb that fell apart inside. And our second pudding, a range of sweets with a hand piped happy birthday. The combination of the host, the location, the detail in the design of the restaurant and of course the food itself made it very special. 

Smith

The Navimag

So far on this trip we have taken endless buses and one plane to travel around but last week we opted for a more sedate form of travel and spent 4 days and nights travelling through the Chilean fjords on a Navimag ferry. Starting from Puerto Natales in Patagonia we slowly travelled north to Puerto Montt. It was a fantastic way to see a very remote and uninhabited area of the world. Our ferry, The Evangelistas, was pretty basic and we even got to share it with a truck full of cattle. They spent their 4 days in considerable less comfort than we did and were noisy (and smelly) enough to remind everyone they were there.

There were 3 levels of the ship to explore. One for the cabins, one for the canteen and one for the pub. Not exactly the QE2 but as you spent most of your time on deck gawping at the scenery or looking for wildlife it didn’t really matter. And both the scenery and the wildlife were awesome, we got to see sea lions, dolphins, glaciers and a volcano spewing ash. However, the highlight for me was seeing whales. We were told that there were some areas were we might see whales so we knew when to be on the lookout. And they were there. You could spot their breathing/fountain/blow-hole things from a long way away and you were hoping they would choose that moment to jump out of the water or flick their tales in the air. Unfortunately, they did neither. Despite the fact that I have only seen the top of a whale and the water it shot into the air it was one of the coolest wildlife things I’ve ever seen.

A Whale

How to stay amused

Another way to stay amused

Obviously, spending 4 days on a boat you hope that the people you meet will be good fun and we were really lucky in that regard and we spent our days with some great people. The passengers were an odd mix of backpackers, retirees and locals but there was a lovely atmosphere on the boat. Like any good cruise there were games and co-ordinated activities; kareoke on the first night (including a storming version of Gangstas Paradise by yours truly) and a latin disco on the last night. The disco coincided wonderfully with Millie’s birthday so there was singing at midnight and free pisco sours at the bar to help the celebrations. 

Boy Band 1

Boy Band 2

Our Shipmates

28 and considerably more sensible

I would recommend anyone who is travelling this part of the world to take this trip. It did get a bit choppy when we hit open water and it turns out hangovers and rough seas are a TERRIBLE combination but it is a great change of pace and a wonderful way to see a part of the world you wouldn’t normally see.

Mc