1. The Lonely Planet is known as the Lonely Liar.
2. Whenever there is a group of international people and alcohol, you always talk about world history, politics and the future.
3. Your feet are never clean (except in a shower, and then that depends...)
4. You get called a gringo nearly everyday, by someone.
5. As a gringo, you call your small backpack, your daypack.
6. Socks and flip-flops are acceptable.
7. Everyone is on the same trail in either direction and you will bump into them again.
8. You either have time or money but rarely both.
9. For every few weeks of great travelling, comes a full day of utter hell.
10. You end up wearing the same outfit for days.
11. Handwashing in the shower saves time and money.
12. You forget what day it is, almost everyday.
13. Pictures and words don´t capture how amazing something is. Only experiencing it does.
14. You can wear your pj bottoms in the street and people dont look twice, as a gringo.
15. Bottled water is a way of life.
16. You can do 12 hours on a bus standing on your head. (not literally).
17. Two-tiar pricing sucks.
18. Street food is awesome.
19. Spanish is very different in every country you visit.
20. The travelbug never goes away. (i hope).
Friday 19 November 2010
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Clubbing in a church and the fall.
Hola chicos!
So crazy times were had in salta. I purchased a beautiful cropped flamingo tshirt, which i felt guilty about buying but absolutley love it!
And after our free chilli at the hostel, i wore this top to the club we went to afters, which was an old church in a cementry. and the shots over here are muy peligroso, because you have no idea how much you are drinking!! especially when everyone wants to buy you drinks..
...basically the story goes like this - alot of alochol, lots of dancing, me and sarah running around chatting to the djs making them lady gaga, rachel disappearing and meeting the pretty boy.
twas a good, very drunken and silly night! basically the pretty boy was very pretty but was from southampton and works in formula 1, not a surfer...still quite a cool job though. so everyone had lots of drunken fun at the club and after ;)
we woke up half an hour before check out time, all still majorly drunk, chucked on some clothes and packed and then we squeezed into a taxi to have the best mcdonalds you´ve ever tasted!
and i saw the pretty boy again back at the hostel before we left..but it was all cool.
so then we left sarah and macca :( and me rach and laura headed to iguazu for the most spectaular waterfalls you´ve ever seen! it was a loong journey, 23 hours on the bus. but you get as many crackers and choccie biscuits as you can eat plus some food and alcohol..which i did not want in the state i was in!
iguazu the town is pretty small with not much going on, but the hostal was nice, with a warm pool and outside kitchen. we went to the falls the nexy day - it really needs an entire day to explore just the argentinian side, as you can also view it from brasil for the day. the park itself is beautiful, its quite a tropical climate so lots of jungely type flora and fauna, with lots of colourful butterflies, possums and huge lizards running around! there are big jungle cats and lots of other animals, but you have to be very lucky to see them.
the falls itself, is huge. 29 waterfalls make up iguazu and 36 olympic swimming pools a second gets chucked down. there are 2 main parts, the devils mouth and the rest really. the devils mouth is quite scary as viewing it from below and above, you cant see the otherside as theres so much water and spray around, it looks like its constantly in a huge cloud of fog. me and laura got on the 12 minute boat ride for a stupid price, but was well worth it as 12 mins is all you need! you zoom around the falls in this tiny little boat, you dont even get under it as its too dangerous, but you get soo wet, its like having bucket after bucket of water thrown over you. i went in my bikini which sounds silly, but was a wise choice as if you´re not prepared, youll be soaked down to your pants!
it was an incredible experience though, a must do if any one ever goes there! after drying off a bit, we met rach who went on a seperate trip, and walked the lower and then the upper trails to see the falls from all sides, before getting the train to the devils mouth.
a picture may say a thousand words, but word cannot say how amazing this place is. the photos just wont do it justice, you just have to go there. a famous saying from an american presidant who visited is, ¨poor niagra¨. and i agree.
we spent the whole day there, and waited until dusk as you see the falls in a whole new light and its far less busy. the next day we spent by the pool as it was sooo hot and we needed another day before another long night bus.
so that was a couple of days ago and now we´re in rosario, birthplace of che , not thatd youd know it, theres not much to do with him here. but its a pretty city and not many tourists which is a nice break. we went down to the port today and got bombarded by a whole class of kids from santa fe, on a day trip and had our pictures taken with them and they tried to speak english with us which was cute.
the argentinian spanish is super hard to understand, which is a shame as i feel like my spanish is getting better. they had different spanish words and a really different pronounciation which makes everything very alien!
so tomorrow we´re off to Mendoza, the wine regions where you can go wine tasting on a bike. also hoping to meet sarah and macca again, if you´re reading thism STAY THERE!!
and harry potter is out in argentina tomorrow, SUPER EXCITED!!!
anyways, dont be a stranger, keep in touch and miss you all.
Saturday 6 November 2010
Cabellos y camas de plasticos...
So, sleeping on a plastic coated mattress is a bit like sleeping on a slip ´n´ slide, until the sheet falls off then its like sleeping on a leather sofa with bare skin. Basically, we spent two nights in Tupiza, south Bolivia, in a nice and not expensive hotel with a pool and buffett breakfast. But got kicked out as the guy at the desk didnt like us and said they were full this weekend because of the big parties going on in town. Ugh.
Anyways, so a bit of a catch up. We did the salt tour from uyuni to san pedro de atacama in chile. I met some lovely english people (which seems rare here!) and am still with them now. The salt tour was cool, the salt flats were weird and hard and sharp on the belly but good for taking funny pics, see here:
Unfortunately, we also bumped into the lads on tour from la paz - see previous posts. they spent the whole 3 days drinking and being hungover...but they seem like nice kids. and they had funny pics of the jumping around the salt plains naked. yes, actually naked.
the older boys in the other jeep travelling with us took a lot of san pedro the one night i had to share a room with them. needless to say, no one got any sleep, as the big irish guy completely flipped out and tried to fight everyone and was in tears for hours. we had to get up at 4.30am to go see the geysers which no one was happy about fter being so tired, and that night was the coldest night of my life!! so that was entertaining. (san pedro is a hallucinagenic drug from a cactus, used by shamans to find their enlightenment)
the car was so cold that morning, we drove through the desert with ice all over the windscreen. but the hot sprigs before breakfast ws amazing, the bath ive been waiting for!! although getting out had to be a super quick affair! and then we headed off to chile, with lots of kings of leon and great driving tunes for the way!
sand pedro de atacama was super expensive, 12.50 quid a night instead of our usual 3. eek! but its a nice little town and its really hot as its lower down in the desert. so we stayed a few days, chilled by the pool and went to a halloween party in the desert! it was good as we chatted to some local girls who told us to go to the same party as them, as there was another one but theres would be better. which ended up being right! we had to wait for cars to drive past and 15 of us bundled into the trailer of a truck to get to the party, but is was free and only 5km away. the party was awesome! a shed in the middle of the desert, with party lights, a bar and a bonfire with lots of music and locals. it was good as there wasnt many gringos there, theyd all gone to the other party. we spent the night drinking and dancing with the locals, who went manic when they popular spanish songs came on, and they taught us to dance! it was super friendly but like 1 degrees!! but the night sky was gorgeous..so many stars...so much fun!
then when it ended, we started to walk back as there were no taxis, but a nice chilean couple picked us up and dropped us in town - which would never happen in london! so we arrived at the hostal just before the sun rose.
the next day was a right off as we were all so tired! the next day we left for salta, argentina, with the intention of coming back up to Tupiza in Bolivia for a week of more cheapness and stock up on toiletries etc. you wouldnt believe how much cheaper Bolivia is! we did this plan, so were travelling for well over 24 hours, and encountered a 3 hour wait at the argentinian border as they wanted to charge the english people to leave the country, crazy and illegal. then the whole system went down. only in south america.
but all was well and we were on our 1 quid bus to Tupiza. this is where you pay for quality, quite clearly. they said it would 2 hours, which surprised us as its supposed to be longer, but they were true to their word. i just thought we would lose our lives in the mean time. my bum was in the air more than on the seat. it was like a rollercoaster, except you werent sure if you would roll over a cliff or not. it seemed likely when we saw a bus that had done just that.
but we survived! and we´re back in bolivia and stocking up at the markets and eating cheap, delicious food! yesterday we went on a 3 hour horseride through the wild west, cactus´s red mountains through the hot desert! and ive bought a beautiful traditional bolivian hat for the sun, and most likely for weddings in the future! its quite grand!
my horse was beautiful and really placid, so it was a really nice experience. i got a bit dressed up for the trip as well, with my nails done, jewellery, co-ordinating clothes and my beautiful new hat. it was the first time this year that i actually felt really good about myself, after all the ups and downs. i felt like a proper, beautiful lady! and im so glad im here and not in the uk (sorry but i think its better here!), with the cold wet weather, no jobs and the mundaness of everyday life. everyday is exciting here, even if you´re not doing anything particular, you meet new people, eat new food, see new things and when things get dull, you just move on. itd like to be able to do this when i get home...i get bored too quickly and i dont feel like being tied down anymore!!
so for the rest of the weekend, its a big fiesta, celebrating the bicentuary of a big battle between bolivia, peru and argentina and the outcome was these countries independence, so its massive here. the joys of travelling, falling into lots of fun things! and ive been learning more correct spanish, as sarah who im with at the mo, is a spanish teacher. so i might actually get good!!
so im off to eat many delicious foods of the stalls in the square, in the hot sun and then going to party!
i hope you all had a good halloween (guys the pics look awesome, u know who u are!!) and a
VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMES AND LAURA!
sorry im not there, but im sure ur having a wicked time and i miss you guys tons!!!
off to salta, argentina on monday, maybe hungover! keep me updated on the uk yes?
thanks for listening.
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