hello world
quite a few events have taken place since i last wrote. some of the good kind, some of the "i want to destroy all humans" kind.
we left santa cruz for potosi, the highest city in the world at 4070 meter above sea level. and at 4000 plus meter only just existing turns out to be very hard work! we arrived there and had difficulties breathing and stuff. this altitude can really mess with you. we found a hostel with no heating where we crashed the first night cause we were absolutely trashed from the bus ride (350 meters to 4070 meters in 25 very bumpy hours). but waking up at night and seeing your own breath made us look for a place with heating the next morning. and we found it, a nice hostel with an excellent breakfast.
we also found out that the chewing of coca leaves (or drinking coca tea) is really good against altitude problems. the people in potosi chew it the whole time, especially the miners. potosi is a mining city, once famous for all it's silver which has long disappeared from the big big hill that erects behind the town. now it's all about the minerals. many companies still work there and it's good money for the people. the working conditions however are horrifying. no safety, just some mud holes in a huge freaking mountain.
we took a tour with a company founded by miners. our guide still works in the mines when there are to few tourists around. that was quite an impressive "walk" through the mountain. we saw the people work in these terrible conditions and gave them orange juice and coca leaves to at least help them a little. all very tough and nice guys... the youngest 16 years old.
potosi its self is nice as well. awesome. and close by there is a hot spring in the middle of nowhere. "let's go there, it's warm" we said and did. we took a bus close to there and hiked the last kilometre or so up the hill to a small round but very deep pond full of nice hot water. there were three locals there that were leaving as we came, otherwise it was deserted. there was a locked bathroom and a sign to pay, but nobody there. so we decided that we are on our own, got on our swim stuff and went for a nice swim in the warm water. we always kept an eye on our stuff... but one time i went out to check... bag gone! some fucking dickheads stole our fucking bag WITH THE CAMERA INSIDE!
i suspected the three guys from the beginning, got on my shoes and a jumper and ran as fast as i could down the hill for more than a kilometre and chased the guys down. luckily some people from a passing buss helped me and the three surrendered. they were actually startled. they opened all their bags and had nothing. everyone, including the three guys left in the bus. i then got scared about bonda who i had left at the pond. so i ran back again up the hill to see her and that she was fine and fell down on my knees in exhaustion. this is all happening at 4000 or so meters dude!!!
anyway... they didn't get any money, no credit cards or passports... to screw them! life will get back at them. we unluckily didn't back up any potosi pictures, or pictures from the mines... so it will all have to stay alive in our memory. (we have a compact camera as well... so as of this part there will be pictures too.)
we then moved on to uyuni and stefan and mona, a young german couple we met in potosi joined us. uyuni is known for its salt flat or salt desert. it's a huuuuuge area, totally flat, covered in 15 meters of salt. basically it's a huge chunk of ocean that got pushed up as a confined lake to 3500 meters or so a very very long time ago and then slowly evaporated, leaving behind just salt.
the way to visit this place is usually a tour. all the same, some with better food, some with worse. but if you get together a group, then, then, ha-haaa, you get a custom tour.
so after checking into a hostel (with heating... minus temperatures at night) stefan, mona, bonda and i went out for something to eat. and there we met tom, an ex-world class snowboarder (two times silver at the wold championships) and now full time professional photographer from colorado in the states. he is a nice guy i must say! glad to have met him.
anyhow, the five of us now being a group and all went for some late night custom tour shopping. and succeeded we did!
the next day we left on a stunning two day, one night trip through white salt deserts and lagoons covered with ice in many different colours and full of flamingos. the landscapes, the scenery... truly majestic and one of the most special places i've ever been. just look at the pictures later on. enough said!
there is a little addendum. after the tour we got back and the sun hadn't set yet. stefan and mona had to catch a bus, but bonda and i took up tom's offer to go see the sunset and biggest-full-moon-of-the-year-rise in the salt desert. so we hopped back in the jeep and set off to the salt desert to see something special. won't ever forget that.
after that bonda and i went to la paz and took a next bus straight away to a small town in the mountains called sorata. it's mainly known for the trekking around there, but it is also a lot lower and warmer there. so we wanted to get some sun for a few days. it is nice there... this small town and two huge 6000 plus meter high mountains in the background. we just relaxed, had "zopf" made by a swiss baker living in sorata, took a few walks in that very very steep town and just had a good time.
then it was off to copacabana, a small pretty (and touristy) town on the lake titicaca. it was there were the sh**s kicked in for patient number one. more than that... bonda had a bad case of "bad food or something" and wasn't doing to good. we decided to keep it cool for a couple of days. she took some meds and recovered quickly. we then made the classic mistake. we thought it was all good to soon. we had a bit of a night out (i know mother, we're are stupid) and then went on a boat to spend a night on the isla del sol, the birthplace of the sun in the inca mythology. we planed a hike across the island the next day, visiting the inca ruins and planned to take a boat back from the south end of the island. well... what should i say... we met a couple (peruvian and swedish) and two argentinian guys who were fun. so we found a hostel on the island and spent the evening drinking on the beach and playing guitar, on this beautiful island on lake titicaca... it was really awesome... but robbed us of our plan to trek across the island the next day. bonda felt worse than ever, not hangover stuff, really sick again stuff.
we took a boat back, spent the night in copacabana and then took a bus to cusco in peru where we are now.
we spent a few days in the hostel, i got the same bonda had and this time we did lay low. we took meds and got all good again. we even exploreds cusco a little bit the last two days. it's one of the nicest cities i know. so we went for a walk or two and all all good again... whoop!
tomorrow we're off to see machu picchu, finally but also only briefly. we are running out of time here. so after that short visit we will head off to tarapoto as fast as possible, from where we take a boat through the jungle to iquitos... me likey!
so that just about sums it up... hope you enjoyed the read. pleas leave some feedback for a change... so long
but not quite... save the best for last! FINLAY MCCOMBIE IS HERE!!! my brother gregor and his awesome wife claire just got their first born finlay and made me a very very proud uncle!!!
love,
bonda and dee
uyuni... one of many 300 year old women with funny hats
salt... so much salt! and plenty of funny photos
polaaaaaaand!!!!!
this is a island in the middle of the salt desert.... awesome!
kiiiiiing kooooong!!!
past the salt desert, up to the lagoons....
snow angel!!!!!
bonda saw a andes fox which is very rare.... and tom tried to find it. now luck for tom or the rest of os, cause there are no photos of it...
sun set / moon rise
tomo at work....
beautiful and steep sorata
michael jackson style!
on the way to copacabana you have to cross a river... or a part of the lake... this is how your bus goes.
copacabana...
the dude on the way to the isla del sol
good times!!!!
cusco.... nice place!!!
is this the church celebrating homosexuality??? haha... no, the cusco flag just look like an other known flag.
market in cusco.... a pig and a pig's head :-)
quite a few events have taken place since i last wrote. some of the good kind, some of the "i want to destroy all humans" kind.
we left santa cruz for potosi, the highest city in the world at 4070 meter above sea level. and at 4000 plus meter only just existing turns out to be very hard work! we arrived there and had difficulties breathing and stuff. this altitude can really mess with you. we found a hostel with no heating where we crashed the first night cause we were absolutely trashed from the bus ride (350 meters to 4070 meters in 25 very bumpy hours). but waking up at night and seeing your own breath made us look for a place with heating the next morning. and we found it, a nice hostel with an excellent breakfast.
we also found out that the chewing of coca leaves (or drinking coca tea) is really good against altitude problems. the people in potosi chew it the whole time, especially the miners. potosi is a mining city, once famous for all it's silver which has long disappeared from the big big hill that erects behind the town. now it's all about the minerals. many companies still work there and it's good money for the people. the working conditions however are horrifying. no safety, just some mud holes in a huge freaking mountain.
we took a tour with a company founded by miners. our guide still works in the mines when there are to few tourists around. that was quite an impressive "walk" through the mountain. we saw the people work in these terrible conditions and gave them orange juice and coca leaves to at least help them a little. all very tough and nice guys... the youngest 16 years old.
potosi its self is nice as well. awesome. and close by there is a hot spring in the middle of nowhere. "let's go there, it's warm" we said and did. we took a bus close to there and hiked the last kilometre or so up the hill to a small round but very deep pond full of nice hot water. there were three locals there that were leaving as we came, otherwise it was deserted. there was a locked bathroom and a sign to pay, but nobody there. so we decided that we are on our own, got on our swim stuff and went for a nice swim in the warm water. we always kept an eye on our stuff... but one time i went out to check... bag gone! some fucking dickheads stole our fucking bag WITH THE CAMERA INSIDE!
i suspected the three guys from the beginning, got on my shoes and a jumper and ran as fast as i could down the hill for more than a kilometre and chased the guys down. luckily some people from a passing buss helped me and the three surrendered. they were actually startled. they opened all their bags and had nothing. everyone, including the three guys left in the bus. i then got scared about bonda who i had left at the pond. so i ran back again up the hill to see her and that she was fine and fell down on my knees in exhaustion. this is all happening at 4000 or so meters dude!!!
anyway... they didn't get any money, no credit cards or passports... to screw them! life will get back at them. we unluckily didn't back up any potosi pictures, or pictures from the mines... so it will all have to stay alive in our memory. (we have a compact camera as well... so as of this part there will be pictures too.)
we then moved on to uyuni and stefan and mona, a young german couple we met in potosi joined us. uyuni is known for its salt flat or salt desert. it's a huuuuuge area, totally flat, covered in 15 meters of salt. basically it's a huge chunk of ocean that got pushed up as a confined lake to 3500 meters or so a very very long time ago and then slowly evaporated, leaving behind just salt.
the way to visit this place is usually a tour. all the same, some with better food, some with worse. but if you get together a group, then, then, ha-haaa, you get a custom tour.
so after checking into a hostel (with heating... minus temperatures at night) stefan, mona, bonda and i went out for something to eat. and there we met tom, an ex-world class snowboarder (two times silver at the wold championships) and now full time professional photographer from colorado in the states. he is a nice guy i must say! glad to have met him.
anyhow, the five of us now being a group and all went for some late night custom tour shopping. and succeeded we did!
the next day we left on a stunning two day, one night trip through white salt deserts and lagoons covered with ice in many different colours and full of flamingos. the landscapes, the scenery... truly majestic and one of the most special places i've ever been. just look at the pictures later on. enough said!
there is a little addendum. after the tour we got back and the sun hadn't set yet. stefan and mona had to catch a bus, but bonda and i took up tom's offer to go see the sunset and biggest-full-moon-of-the-year-rise in the salt desert. so we hopped back in the jeep and set off to the salt desert to see something special. won't ever forget that.
after that bonda and i went to la paz and took a next bus straight away to a small town in the mountains called sorata. it's mainly known for the trekking around there, but it is also a lot lower and warmer there. so we wanted to get some sun for a few days. it is nice there... this small town and two huge 6000 plus meter high mountains in the background. we just relaxed, had "zopf" made by a swiss baker living in sorata, took a few walks in that very very steep town and just had a good time.
then it was off to copacabana, a small pretty (and touristy) town on the lake titicaca. it was there were the sh**s kicked in for patient number one. more than that... bonda had a bad case of "bad food or something" and wasn't doing to good. we decided to keep it cool for a couple of days. she took some meds and recovered quickly. we then made the classic mistake. we thought it was all good to soon. we had a bit of a night out (i know mother, we're are stupid) and then went on a boat to spend a night on the isla del sol, the birthplace of the sun in the inca mythology. we planed a hike across the island the next day, visiting the inca ruins and planned to take a boat back from the south end of the island. well... what should i say... we met a couple (peruvian and swedish) and two argentinian guys who were fun. so we found a hostel on the island and spent the evening drinking on the beach and playing guitar, on this beautiful island on lake titicaca... it was really awesome... but robbed us of our plan to trek across the island the next day. bonda felt worse than ever, not hangover stuff, really sick again stuff.
we took a boat back, spent the night in copacabana and then took a bus to cusco in peru where we are now.
we spent a few days in the hostel, i got the same bonda had and this time we did lay low. we took meds and got all good again. we even exploreds cusco a little bit the last two days. it's one of the nicest cities i know. so we went for a walk or two and all all good again... whoop!
tomorrow we're off to see machu picchu, finally but also only briefly. we are running out of time here. so after that short visit we will head off to tarapoto as fast as possible, from where we take a boat through the jungle to iquitos... me likey!
so that just about sums it up... hope you enjoyed the read. pleas leave some feedback for a change... so long
but not quite... save the best for last! FINLAY MCCOMBIE IS HERE!!! my brother gregor and his awesome wife claire just got their first born finlay and made me a very very proud uncle!!!
love,
bonda and dee
uyuni... one of many 300 year old women with funny hats
salt... so much salt! and plenty of funny photos
polaaaaaaand!!!!!
this is a island in the middle of the salt desert.... awesome!
kiiiiiing kooooong!!!
past the salt desert, up to the lagoons....
snow angel!!!!!
bonda saw a andes fox which is very rare.... and tom tried to find it. now luck for tom or the rest of os, cause there are no photos of it...
sun set / moon rise
tomo at work....
beautiful and steep sorata
michael jackson style!
on the way to copacabana you have to cross a river... or a part of the lake... this is how your bus goes.
copacabana...
the dude on the way to the isla del sol
good times!!!!
cusco.... nice place!!!
is this the church celebrating homosexuality??? haha... no, the cusco flag just look like an other known flag.
market in cusco.... a pig and a pig's head :-)
finaly... i never met you yet, but your uncle realy loves you!
